You can train hard till you are blue in the face—eat the cleanest diet ever designed.
You can take all the supplements your monthly budget can stand.
But without recovery from the work you do in the gym –sorry growth will not happen.
You will get zilch, a big fat nothing for your efforts.
At best you will spin your wheels and stay as you are, at worst, sick, injured. Yep you beat that body up too much-too often and it will stop you one way or another.
Now I am not going to get into –how many days a week you should train –how many sets and reps and what protocol you should use here.
This area is an individual thing—depending on age, lifestyle, stress and a million other issues.
This is a basic article on how to maximise recovery from what you do.
These are little routines and tricks I use to pull me out of that training hole, to enable me to keep on pushing forwards.
These do help and have worked for me and clients since I can remember.
But these have to be in the grand scheme of things, if you are out drinking till the milk man is at your door before you are—not good –not gunna happen.
If your diet consists of buckets of chicken and burgers, well these suggestions, again will not work.
I'm not saying be like a monk—but at least do things in moderation—do the best you can most of the time. If you are getting ready for a show, then be like a monk.
The Basics.
Hard training, good food, rest.
Those three have to balance to maximise your gains, health, wellbeing and longevity.
At times one or two of the above three pillars of successful training will be slightly out of kilter. It’s your job to read the signs and adjust accordingly, balancing them out.
For instance, say you have been pulling double shifts at work, or you have a new born keeping you up all night. Adjust your training accordingly, maybe a few less sets here and there, just don’t push as hard and kill yourself, therefore tipping the scale over, ending up ill and a week off work and training.
Push when the times right, take a step forward when you can—there must be balance.
Now let me get to the little things I do that can keep that recovery in balance.
Sleep.
Yep I know---anybody who knows me knows I don’t do much of this.
I sleep an average of 4 hours a night.
But here is the thing, that’s me---I don’t need anymore than that. I wake up fully refreshed and feel great. I always wake before the alarm, how many of you can say that?
The sleep I get, is the sleep I need, I have always been like this—so with that said I am getting all I need for my recovery. What I am saying is –are you?
If you have to snooze your alarm 2-3 times in a morning, well that’s telling you right there- something is not in balance.
Get to bed an hour or so earlier, watch less TV.
If you are a stress head and you can not sleep for the joys of work spinning around your mind. Well you need help.
Find a meditation class—read a book to empty your mind of clutter, do what you have to do.
You may need 7-8-9 hours ---find your slot and stick to it as much as you can.
Sleep is the big daddy of recovery---don’t believe me—try a few days without and watch you and your body break down.
Nutrition.
I eat very, very clean, this maximises my recovery from hard workouts.
Here are a few basic foods I use to get that edge.
I eat a ton of antioxidants
Make sure you eat plenty of these wonder foods, it’s all about flushing toxins from your system, training builds toxins.
Blueberries.
I would put these as one of the top antioxidants and anti-inflammatory there is—I eat lots of them—sure they are expensive especially organic as I buy, but are you not worth the best. A few quid come on.
Raisins
I eat these each and every day –have since I can remember again a great free radical fighter.
Apples.
An apple a day—we all know that one, well apples get taken for granted, they are fantastic.
They contain high levels of pectin –a valuable source of soluble fibre that can lower bad cholesterol. They also have a good mix of antioxidants, again they are must.
I again eat 3-4 every single day.
Sardines.
Yep, I bet your think what the heck, well sardines are awesome.
Not only are they loaded with good fats omega -3—that benefit the circulatory system and are anti inflammatory.
They have an excellent balance of protein –on the low side for most, but do you need as much as you think? Think quality.
The best point for me is they contain CoQ10 a vitamin like substance that is a awesome antioxidant and recovery aid.
I try to eat sardines on training days---not after a workout –I might add, ha-ha.
Green tea.
I swear by this stuff and drink huge amounts.
Green tea has been used for centuries by the Chinese and is one of the best antioxidants known to man.
My clients laugh at me, for my cure for all is green tea.
Client has a cold ---“get the green tea and honey down you” I say.
As the green tea doctor- I dish it out for everything, do you know what- it bloody works.
