You want to know the most important thing to performance and fitness? It’s your recovery!
You can train as hard as long as you like but if you don’t give your body a chance to rest and recover you are not going to perform well as you could. One example is marathon training. Training every day of the week and pushing your body to the limit may seem the best way- however if you don’t give your body ample recovery time during your training and right before the race you aren’t going to perform at your best and you may increase your chances of injury.
So how do you recover well? There are lots of things out on the market that say they help with recovery like cryo chambers, ice baths, or other expensive devices, however the best thing you can do is simply:
- Get enough sleep! Try to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night and practice good sleep hygiene (stop looking at your cell phone or tv in bed!). Also try to get to bed and wake up at the same time every night.
- Get into good practice of cooling down after workouts and make sure you are getting ample and correct nutrition to promote recovery.
- Emotional stresses are another major factor to recovery, try to have a good work/life balance and build a strong support network to help you through any stresses you may be experiencing.
Practicing these tips will help to not only improve your athletic performances but your general health as well. So get to sleeping, eating, and living well!
