- If your resting heart rate is elevated above normal, it means that your body's central nervous system is still "on" and you are not fully recovered from your training. If you don't know your resting heart rate, count your pulse in the morning right when you wake up for one minute...preferably not when you've jolted awake to an alarm or started thinking about your to-do list for the day.
- If you have no idea what your resting heart rate is and you feel extremely sluggish, try a systematic warm-up before your next workout. If you're a runner who can typically run a 9-minute mile comfortably, try jogging for a couple minutes at an 11-minute pace. If the workout feels abnormally hard even at the lower intensity, again, you probably have not fully recovered. For those who lift weights, you could perform a warm-up with 50-75% of your normal load and gauge the difficulty.
- Don't forget to factor in the emotional recovery your body needs when you are experiencing stress over relationships, exams, pressure at work, etc. These will all prolong your recovery time.
Not recovered? First off, give yourself a break. I see too many clients and friends who are really hard on themselves when they aren't performing to their own high standards, saying things like, "I don't know why this is so hard," or, "I should be able to do this." You will get back to your ass-kicking workout agenda when your ass is rested!! In the meantime, take a day off if your body feels depleted. (I recommend doing this once/week anyway.) The other option is to use active recovery - easy or light exercise - until you feel rejuvenated. This will facilitate the removal of waste products from the bloodstream.
3 comments:
I like that you give permission to "take a break" I think that is sometimes what people need (including me). Can't always go-go-go, it is good to stop and let the body rebuild and rejuvenate-ah!!
The weather has a lot to do with my ability to take a day off. If it's a beautiful day I have to be outside and if I'm outside I have to be doing something active even if it's just pulling weeds. And if it's a great sunny weekend I'll be going full throttle. On Monday I tell myself it's OK to be tired, take the day off or just go easy. But it is hard to accept that it's OK not to be "on your game" every day of your life. Sometimes you learn the hard way when your immune system crashes or you break something.
Another hard reality is that as you get older you probably really do need more rest. And because you don't want to be "old" you don't allow yourself to rest. It's called "making up for lost time" (hmmm...another dissertation topic in the making?).
Outfit..
I found your blog on google and I find you amazing. I was involved in a car accident 5 days ago and the airbag deployed. I am sorta out of shape, but purchased a bowflex for Chirstmas and have been using it three nights a week. I have been toning slowly. Everyone is telling me not to work out until I see the doctor. but I feel I should work out because I don't want the muscles to tighten up. What do you think??
Joide
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