Recovery Strategies, Sumos and Prowlers
Do you guys know how important it is to give your body time to recover from the INTENSE workouts you put it through??? The truth is that your body MUST have down time in order to rebuild the tissue that you break down during a workout. Sometimes this can be as little as half a day and a good night’s sleep, but sometimes it requires a little more time. If you ever begin to feel that you are more tired than usual, have more muscle soreness than usual, and/or are sleeping poorly, one of the reasons could be that you are not taking enough time to recover! How about giving your body as much as a week to heal, repair and regenerate. “IMPOSSIBLE!” – you say – how will I ever get that new Snatch PR if I’m not at the gym EVERY DAY putting out EVERY BIT OF ENERGY???!! Trust me, it works.
One of my favorite (and most effective) ways of taking a recovery week is to still come to the gym, but just go through the movements (or WODS) at very light weights (or intensities), and spend a LOT of time with mobility and stretching. The great thing about taking a “light” week as a recovery week is that you don’t lose any of your skills or strengths, because you are still putting your body through the movements.
The proof is in the pudding, of course, and do I have some delicious, dark-chocolate-coconut-milk pudding for you – today (after a light week last week) I hit a 15 pound PR on my Snatch – like it wasn’t even anything! Just goes to show!
So, do you need to take a light week this week? If so, come into the gym, turn that dial down to about 3 or 4, work on your mobility and stretching, and see what kind of a BOSS you can be next week when you’ve finally given your body time to catch up to you!
Here’s a little more reading for you, if you’re geeky like me, about how important recovery is to your training – click here to read.
-Emilie
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Tuesday’s WOD:
Sumo Deadlift – Find 3rm
9 Deadlifts (315/225)
9 Strict Pull Ups
1 Prowler Push (90/30)
6 Deadlifts
6 Strict Pull Ups
2 Prower Pushes
3 Deadlifts
3 Strict Pull Ups
3 Prowler Pushes
*1 Prowler push = front of the gym to the back or vise versa
* Prowler weight is calculated simply in the amount of weight added to the prowler
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