Hey all, how is everyone?!? I hope you are feeling good and you crushed your workouts this week. Sommer and I talked, and both of us felt a bit stronger and bit more in shape after our recovery week. That got me thinking about how important that recovery week is for our bodies, so I decided to do a little more research on it and hopefully bang it into your heads a little more 🙂 The reserach I did said that a recovery week is crucial to long term fitness success.
Here are a few reasons why…
For one, physical exercise and weight training puts an enormous amount of stress on not only the muscles of your body, but also on your entire immune system. Exercise has been proven to boost your physical well-being, but like anything else, too much over too long of period can be bad. The muscles require rest in order to grow. Extended time periods of day in and day out exercise, may impede that growth.
Mentally you need a break too. Sometimes it feels good to sleep in, or not have to worry about taking a change of clothes, or thinking about a workout all day if you didn’t get it done in the morning. I know I do that. After your recovery week, you will find yourself mentally ready for exercise again. If you are anything like me, you were anxious to get back to the hard stuff and see what improvements your body has made. Giving yourself a ‘reward’ for all your hard work will keep you coming back and will make exercise a permanant part of your life.
It is okay and actually encouraged to have an active recovery week. Sommer and I follow P90X and it makes it easy for us, but having something light, yet challenging planned is a good idea. Incorporating body weight movements like push-ups and squats, as well as, light cardio days will keep the blood flowing, while also allowing your muscles to rest. Group exericeses like basketball or soccer are great ways to get some exercise in while enjoying your recovery week.
Finally, nutrition, like every other day, is key. You have to be feeding the fire, as they say, if you want to see your body transform. Giving your body the nutrients from good eating habits allows those torn muscles to heal and recover….as always, it is the key!
MY STRUGGLES
I think both Sommer and I were feeling a little depressed and anxious over the time we have left on this deployment. It is a constant struggle. I have learned lately, that I do like to eat when stressed, so I have turned to Shakeology on more than one occasion to keep my hands out of the cookie jar. One struggle I saw Sommer have was not eating enough…she is very busy and actually forgets to eat sometimes. I will talk to her on the phone and its 9PM and she is just then cooking a meal for herself…I am sure a lot of you have the same issue.
Work is starting to ramp up too, finishing up certain qualifications, getting stuff ready to come home and people moving jobs have all added up to make me fairly tired at the end of the day and has made rolling out of bed early far more difficult.
FIX IT!
Sommer and I are trying to talk about more than just where we are in our lives right now, and concentrate more on what the future will hold for us, particularly when I get home. Its almost unavoidable to not mention how much we miss each other and how I can’t wait to get home. Talking about it too much seems to make the time drag on. I am trying to find the silver lining…kind of tough sometimes.
Also, I have made a pact with my self to get to bed by 11PM EST, which is 9AM Afghanistan time (I’m on the night shift), and try and to get at least 6 hours of sleep, which isn’t enough, but more than I have been getting. Hopefully that helps too…plus, the more I sleep, the faster the deployment will go :).
SUCCESSES
I am down a pound. Not looking to lose weight, but I suppose that is good anyways. Both Sommer and I had great workouts this week and both of us were able to get all the way through Ab Ripper X without stopping. For those of you who have done it, you know how tough it is. As I said earlier, we both felt stronger this week, although I am very sore at the end of the week. I suppose that means I had some awesome workouts.
Chad: 6 Workouts and 9 shakes, plus 1lb lost = 55 miles
Sommer: 7 Workouts and 7 shakes = 56 miles
CALL TO ACTION
Keep going! Plane and simple. Just keep going! We are at a point in our challenge when people often get busy in their everyday lives and their health falls to side and then eventually, falls right off the cliff. If you need to, re-dedicate yourself to your nutrition and your workouts. Remember to work hard these next couple weeks and a recovery week will sneak up very quickly. By the time we get there, we will be over half-way done and on the down slope to the finsh line. I hope you all had a great week. Good luck and remember, we are all in this together. Talk to you soon…Chad
I totally forgot to share this recipe the other day when I threw it together. I am a huge fan of Quinoa…Quin-WHAT?!?! I know, that’s what I thought when I first heard about it. It is pronounced “KEEN-WAH”. It is known as “one of the best sources of protein in the vegetable kingdom”. It is is technically not a grain as it comes from a leafy plant. But, it contains more high quality protein than any other grain and can be used in place of rice and couscous in recipes.
Real Fit Training- Team Courage 