We tend to think that the best thing we can do for our
health is exercise. In fact, this notion
has been reinforced so aggressively that it has become a default answer to “How
do I lose weight and get fit?”.
The infomercials say it, the diet books say it, the doctor
says it, the gym coach in school says it, your mother (or even grandmother)
probably says it. Without fail when the
question of how healthy someone is living comes up the first response out of
our mouths becomes, “Well how active is she/he?”
Well what happens when this fascination with MORE becomes
too much???? What about that other Pillar
of Fitness that never gets any attention?
That’s right…what about Recovery???
Before I go any further I should dispel a BIG myth about
what recovery is...
It's NOT this:
Or this!
Or EVEN this!
Recovery is about MUCH more than sitting around and waiting
for your body to heal. In fact there are
some things you may be doing that are HINDERING your body’s ability to heal
rather than helping it!
Nutrition During Recovery:
Of course we want you to eat whole, natural foods in order
to fuel your Motiv8 workouts and you will often hear this from us. BUT, focusing on your diet becomes even MORE
important when you are trying to recover from an injury or a tough series of
workouts.
Why? It all has to do
with the process of healing!
The first thing you probably notice after an injury is
inflammation. The primary purpose of
inflammation is to protect the body from infection and prepare an injury site
for delivery of nutritents, fluids and white blood cells to begin healing. Now what happens when you aren’t putting the
necessary nutrients into your body by eating a proper diet? Well you probably guessed that you’re either
going to hinder or at the very least slow the healing process.
We like to eat for taste but following an injury or any
tissue damage (even the good kind in our workouts) it’s SO important to put
foods in your body that can be used to put you back to optimal health as
efficiently as possible. If the foods
you eat following a hard workout are the kind that your body identifies as
foreign substances, it is now focused on flushing them out IN ADDITION to
healing whatever it is that laid you up in the first place. You just set yourself back days simply by
putting the wrong food in your body! One step forward, two steps back!
In addition to making sure you get the right AMOUNT of
calories from WHOLE foods, here are a few items to focus on getting even MORE
of than usual for faster healing:
Sleep During Recovery:
Did you know that your body does most of it’s tissue repair
during the deep sleep cycle? Yes, so
even while we are unconscious our bodies are working hard to rebuild tissue,
repair muscle, re-balance hormone levels and replenish antibodies and immune
cells. In fact, studies show that a very
large majority of us need 7 to 9 hours of sleep EVERY night in order to keep
these processes from being interrupted.
So what happens if we don’t get enough?
Much like the effects of constant stress on our minds, the
buildup of stress on the body from environmental factors (such as hard
workouts) or self-induced neglect (such as limiting sleep) is a cumulative
effect. That means that we often won’t
see the damage it has done until we are already in trouble. If you’re not getting enough sleep not only
will your brain be “foggy” but you may notice that you’ve lost the ability to
quickly bounce back from a simple muscle strain or ligament tear. What might have been a couple weeks of
downtime could quickly turn into months of pain and frustration.
Balance during recovery
In fact, we may be inviting a new injury to accompany an
existing one by not allowing ourselves to heal appropriately. The natural reaction to pain is often to stop
doing what causes the pain. Honestly if
you go to most general practitioners with questions about an injury they will
likely tell you to “stay off of it for a while”. But this may not ALWAYS be the best idea! In fact, more often than not recovery should
be an active process, not a passive one!
We tend to develop many injuries thru movement patterns that are
biomechanically unsound. In the absence
of an objectifiable trauma, the best course to recover from these types of
injury are to identify the breakdown in the patterns and reprogram them. This is why your coach may often suggest you
see an ART technician, massage therapist, or physical therapist to help you in
your recovery.
Even in the case of a force trauma to a muscle, bone or
ligament, staying passive in your healing process can lead to lengthier recovery
times. Remember that inflammation process? Well depending on our diets, lifestyle habits
or even our daily routines we could inadvertently extend that inflammation much
longer than it’s intended purpose. The result is that our bodies cannot shuttle away the dead and damaged tissue from our injury site. When
this happens we develop a buildup of waste, scar tissue or other byproducts of
our injury that keep us from regaining the mobility, strength and flexibility
of our pre-injury state. The only way to
remove those obstacles is often manual intervention in the form of
anti-inflammatories, massage or physical therapy that regains our previous
movement patterns rather than developing unhealthy compensations for our reduced range-of-motion. Trying to jump back into workouts without those patterns can either set us back or set us UP for
future injuries!
It’s always best to listen to your coach when trying to
overcome any type of injury. If we tell you
to stay off of it, WE DEFINITELY mean it!
And if we refer you to a professional (be it a doctor, massage
therapist, urgent care, or anything else) it’s because we think you need the
extra assistance beyond what your body is capable of doing itself.
Never take an injury with a “wait and see” attitude, with Motiv8 you will always have the resources and support to ensure you take an active role in your recovery!
Never take an injury with a “wait and see” attitude, with Motiv8 you will always have the resources and support to ensure you take an active role in your recovery!
Stay Motiv8ed!
~ Coach Joe
No comments:
Post a Comment