How to help support your body & mind to recover after exercise
The madness of January is finally over and we are moving into the short and sweet joy of February. We've passed Imbolc which is the halfway point between winter solstice and the spring equinox - that means the light is coming back!!
You may have noticed a lift in your energy recently, or maybe you’ve been motivated to bat away the January blues with lots of epic movement for ya body. If you’re a member of our SGPT you’ve certainly been pushed and challenged these past 5 weeks! But whatever your vibe right now, I want to talk to you about the importance of recovery and the things you can do to help support your body, mind and spirit to recover from heavy exercise sessions.
We talk about recovery a lot in our gym, you’ll hear us telling you to eat well, sleep well and hydrate after sessions and you’ll even hear us deep dive into specifics if it’s been a particularly heavy session but what exactly do we mean by “prioritise your recovery” and why do we say it?
First of all, let's cover the what and the whys of exercise stress?
Exercise is stress on the body. Even though you are doing it for your own reasons and are choosing to partake in it, your body doesn’t actually know the difference between exercise stress and stress from say… being chased by a tiger. All it knows is that it needs a hit of adrenaline and cortisol to get through what you are asking of it. So even though exercise brings us lots of benefits, without proper recovery, it can leave us feeling a bit hung out to dry, in the same way any other bout of stress might.
Living in a world where you face micro and major stressors on the daily, means that we are often living in constant fight or flight mode. We then go to the gym and enhance that mode even further, potentially leaving without any sort of proper cool down, to then leave and enter into even more micro and major stresses of every day life, and we wonder why we feel so wound up when it’s time to wind down for bed.
At SLAM, recovery is just as important as the workout - read that again. We mean it. It’s not an afterthought or something to be skipped. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that if you don’t have time to recover - you can’t afford to be working out.
So how, in this incredibly busy world we live in, do we make time for yet ANOTHER thing we are supposed to do to care for ourselves? It’s all about having a tool bag of resources that you can go to when you need it. Not every workout is going to require the full sh’bang but when you know how to recover effectively you can use each of the tools in the ways that work for you.
For example, if you are someone who has disrupted sleep for whatever reason - your body will be crying out for a chance to rest. You can ‘top up’ throughout the day with as little as 10 minutes- why not practice some Yoga Nidra instead of scrolling through your phone or maybe you can lie on the floor with your legs in the air for 5 minutes whilst the kids play. This is something I call micro recovery moments - they add up! And they mean that you’ll have proper recovery in place, so you get the benefits of all that epic hard work you're doing in the gym as well as being able to get back to it when you want to, instead of feeling burnt out!
When we are well recovered we are less likely to snap and emotionally react to those everyday stressors, coming back into rest and digest mode not only allows our muscles to rebuild but it lets us come from a place of resilience when we need to face those challenges.
Ok so now we’ve covered the what and the whys…
Let's dig into how you can better recover after exercise
I’m going to break this down into 4 categories and within each category, I’ll give you a little bit of advice on how to implement each tool.
First up - my favourite
BREATHWORK
So simple and yet so effective. Our breath is magic - it can help take us into to fight or flight when we need it and back down to rest and digest when we are safe. If you’re a SLAM member then you know how much we love recovery breaths and this is such an easy one to kick start your recovery post-session - Take 10 breaths in a rested position - in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try to double your exhale to your inhale. Your body is super smart - it isn't going to start rebuilding when you need energy to run from that tiger - This process signals to the body that it’s safe to start recovering. It’s also a brilliant tool for any stressful situation or whenever you need to wind down.
SLEEP
The queen of recovery tools and one we just don’t value enough. Sleep is so important and yet often so elusive. It’s the time when your body literally processes everything you’ve been through that day. When you’re off in dreamland your body is rebuilding, learning and implementing. So if you don’t get enough of it your super smart body can’t help you rebuild, which is why EVERYTHING is worse when you can’t sleep. If you’d love some support with sleep check out my thoughts on a good night's sleep here. If you can’t get long sleeps for whatever reason- take those micro-moments of rest whenever you can, nap, meditate, lie still - it all helps.
EAT
You cannot recover if you aren’t getting enough fuel. I know this is a hard one because diet culture teaches us that we mustn’t eat, even if we are hungry and that food must be earned. BUT we need good quality, nutrient-dense food to help us rebuild our muscles and to support our hormone function. Food affects us all in different ways and I am not a nutritionist but what I will say is that after a heavy workout you want to prioritise a balanced meal - get a plate full of protein, fat and carbs and make it nutrient-dense. Often we are running from one place to the next so the key here is prep, plan what you are going to eat after your session the same way you plan how you’ll get there and what you’ll wear. This way you’re more likely to utilise food for recovery and less likely to end up hangry and reaching for something that’ll won’t have the same benefit.
MAGNESIUM and WATER
Magnesium is a super important mineral and one that most of us are deficient in. It’s really difficult to absorb it but one of the best ways is through the skin. It is also a brilliant recovery tool and can really help bring the body into that rest and digest state that we need to be in to recover. My favourite thing to do is have a bath with magnesium salts, it really helps with body, mind and spirit recovery and it can be effective against DOMS! If you don’t have a bath you can try a magnesium spray but a warm shower or foot bath can also really help. You know I love water, it's so soothing and another majorly underestimated recovery tool, which is why it’s also super important to prioritize hydration to help support your recovery too.
So there you are lovelies, I hope these words help you understand why recovery should never be an afterthought and give you some ideas as to how you can best support your own recovery, especially when you are really pushing yourself physically. I’d love to know what works for you.
If you’re wanting a little help winding down, you can check out some other blog posts where I’ve given you some recordings that you can listen to to help you relax and even fall asleep.