Most people don’t pay much, if any attention to recovery. The same person who will gladly come in to train 4-5 times a week will often stay up way too late, walk around chronically dehydrated and fail to stretch or foam roll.

In many respects I’m guilty of neglecting my recovery. I typically drink 2-3 cups of coffee during the day (and I mean real cups, as in a mug, not a measurement’s worth). I generally stretch or foam-roll 1-2 times a week at most. In other ways I’m great, and I know I do more than most people. I usually get 8 or more hours of sleep, and I’m pretty diligent with my rest days. Of course, we can always do more and get better. I’m going to share some of the reasons why recovery is so important, and some easy ways you can help or improve your efforts.

1. Why invest in recovery?

You need recovery to adapt/get “better”.

It’s been said before- you don’t get stronger from lifting weights, you get stronger by recovering from lifting weights. In other words, lifting weights is the stimulus or stress you put on your body. Your body responds by adapting to that stress (getting stronger), but you can’t adapt unless you give your body what it needs- the time and energy to rebuild. In practical terms, this means resting and fuel (food).

You can think of every type of training in this fashion- the training is the stimulus, and the recovery is when you adapt. So, rest is just as if not more critical to athletic development that the exercise itself!

2. How does one “recover”?

This is a much larger topic. I’ll address some of the most important facets-

Getting the proper amount of rest is critical. Sleep is the restorative period in our lives, the time when the body purposefully shuts out outside stimuli for the purposes of rest and rebuilding. The physiology of sleep is incredibly complex and not fully understood, but the following has been shown without question-

-       8 hours or more of sleep has been shown to improve mental performance during waking hours

-       athletes who do not get enough sleep have delayed and blunted gains from training

-       deny a person sleep for long enough and irreversible neurologic and physiologic changes occur

-       deny an animal sleep and it dies within days

I could elaborate but I don’t need to. Everyone knows how horrible you feel when you need sleep, or when you don’t get enough. Unfortunately, a very common problem is that most people don’t get enough sleep, and they’re chronically sleep-deprived (the negative effects of lack of sleep accumulate, and one good night’s rest won’t undo them).

Most of us are so used to this state that we don’t even think about it. Getting 6 hours of sleep, and the feeling that results seems normal. Most of us think we can function on such a little amount of sleep. You can’t, or at least not optimally. Think of all the things you accomplish during the day- how much better or faster would you be, or how much more could you do with a full 8 hours of sleep? A lot of people will never know the answer to that question. You may even know a person who gets 4-5 hours of sleep, but says they “don’t need anymore” and seem to really be able to function on such a little amount. I submit to you they are performing far below their potential- who knows what they could do with adequate rest?

So, what are some things you can do improve your sleep?

a. prioritize your life- this sounds trite so bear with me. You have to ask yourself, what’s more important- watching the late show on TV, or getting to bed? If you do chores/work during the night, could you do them during the day instead? The point is, all of us could probably carve out more time for sleep at night, but we’d have to rearrange our lives to do so. Most excuses about not being able to get enough sleep end up being examples of poor prioritization on inspection.

b. No caffeine or stimulants later in the day- easy to do. If you get tired in the afternoon (most of us do, our natural circadian rhythm takes a dip during that time), resist the urge to drink that cup of joe. Instead, think of the benefits when you eventually restore your sleep cycle to what it should be; you’ll be less tired throughout the day for the long term!

c. Sleep hygiene- this refers to making your sleep area as conducive to sleep as possible.  The room should be dark, as in pitch-black. Eliminate as much electronic light (clocks, TV, etc.) as possible. Studies have shown people react to even the slightest bit of ambient light as a cue to “wake up” and sleep under such conditions is lighter and less restorative. In fact, exposure to artificial light BEFORE going to sleep can have the same effects. What this means is, try and avoid the TV or computer 30 min before going to bed. If you don’t have them I highly recommend black out blinds or something similar so you can block every bit of light coming from the outside. They really help.

