If you never changed from working out, meaning you never “adapted” from it, would you still do it? Absolutely not. We workout, in order to recover. Adapting this way of thinking is going to improve your health and wellness.
If recovery is so important, let’s define it.
We separate recovery into 5 main categories:
- Rest (not on the couch, but not in the gym either)
- Sleep (quality AND quantity)
- Fuel (nutrients – macros, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, water)
- Blood flow (Think about steps, activity, and movement habits)
- Stress management (What is occupying your mind most often? Are you aware of your stress levels?)
You don’t have to master all 5 of these to adapt to exercise, but they all will influence how well you will recover. A great way to visualize this is with the theory of super compensation.
In this image, we look at 3 main stages to exercise. Exercise itself is the damage, get the proper amount and we have some of the most prized effects the human body is capable of experiencing. Brett Contreras, PhD in exercise physiology, lists the following: Improved self-esteem and relationships, better sex, decreased or cured depression, combat aging and sarcopenia (loss of muscle due to aging), get you out of pain. SO MUCH. But let’s take a step back, I said the proper amount. Not just any exercise.
You can see in this example after adaptation occurred (supercompensation), we actually ended up below our starting point from before the exercise. This can happen from too much exercise and/or not enough recovery.
So what do we do? When working out, start off with 2 days a week, spread out in the week. Give yourself time in between to move around (blood flow), and enjoy time with friends (low stress), and progress yourself each workout. Be honest with yourself about how you feel in each workout, it’s okay to do workouts you don’t want to do, and it’s also okay to take your time progressing workouts to get stronger or fitter.
If I had to put it into a few words, focus on doing what is likely to make you better a year from now rather than what is going to make you feel better right now.
