There is such a heavy emphasis when it comes to some people's strength training programs on performing endless grueling workouts that take a serious toll on the body. They measure success by the number of times they, or their client throws up. This mindset leads to over-training, burnout, and a reduction in overall training gains. While I am not saying throwing up is a bad thing, as hellish workouts can really cause you to gain some serious mental toughness, performed over and over will lead to the negative list of problems stated above. It is the exact opposite mindset that must be taken to ensure that gains are made and kept.
There are multiple times when recovery must be taken into consideration. First and foremost, recovery from a previous workout. The pace, volume, and intensity of the workout all impact your considerations here. For example, if you used a lot of high intensity (Heavy weights), your central nervous system will need a few days for recovery, thus you must plan the following workouts accordingly.
A second time where recovery must be planned is within the entire training week. Make sure you have at least one day a week where you do absolutely nothing. When I design programs, I actually start the plan off by planning the rest days and building from there. These planned rest days will enable you to recover and regain your energy for the next bouts of exercise.
The third recovery time that is planned is after a few weeks of training. Every 3-6 weeks preform a deload from training. The goal of your deload should be to reduce the volume and intensity of your workouts, focusing on letting your body heal and to become prepared for your next 3-6 week block.
The fourth recovery time you must make as an athlete is after your competitive season. Sports are grueling and taxing on the body thus time must be taken post-season to allow for recovery. A solid time of 2-4 weeks without weight training while undertaking various forms of recreation such as hiking, rock climbing, biking, etc. will provide sufficient time for physical and mental recovery. During this time, there should be a focus on beginning to correct imbalances that were a result of the sport season. After this, the athlete's training should build on the imbalance corrections that were beginning to be made before.
Finally your sleep is of utmost importance to your recovery and training. Making 8 hours of sleep a night a priority will go a long way to helping you achieve the benefits from your hard work in the gym. The hormone responses to sleep aid in repairing and building muscle tissue.
Also let us not forget the need for adequate nutrition in your recovery process. Perhaps it should be the dominating subject in this post because without the proper nutrients, your body will not have fuel to recover, leaving all the above weapons alone to fight a losing battle.
As to note, physical stress is not the only element impacting your recovery needs. Social, psychological, and environmental factors can place a great deal of stress on the body, sometimes greater than the physical stress. While the impacts of these are outside the scope of this blog post, it is still of great importance to make considerations for them in your planning.
Recover for success,
Kyle Bohannon, CSCS
Owner/Head Training
kyle@trainstrive.com
www.trainstrive.com
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