Your room should be cool and comfortable, of course. In addition, try and make the bedroom only for sleep (or another fun activity done in bed), and not for reading, watching TV, etc. You want your sleep area to be associated with sleep and nothing else. Along these lines, if you have the chance don’t sleep on the couch or some random spot that presents itself. If you’re going to do it, do it right and sleep properly, in your bed. Falling asleep to TV doesn’t help. I know some members of CrossFit Elysium PREFER to fall asleep to TV. My advice would be to stop this practice, and instead force yourself to sleep as I described above. There may be quite a few nights as the body adjusts, but eventually it will and they will feel a whole lot better.

Sleep is one area where I’m pretty disciplined. I try to go to bed around 10pm each night with the intention of getting 8 hrs. I also nap during the day if the opportunity presents itself. My bedroom has black out blinds, and I rarely read in bed. There is no TV in the bedroom. I no longer drink caffeine in the afternoon. One area I fail in is avoiding artificial light before bed- I’m always on the computer, often up until the minute I get ready for bed. In addition, with my call nights at the hospital there are definitely times I don’t get enough sleep and/or am up all night working. That part can’t be helped, unfortunately.

Most of us are dehydrated. The current recommendations are for people to drink at least 64oz of water throughout the day, much more so if they are exercising or sweating. I know very few people who drink water with that discipline, including me. On top of that, many of us drink diuretics like coffee or soda with caffeine which just cause us to lose more water.

Being properly hydrated helps facilitate your body’s normal processes, including recovery.  Staying properly hydrated keeps you peeing, and urinating is one of the body’s primary ways of excreting toxins and waste products. It’s been said that if you don’t need to pee, you’re not drinking enough water. So, how can we go about staying properly hydrated? These are no-brainers-

a. Drink throughout the day. Have a water bottle on you as often as possible. Schedule times you’ll stop and consciously drink- say, the top of every hour.

b. Avoid diuretics as much as possible- think anything with caffeine. I love my coffee as much as the next person, but I’ve tried to cut it down quite a bit since starting CrossFit. This will also help with your sleep as above, and if you’re a soda fiend eliminating soft drinks will edit out a TON of crap calories as well. Let’s put it this way- soda is AWFUL. It’s pure sugar water, often with caffeine thrown in. It’s probably one of the worst things you could put into your body. And before you argue, diet soda is almost as bad. For anyone trying to lose weight, sleep better, or feel better (i.e., everyone), soda is the devil. If you still drink this crap, try replacing all of it with water. Your body will thank you. And if you refuse to give up soda, ask yourself why?

Fish Oil

Ahh, fish oil. This may be as close to a miracle drug as we’re ever going to find. Amongst the many benefits that fish oil has been shown to confer are-

-       lowers cholesterol, triglycerides, and risk of heart disease

-       reduces systemic inflammation and muscle soreness from training

-       stabilizes mood, and may reduce the risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s

I can’t think of any actual pharmaceutical that can do even three of those things, let alone without side effects. Again, if you’re not taking fish oil daily, my question is, why? It’s literally all good with no downside. Of course, this assumes you have high-quality, purified fish oil (Stronger Faster Healthier and Barlean’s are a couple good examples; if your fish oil doesn’t measure up to the EPA:DHA ratios in these products it’s probably crap).

Personally, I think of fish oil like I think of breakfast- it’s not an option. And in fact I take my fish oil after breakfast so I don’t forget it. Many of our members can attest to just how useful fish oil is, and how they feel if they forget to take theirs. Look into it or ask one of the coaches- it will do wonders for you.

I can think of maybe two people that stretch and foam roll as often as they should, and one of them is Kelly Starrett, creator of CrossFit’s Mobility WOD and a mobility/recovery fanatic. The rest of us, including me, generally leave it until the last minute, do it sporadically, or not at all.

The benefits of stretching and foam rolling are linked to mobility. Both modalities allow your muscles, tendons, joints and ligaments to assume their proper alignment and travel through a normal range of motion. “Tight” parts of your body act as physical impediments to proper motion and are a set up for injury. Over time, chronically immobile portions place greater demand on other parts of your body, resulting in greater stress, muscular imbalance and wear and tear even in previously unaffected areas.

