REST DAYS AND SLEEP
Rest days and sleep are just as important to physique results as training days.
While you do need to be in the gym lifting weights to see muscle growth – or on the treadmill doing cardio to see fat loss – you also need to allow your body to recover and rebuild.
As you will have seen in the weight-lifting plans, the training days cap at 6 times a week. Taking at least 1 WHOLE rest day a week is imperative for your results and your recovery.
However, I also encourage you to take rest days as and when you need them.
While DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is part and parcel of a weight-lifting plan, excessive DOMS due to excessive training isn’t optimal, and is a sign that you need a rest day (potentially 2 or 3 consecutively).
I recommend training anywhere between 4 and 6 times a week, and aiming to get as much sleep as possible each and every night.
Sleep routines are hugely important to both our internal and external health – I see both my training and my results suffer when my sleep patterns are all over the place. On a normal weeknight, I aim to be in bed by 10pm and up at 7am. When this pattern is disturbed, my sessions take a hit and the scales jump, and this is a very common theme among my clients.
Try to have a happy, healthy relationship with both your training and your recovery.
STRETCHING
It’s pretty obvious that stretching is imperative both before and after training.
As I mention at the start of the stretching section on page 17, you should think of your body as a piece of chewing gum: if it’s cold, it will snap in half; if it’s warm, it’s supple, and it will stretch.
If you go into a session cold and try to do a lift, especially a big compound lift like a squat, you are far more likely to get injured.
However, if you stretch dynamically (performing fluid movements and gentle bounces, for example) before you train, you will be warmed up, and not only will you be more likely to avoid injury, you will also find that you have a better range of motion in the lift itself.
Cooling down is just as important as warming up. As soon as you have finished your lift, repeat your warm-up stretching routine – only this time hold static poses.
A really good book to look into is Becoming a Supple Leopard by Glen Cordoza and Dr Kelly Starrett – many athletes swear by these techniques when it comes to both their performance and recovery.
If you:
» Train frequently
» Find that you often experience bad DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)
» Experience regular and / or severe stiffness
» Struggle with your range of motion in a lift
then you need to consider stretching as a much more important and consistent part of your daily routine.
Stretching needs to be something you really dedicate time to – from waking up in the morning, to other available times during your day, last thing at night and most certainly pre and post training. This may sound a bit of a nightmare, but I promise you will feel a million times better and you will train a million times better, too.
THERMOTHERAPY
Everybody knows that applying heat or cold to an injury or sensitive area can ease pain and reduce inflammation. However, the general, lifestyle application of thermotherapy by those who train and are looking to optimise their recovery is greatly underused.
When it comes to muscle or joint damage, basic heat therapy will increase blood flow to the injury site, helping it to relax and reducing pain. This improved circulation also helps your body eliminate any lactic acid waste left in the muscle after training, decreasing DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and increasing recovery.
On the flip side, basic cold treatments reduce inflammation and pain by decreasing blood flow to the injured area. Rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE) is a standard practice for injured athletes.
So how can you best increase your training and recovery using thermotherapy?
The Sauna
Not only has sauna use been proven to improve stress, anxiety and mood, it has also been proven to have remarkable effects on cardiovascular health as well as muscle growth and recovery.
The sauna has been proven to increase the hormone responsible for growth and recovery of every cell in the human body from two-fold to sixteen-fold, depending on the frequency of sauna use. It has also been extensively trialled and proven to increase longevity of life.
In short, if you want to improve your body’s response to the stress of training, your overall mood, your cardiovascular health, your muscle growth and recovery, and your life … USE THE SAUNA.
Hot Water Immersion
Soaking in a hot tub or a hot bath (between 33–37.7°C / 92–100°F) will:
» Warm up stiff muscles and tissues before physical activity
» Decrease pain and discomfort of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
» Encourage muscles to relax
» Improve circulation and encourage your body to eliminate any lactic acid waste after training
Cold Water Immersion and Cryotherapy
I’m lumping these two together because, even though they are of course different methods, the intention of both is to prompt the exact same response in the human body … Cold Shock.
You are probably thinking ‘Why the hell would I want to experience something called Cold Shock?’ but it has been proven to have some truly astonishing effects on the human body …
» Improved focus and mood (via increased norepinephrine hormone)
» Increased fat burning (via increased mitochondria in adipose tissue)
» Improved physical performance in training (via increased mitochondria in muscle tissue)
Whether you induce this state by taking ice baths or by spending time in a Cryo Chamber, the effects can greatly improve both your response to and recovery from training.