
Recovery time is where the magic happens. Building and programming in recovery time is essential. This is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and allows the desired adaptation to be produced.
Furthermore, whilst resting the physical state is important, resting our mental state is equally as important.
What is a de-load?
A de-load is a short planned period of recovery where you ease back your
training for a week. This can be done a number of ways but the most
common way to do so is to cut your sessions back slightly and drop your
load back to around 50-60%.
More advanced lifters will have a better understanding on when a de-load
may be needed based on how their body may feel and how their lifts are
moving. For beginner and intermediate lifters it is essential to program
in de-load weeks every 8-12 weeks.
If you are noticing the following signs it may be time for a de-load:
- Body feels tired and fatigued
- Constantly sore muscles
- Sore joints
- Getting weaker
- Hitting a training plateau
- After a comp
It is important to remember that a de-load week is not a week of zero
movement. Maintaining movement patterns and neural stimulation is still
required. It is also important to consider if a de-load week is actually
appropriate.
Fundamentally, the key to improving body composition and performance
over long periods of time is to regularly push your body slightly beyond
its limits in order to produce an adaptation (known as “over
reaching”), however, some people simply don’t deliver this in their
training.
Sleep
Something so simple yet so often overlooked. Do you or your clients
constantly wake up foggy and tired? Is the 7-8 hours you are sleeping
every night actually quality sleep?
Sleep encourages recovery through protein synthesis and human growth
hormone release (amongst many other biochemical processes!).
Through a process involving adenosine, the brain has a chance to recover
by shutting down and recharging. We all live busy lives with many
commitments. It is important to recharge our brain to ensure that we are
alert the next day to make appropriate decisions. With the four stages
of sleep widely researched, based on the amount of REM sleep, 7-9 hours
per night is recommended.
How can we achieve that?
- Set sleep routine
- No technology after 9pm
- Protein before bed
- No caffeine after 3pm
- No stimulus before bed including inappropriate reading material and electronics
- Deep breathing techniques
- Stretch and yoga routine

Stress Management
Energy is our most precious resource. Learning to manage stress and
overall energy output is the currency that allows growth and high
performance. If stress and energy is ill managed, growth will suffer.
Where does stress come from in your life? For a lot of people, common areas of stress revolve around work and family.
We must first ask ourselves if the stress in our lives is actually as bad as we think? Stress addiction and the identity around
that “hustle” attitude is becoming more common in our fast paced life.
Stressful events in our lives can be managed. The way we perceive
experiences can have us finding enjoyment and happiness from that event,
or it can cause frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed depending
on how we look at it.
Just like improvements in our physical state, balancing stress and
recovery is something that must be worked on to make improvement.
The real focus in which to send our efforts can therefore lie in a few
areas that in turn impact our perception of life and our surroundings.
If we are constantly in a state that is nervous, stressed or anxious, any events, however minor, can appear as stressful.
When we are under a high level of stress for a long period of time, the
sympathetic nervous system (SNS) becomes dominant and the functions of
the parasympathetic (PNS) are proportionately shut down. Over time, this
over-stimulation of the SNS can lead to clear cut signs of imbalance.
These signs can include things like poor digestion, anxiety, shallow
breathing, increased heart rate, poor quality sleep, restlessness,
fatigue, nervousness, and increased sickness to name a few.
In areas that we experience feelings of stress, we are all looking to
gain some form of control. Setting rituals & routines can help to
gain this control. Restoring energy and calming our SNS through
management strategies takes a conscious effort to implement in our
lives.


