We all know the feeling; you’ve had a killer workout, felt great afterwards, but the next day you pull up sore, you feel drained and sluggish and this lasts longer than usual, keeping you from returning to the gym. In this situation it wasn’t that you trained too hard, but you most likely didn’t recover correctly! This week’s PCHC Gym Springvale blog aims to give you the information you need to have the best recovery possible, because progress isn’t made just in the gym, but in the recovery!
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “recovery”? For most it is likely just doing a basic few stretches, going home and resting for the night. But from what we know here at PCHC Gym Springvale, recovery encompasses so much more, it includes, diet, sleep, hydration, flexibility/mobility training etc. For many this can be overwhelming, therefore to keep it simple we will go through the importance of each aspect.
PCHC Gym Springvale Coach Stretching
Areas of Recovery – Gym Springvale
Diet
Recovery nutrition is important, as it helps:
- Refuel & rehydrate our body.
- Boosts adaptation from the training session.
- Promotes muscle repair and growth.
Recovery nutrition is dependant on an individuals type of workout, their goals and body type. Therefore having someone to help tailor your diet to meet your direct needs is perfect, a service our very own dietician Charmaine offers. Come in and see us or give us a call on 0422-808-313 to book an initial appointment with our dietitian at PCHC Gym Springvale.
Sleep
Well-being and sleep go hand in hand, to have a good nights sleep can be just as important as eating well & regular exercise. Sleep helps with:
- Recovering from your daily activities (i.e. workout)
- Boosting your immune system
- Healing damaged cells
Anywhere between 7-9 hours sleep a night is perfect, however with our ever-busy society we are starting to see less and less people get this amount. Some quick tips on how to get better sleep is to:
- Go to bed and wake up on the same time every day, asleep routine throughout the whole week, (week & weekend) helps create good sleep habits.
- Spend time in natural light, this promotes the production of melatonin (hormone that helps with sleep).
- Avoid caffeine/alcohol before sleep.
- Avoid using screens, the light emitted from screens suppresses melatonin.
Sleep is so important that it could have its very own blog dedicated to it (look out for that in the upcoming blogs!).
Flexibility/Mobility
With inadequate recovery we run the risk of overuse or injury, due to our muscles/joints being overloaded with work, yet being unable to recover. Therefore focus should be on keeping the limbs/joints mobile and flexible. For example; when we exercise we want our muscles to be put into their full range of motion (ROM). As training sessions accumulate, certain muscles may become tighter than others, preventing this ROM. If we don’t fix this situation we begin putting extra stress on our body and its muscles/joints, causing this overuse. This can fixed by putting an emphasis on targeted flexibility/mobility sessions, working on getting your joints through their ROM. Luckily for you we offer a specialised class on Saturday mornings for members at PCHC Gym Springvale! Look at the video below for a sneak peak of the the class!
Check out our FaceBook page to find out more about this class or as always come in and see the team at PCHC Gym Springvale today to book a free consultation and chat about how we can help you with your recovery today!
The PCHC Team.
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