People around me, family or friends are ill with some bug or other, if I come into contact with anybody like this. I first dish out my -cure all- and then drown myself in the stuff. You know I am never ill—it may be psychosomatic, but what the hell it works.
Training days I drink even more, I fill a huge Pyrex jug full of hot water and toss in some green tea and honey. This I drink to flush out the toxins.
I think recovery.
At home, chillin out, I pot up some green tea and keep topping my cup up.
Can not say enough good stuff about the green stuff.
If you don’t do anything else ---do this one.
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Post workout.
I have written articles about this many times, so you should be doing this vital part of your recovery arsenal. I do it and have for years, never, ever miss, nor do my clients. After a hard workout have a fast absorbing whey and some simple carbohydrates, raisons do the trick.
This will increase your recovery a huge amount—do that –more gains—simple!
Organic foods.
Of course all of the above little tips and others I will give you are worth not a dot—without good clean food in your system.
The wrong foods—we all know them—only load your body with more toxins—add a workout to that and your are loaded to the gills with free radicals (poisons). You must eat as clean as you can devoid of drugs, pester-sides, preservatives, eat only foods in a natural state.
Sure sometimes-- you will fall to the delights of what is called ‘normal’ foods, but keep that to the minimum.
Your body, your mind and well being, will thank you for it.
The basics of eating.
These are the foods I use in order to aid recovery , they are a small part of my overall eating plan.
I don’t just eat blueberries, apples and raisons, I eat a huge amount of fruit and veg---they are the bodies cleanser.
Everything has it’s place in the building and maintaining of the human body—it is just the above are what I would call essential for good recovery.
There are others, so please look to finding your own, I just like these they fit to me and my lifestyle.
Other things you need to try.
Stretching.
Here’s one of the best recovery aids you can do and you can even do it while watching the TV—no it’s not that—and if your watching TV while doing that, well shame on you.
Stretching ---I am so into stretching have been since I can remember—maybe this is why at 44—I have no training aliments at all.
I stretch and always have between each and every set---I stretch after my warm up and also after the workout.
In truth I can not get enough of it.
A fantastic recovery aid as it help blood flow through tight muscles, flushing away waste products.
I love to sit in-front of the fire in winter and stretch, I open up my whole body, it is a great way of relaxing, again relaxing has got to be good for recovery.
A bonus to stretching is it will give your body a complete look, a fluid body- tied together- working as one-- kind of look.
Hard to explain –but you know it when you see it.
Massage.
Just started having deep tissue massages.
What the heck have I missed out on?
These are something I have always wanted to have done as the benefits are huge, but never seemed to get around to it.
Louise, my wife booked me with Julia, the wife of a good friend of ours Martin who has been our Chiropractor and clients of mine for many years.
Julia, I did not know as well and had never met her up on till our appointment. Can I say for a young athletic built young lady weighing around 124 lb I have never met anybody with the grip she has.
Pulling the muscle off the bone comes to mind!
The pain is odd, nice, but not--hard to explain, never felt pain like it.
But here is the rewards, wow I feel so fluid so strong, muscles look fuller and rounder and recovery (after the aches have gone from the waste she releases) is through the roof.
I remember years ago being very much into a trainer from the USA called Parillo. Parillo worked with hundreds of bodybuilders and one of his main ways of improving his clients, was working on the fasure tissue that covers and governs the muscle shape to some degree.
This sheath after years of hard work becomes very tough and tight, even at times becoming solid, therefore hiding separations and striations.
What Parillo did and still does is bang on the money, clients noted fantastic results, better shape and fullness to the muscles.
So not only is Julia giving me pain that makes me have a nervous laugh I never herd before. But she is helping my body recover, look better and also prevent anything that may come up in the future injury wise.
After she has made me feel like I went 10 rounds with Tyson –the final feeling is one of complete relaxation and well being.
I would recommend deep (must be hard and not a normal massage) tissue massage to all those who train hard, I will be seeing Julia once a month now for the future.
So there you have my little recovery tricks.
They seem so small and insignificant, but yet they have a very important role in machine that is your body—so don’t neglect the little things they support the big stuff you do.
Be happy, love life, enjoy each day.
Ian.
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