Workouts

Today's recovery tip is about the basics. There are a handful of everyday habits/ activities that can be leveraged to improve our recovery so that we can both gradually progress in the gym and feel better throughout the day.

1. Sleep - Plain and simple you should be making it a goal to get quality sleep every night. The age-old 8 hours is a great starting point. I wont belabor over the science behind sleep cycles (we can talk about that in the gym if you would like) but I will suggest that you make it a point to go to bed at the same time every night. It might even help to make a little routine for yourself.

2. Nutrition - We all have some inherent concept of what healthy food consumption looks like. I do not want to make any moralistic statements about particular diets or even say that certain foods are "better" than others. BUT you should make it a goal to consume foods with high nutrient profiles (things that grew in the ground or things that ate things that grew in the ground). Macro nutrient ratios, inclusion or exclusion of particular foods, nutrient time, ect. are all topics that are beyond the scope of my expertise. Luckily, we have a world class registered dietitian literally next door to us. I am sure that she would love to sit down and talk with you about your particular nutritional needs.

3. Hydration - You should be drinking water. Plain and simple. If you are like me and you often times think of coffee as a meal replacement then you probably have gotten to the end of the day only to realize you haven't had a single glass of water. Make it a point to have a glass of water when you wake up and during each meal. If you do this you still probably have not reached the amount of water that you should be taking in each day but your a whole lot closer then if you hadn't drank any at all.

These are really basic things that are often times over looked. We all live different lives and we all have different relationships with sleeping and eating. This post is not meant to make you feel bad about your individual habits on the topic. This post is intended to be a reminder that 1). we are all adults and we all are responsible for the things in our lives that we can control and 2). the intention of Duratus is to continuously develop a community of individuals who are relentless in pursuing there goals and motivating those around them to do the same.

Two important things:

1. Read this most recent blog post if you are interested to find out more about how Dūrātus thinks about and seeks to train athletes wanting to become more competitive.

2. Welcome to deload week, Jake will be offering some thoughts regarding a good approach to deloading throughout the week...

"Recently I have been reminded of the importance of the stress-recovery balance in training. After a week of poor quality sleep and too much stress, an old ailment has resurfaced and I have had to suffer the consequences of taking it easy. It's fitting that I have to relearn this lesson right before our deload week.

A deload week is a great time to take a mental step back and let your body rest from the last 3 weeks of training. Throughout the week I'll be providing some considerations for how you can determine and improve your recovery. Today's "tip" is all about how you're feeling.

Start by checking in with yourself. Are you waking up feeling recovered? Are you excited to train when you get to the gym? Do you feel energized and in a relatively good mood throughout the day? Asking yourself questions like these is a good starting point for determining whether you are truly recovering or not. If you chronically answer "no" to any of the previous questions then it might behoove you to start assessing whether you are training too much or recovering too little.

I will discuss some other considerations in reference to recovery as the week progresses.

-Jake"