Working Out & Recovery

Recovery and Why it’s Important.

Maybe rest days are your favorite days, but I’m sure there are many out there who have felt guilty when taking the day off from a workout.  Those who feel guilty might be surprised to find out that rest days and recovery time are crucial for your body and continuing to train without rest can be worse for you.

What happens during recovery:

After a workout or any other intensive physical work, your body can have muscle tissue breakdown and depletion of energy. You need to allow time for your body to repair those damaged muscle tissue and replenish your energy stores. Without proper time to allow your body to repair, it will continue to break down more and more.

Depending on the person and the exercise they are recovering from, these things can also happen during recovery:

• Muscle fibers are being rebuilt. They are damaged and break apart when put under stress from intense physical work. If given time to recover, they will heal stronger than they were before. This is how muscles are strengthened and grown.
• Restoration of fluids. Your body typically sweats during your workout. You need to ensure you are hydrating before, during, and after your workout to restore your fluids which are important for delivering nutrients to vital organs and muscles of the body through your bloodstream.
• Protein synthesis: which is what grows your muscles, giving them the capacity to handle more exertion.

Signs of Overtraining

Like I mentioned before, overtraining can actually be worse for your body. If you are overtraining, you can typically experience these side effects:

• Decreased performance
• Excessive fatigue
• Agitation and moodiness
• Insomnia or restless sleep
• Chronic or nagging injury
• Stalled progress

If you start to notice these signs, listen to your body and take a day or two or as many as you need off from your workouts and allow your body sufficient time to recover.

Psychological Effects

Aside from the physical aspect of overtraining, there is a psychological aspect to it as well.

Getting stuck in the mindset that you need to work out every day to maintain progress can be mentally draining. Usually what ends of happening is when you miss a day of working out you would feel guilty about it. You may even overcompensate with a harder workout the next day which only puts more stress on your body.

Being addicted to training can take you down a nasty spiral road. It can consume your mind and make you forget to enjoy other things in life. It makes you lose focus on balance between your work life, social life, and workout life.

Do What is Best for You

You can still enjoy training and get the benefits out of it, by training in moderation that is appropriate for your body. This is all very specific to a person based on multiple factors such as age, gender, BMI, eating habits, and other lifestyle habits.

Learn how to listen to your body and if you are feeling a bit fatigued or struggling to feel your best, be okay with stepping away from your workouts until you feel fully recovered. Create a routine that works best with your schedule and allows you to have a healthy balance in your life.

If you need to take a couple more days off a week from your workouts to find that balance in your life, just ensure your diet remains consistently healthy and nutritious. Another great way to recover from workouts besides rest is getting enough nutrients into your body.  Proteins, carbs, and fats all play an important role in your body, so don’t stray away from any of those categories and lean towards whole food options to get in those micronutrients as well.

Hemp Extract and Recovery

Consuming hemp extract to replenish your endocannabinoid system; by binding to receptors in that system that help and protect your entire neural network, homeostasis, immune balance and stress recovery (reduction of pain and inflammation), is a great way to aid in your recovery.

Genesee produces products that are already a part of most health enthusiasts’ diets. With the bonus of hemp extract as an added ingredient, our products give that extra boost of recovery and all-around health and wellness benefits to you and our Genesee community.

You should be training because you love it! Don’t torment yourself or punish yourself with training. Remember that recovery is important, and don’t forget to have that balance in your life and enjoy all that you love! It’s all about being Healthy, Active, and Happy!