Less is more: The correlation between recovery and the results you want.
There are some words no one wants to hear when it comes to our health and training: You are getting in your own way. Yes, the only person getting in the way of you not getting the results you want, … is you. Don’t worry, I have really good news for you. You don’t need to put more hours in the gym, train harder or do more reps. It’s actually the complete opposite. Yup, you read that right, it is the opposite of you doing more. It is all about doing less. In one word: Recovery.
Me, as your coach, love to see you go hard and push your limits every day. The problem relies on that previous statement, I tend to see it every day. You might be thinking that throwing your shoes away, while you tumble out of the rower gasping for air only to lay flat on your back for 5 minutes before you can speak a word is how workouts should end. Truth is: not really. If you push to that extent once in a while, it’s ok. Once in a while you can be extremely competitive and see how far you can push yourself. More than that, your body will not be happy and that’s where you will fall into the trap of not recovering, hence, trumping your results.
Putting it simply, in order for you to reach your physical goals (get stronger, move faster, look better, etc.), you have to put enough stress on your tissues so they can break down fibers and stimulate regrowth. The regrowth is what helps your tissues become a bigger and better version of themselves.
It takes a certain amount of time to complete and that amount of time is directly proportional to the degree at which the tissue is broken down. Meaning this does not happen overnight. The larger the stress, the larger amount of recovery is needed. The smaller the stress, the sooner that tissue will recover and be ready for more stress.
If the tissue is minimally stressed, it won’t get stronger. If it’s stressed too much or too often, it won’t get back to its baseline, and this will increase your likelihood of getting injured and decrease your performance.
By decreasing the amount of stress that goes into your body in every training session, you are not being lazy, you are being EFFICIENT. Our bodies can’t really tell the difference between stress from training or stress from our work, it interprets it as the same thing and it all adds up. So, if you feel that you lead a stressful life, cut back on the intensity.
It is a challenge if we come from a competitive background or feel we have the need to prove ourselves. So, take it as it is, a challenge. I challenge you to do less. This does not mean skipping workouts or training altogether. This means reducing your intensity in your trainings to give yourself time to recover properly. Remember, it’s high intensity, not max intensity.