There are many different ways to stretch, and some of them are wrong. Here are some key do’s and don’ts-

-       DO try and stretch every day

-       DON’T aim for hyperflexibility; joints and ligaments that are too lax are just as dangerous as ones that are too tight

-       DO stretch each major area/muscle group for at least a minute

-       DON’T stretch to the point of causing yourself pain

-       DON’T stretch before a workout; stretching prior to exercise has been shown to decrease maximal muscular output and blunt neural sensitivity, without decreasing the risk of injury. Instead, aim for general mobility and being properly warmed up.

-       DON’T “bounce” when you stretch. In other words, find a stretch and hold it, but don’t repeatedly stretch/relax the affected area. This can cause injury.

Foam rolling, also known as self-myofascial release, works by breaking up scar tissue and knots of fibrous material in muscle and fascia (the layer that covers muscles). This scar tissue forms as a normal consequence of training. When allowed to build up and persist, it acts as a “brake” and impedes fluid muscle movement and contraction.

As one can tell from the description above, foam rolling should be done regularly (i.e., daily). The problem is, it HURTS. Done correctly, foam rolling can be excruciatingly painful. If one foam-rolls regularly, this pain goes down quite a bit, but it’s hard to establish a routine in the beginning when it hurts so much.

I would advise every athlete to purchase a foam roller and use it during a free moment during the day. They are very inexpensive and easy to use. The coaches can show you how to use one optimally, or there are a ton of free videos available that can explain the technique. The trick with foam rolling is to get yourself into a routine so you stick with it. Again, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t foam roll nearly as often as I should. I do have a roller at both my home and office so that access is not an issue.

Rest days

A rest day is simply defined as a day in which you give your body a chance to recover and grow. It doesn’t necessarily mean a day in which you don’t work out at all (although for most people that’s the most practical and effective); however, at a minimum one should only do light/technique work on a rest day. The whole point is you’re supposed to be allowing your body to recover, grow and benefit from training earlier in the week. For an athlete who trains 3x a day, a “rest day” may be a day in which you only train once. For most of us, then, a rest day will be a day in which NO training occurs.

I suspect most people actually have no problem getting their rest days. CrossFit typically prescribes a “3 on, 1 off” workout cycle, meaning workout 3 days in a row, then rest for 1. This is simply an empiric formula that has been shown to produce good results for a lot of people- it certainly isn’t set in stone. Powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters have benefitted from a variety of work/rest cycles, but most programs plan for at least 2-3 rest days a week. In general, I think most regular people work out 3-4 days a week at the most, so getting enough rest days is not a problem per se.

There are a small subset of CrossFitters that could use additional rest days. Typically, these are the people that have gotten into CrossFit completely and “drank the Kool-Aid”, so to speak. They are the ones that have completely changed their lives around CrossFit- they speak, breathe, and live it. Generally, these people want to advance rapidly and become better CrossFitters, and their plan is to come in to the gym whenever possible- meaning, unless they have a broken bone, they’re going to be there to train. While the enthusiasm is commendable, training hard every day is not the secret to long term success.

I learned this lesson myself the hard way. One can only train at high intensity for so long before progress stalls and the risk of injury goes up. When I first started CrossFit I definitely thought “more is better”. I felt every day off represented a lost opportunity, a wasted day that I could have been training. Even now I still feel this way and at times have to force myself to take a day off. When you work out, you “know” you’ve done something positive with your day. It’s hard to look at a “non workout” in the same light but you should.

Every time I have over-trained and denied myself the rest I needed I either got an injury, didn’t make the gains I expected, or both. Every time this happened I learned a little, and now (after long experience) I realize how critical rest days are. Please don’t make the mistakes I did and instead benefit from the lessons learned from my stupidity. If you’re training hard several days a week, you need rest days, end of story.

If you focus on these areas of recovery your performance and what you get out of CrossFit Elysium will explode by leaps and bounds. Again, if there are any questions please feel free to contact one of the coaches.

Coach L