Hello!  Sumer is in full swing here with swimming and baseball.   I thought I would have more time to write once school was out but boy was I mistaken:)  I am back today to talk to  you about rest and recovery.  In my opinion this is probably the second most important piece of the puzzle.  Just behind mindset and our thoughts.

Recovery.  This is the down time your body needs to repair and heal itself.  This is the process where we become stronger.  If we are allowing and aiding our body in the recovery time we will be stronger, refreshed and focused for the next session.

Today I will be covering three major things we can focus on to expedite our recovery and bring us back to the gym and life stronger than ever!

The first is SLEEP.  Sleep is where the “magic” happens.  This is the time our body is healing and repairing our tissue/ cells.  I have found when we get a good 6-8 hours of restful sleep.  Our bodies perform much better an it helps with fat loss also!

The second would be our nutrition and supplements.  What we are fueling our bodies with makes all the difference.  A properly fueled body performs and recovers much more efficiently than a body that is being deprive.  This is where monitoring the cravings, hunger, energy, sleep and stress is helpful! YOU ARE AN ATHLETE! Quit the “dieter” mindset. It does not serve us!

The third is recovery activities.  Some of my favorite recovery activities are leisure walks, hot baths, massages, naps, playing with the kids, reading  a book, quiet time to just breath and anything else you enjoy doing.  There are a lot of options.  Pick things you enjoy, make you feel relaxed and good!

So to wrap it up get into the mindset that the recovery is just as important (if not more important IMO) than the actual training you are doing!  If I have 4 training sessions per week I am conscious to include at least 4 recovery session per week also.  Try it and give me some feed back!

Have a blessed day!