Once we get back into our movement and/or exercise routines, we discover (or rediscover) that recovery and regeneration are important. There is a current in gym culture that I deeply object to and it is the “no pain, no gain” and related stuff. Yes, we sometimes have to get uncomfortable to make progress, but if we are in pain, something is actually wrong.
Further, without recovery, we don’t make gains. Our muscles get stronger not while we are working, but when we are done, when we rest and the microdamage we have caused repairs itself, only better.
Recovery and regeneration are not intuitive in our wider culture either. We hear a lot about hustling and we glamorize being so busy that we don’t have time to sleep or eat. Excuse me, but no.
Tired and sore people are usually not happy people. (I say usually because there are certainly times, like after a really intense workout, where we are happy because we’ve done more than we ever thought we could, or broke a personal record, or are bathing in endorphins.) When we chronically deprive ourselves of recovery and regeneration, we are depriving ourselves, not only of our best performance, but of our best existence. (This is the part where I insist that you are valuable and wonderful and need to be in the world even if you don’t do anything. You are not your performance, no matter what your boss or your family or ads tell you.)
So: How is recovery going for you? (Tomorrow I’m going to talk about things you might do to recover, in case you need ideas to reboot.)
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