The more you do is not always what the body needs. Recovery is the lost discipline.
Athletes tend to believe that pushing the body to its limits is the best way to reach physical goals. While it is always important to have ambitions, recovery time should also play a crucial role in those ambitions.
A recovery period is the amount of time you take between workouts. This period of time is when the benefits of your physical activity take place in your body. Without a recovery period, your muscles won’t be able to build, repair, and strengthen in the ways you want them to.
While exercise is undoubtedly important, your recovery period is also important in allowing your body to gain the results you want. For more information on incorporating recovery into your exercise regimen, call Fusion Performance to speak with a physical therapist today.
Why is recovery time important?
As stated by Choose PT,
“During exercise, the body undergoes a controlled amount of stress. Tissues in our bodies need this stress in order to improve their function and your performance. In fact, when you exercise, your muscles actually undergo “micro-trauma” due to the imposed demand of your activity. Recovery is your chance to build yourself back up stronger than before; it is the link between short-term, immediate benefit and long-term, lasting outcome.”
With any vigorous exercise, your body undergoes a strain. During this strain, your tissues are “damaged” in a sense, since they are overworked. Rest and recovery allow your tissues to strengthen and heal, in addition to allowing you to restore the energy you lost from working out. A recovery period is necessary for your tissues to become accustomed to this form of exercise, especially if it is something that you will be adopting as a regular workout.
This is also known as the “Principle of Adaptation,” stating that your body becomes more efficient after it recovers and strengthens from the stress of exercise. Essentially, this states that your cardiovascular system improves, your muscles become stronger, and your ability to reach new physical heights improves during a recovery period, as your body is adapting to the exercise it is taking part in.
Nevertheless, any physical therapist will tell you that too much stress can be detrimental to your body – there comes a point when the line of adaptation is crossed and your body becomes injured. That’s why knowing how and when to take a proper recovery period is so important.
How can I tell if I’m overtraining?
Without proper recovery periods, you may “overtrain” yourself. Many athletes fall into this vicious cycle – you feel great, so you decide to skip your recovery process. But then you see your performance begin to decrease – so what do you do? You work out some more, continuing to skip your recovery periods. As a result, performance begins to decrease further, and workouts become more difficult. If you feel as if your gains are starting to diminish no matter how much you’re exercising, that could be your body’s way of telling you that you need to take a break.
Other signs of overtraining may include fatigue, depression, or injury. This can happen if you don’t allow yourself enough recovery time between workouts, your recovery periods are not sufficient enough for the intensity of your workouts, or you aren’t giving yourself enough replenishment or sleep following a workout.
Schedule a consultation today
If you are looking for a proper recovery period plan, a physical therapist can help you create one. Whether you’re in rehabilitation from a sports injury or just trying to maintain an intense workout program, recovery periods are essential to your progress. Perhaps you didn’t even notice you’ve been overtraining and you’re looking to find some guidance – whatever the case may be, Fusion Performance is here for you.
Schedule a consultation with one of our physical therapists today to get started on your treatment plan for reaching your optimum level of physical success!
