Hey everyone! Welcome to my 4th blog post!
Todays topic is one I think we have all encountered at one point in another within our exercise or
training.
Social media has popularised this trend and I increasingly see more people falling for it…
Taking no rest days!
Now, if you’re not familiar with how the body works and how we push for physiological adaptation,
I can see how people fall into this trap/mentality.
I’ve seen too many posts of jacked guys/girls with 8 packs trying to push this narrative that they
got there by training as hard as physically possible 7 days a week.
Three things are likely driving the progression we see from these individuals.
- They are a genetic mutant and defy the basic physiology that otherwise plagues every other human (unlikely)
- They’re using some kind of performance-enhancing drug that’s helping them with recovery and
therefore adaptation - THEY ARE LYING about how they train and want to give off this persona of being special
Sadly, with exercise very few are special. We work hard, we recover, we adapt. This sequence
can’t really happen with out recovering.
So lets have a good look into the physiology of recovery and why its just as important to recover
as it is to push during your exercise.
1. The Process of Recovering
When you train—whether lifting weights, running intervals, or grinding through a Hyrox session—
you’re not building strength in that moment. We’re breaking down the muscle causing micro-
trauma that then triggers multiple responses from the body to start the recovery process.
- We get an inflammatory response that recruits immune cells to start repairing the broken down
muscle tissue - Satelite Cells then begin to rebuild muscle fibres
- Protein synthesis elevates, but only If the body isn’t under a lot of stress
If we keep compounding stress by training everyday we stop this recovery process from
happening.
2. How Our Hormones Respond
When we start moving towards chronic under recovery, the stress hormone cortisol elevates in the body. This then has the complete opposite effects of why people tend to exercise. It can
- Reduce testosterone & growth hormone
- Impair our sleep duration and quality (less deep/REM sleep)
- Often lead to greater fat storage
This makes it increasingly difficult to get the adaptations we want from our exercise/training.
3. Nervous System Fatigue
Training doesn’t just break down muscle tissue, it has an impact on our central nervous system
(CNS) too. CrossFit & Hyrox in particular, where we often train at high intensity can greatly increase CNS fatigue. This can lead to –
- Poor movement quality
- Increased risk of injury
- Feeling lethargic and unmotivated to exercise
- Reduced strength and capacity when training
Often my way of telling if my CNS is fatigued is if I continually wake up feeling head tired. Everyone is a little groggy when they wake up but if this sticks with you long past waking then maybe its time to look at increasing your rest.
4. Signs you Aren’t Recovering
Some red flags to look for if under-recovery is starting to creep in.
- Decrease in performance
- Poor sleep quality
- Prolonged muscle soreness
- Change in mood
- Elevated resting heart rate
If multiple points here are effecting you its time for some dedicated rest days.
5. Final Thoughts
Remember taking rest days isn’t a sign of weakness, if anything its a sign of intellect.
We can’t operate at 100% everyday and expect the body to keep adapting to the stimulus.
Our rest days are where we consolidate our muscle growth, repair damage within the body and adapt to face the next training session.
Any questions about the about, don’t hesitate to drop me a message!
Thanks,
Sam ✌
