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Rest and recovery are complex concepts. First, I’d like to clarify that I am not necessarily discussing “overtraining”. You can still over train even if you are closely monitoring your regular recovery and rest.

It actually takes a lot to over train, unless you are NOT getting adequate rest and recovery.

By itself, overtraining is unique condition where the amount and style of training being done by an athlete is leaving the body unable to continue to improve performance or maintain performance levels. The most definite sign of overtraining is decreased performance.

The needed rest and recovery of any healthy and active person/athlete
After strenuous exercise the body must rebuild and repair itself. The more supportive the environment, the better able the body is to perform these functions. The better able the body is to recover or regenerate, the greater the capacity for more training and ideally, improved performance. Proper “regeneration” will lead not only to an increase in potential work capacity, but a more healthy individual.

Discipline
Getting adequate recovery and rest requires more discipline often than the workout itself. Even for the most dedicated athlete it requires major lifestyle changes. For example, ask yourself how often do you skip stretching after a work out due to lack of time? Do you make all your meals for each day ahead of time? Do you get enough sleep? Do you get personal time every day? If the answer is, “Hell no!” to all of these, then there is a problem!

Let’s look at the most important components: nutrition, sleep, hydration, stretching, massage, personal time, relationships, chiropractic adjustments, contrast therapy, warming-up.

CLICK HERE to keep reading more about rest and recovery

Click on any of these Rest and Recovery topics you may be interested in:

Nutrition
Sleep
Hydration
Stretching
Massage
Personal Time & Relationships
Chiropractic Adjustments
Contrast Therapy
Warming-up
Balancing these R&R Components

Anything worth doing is worth doing well or not at all, John Kear at rest!

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Remember… the path is long and hard; it is our journey alone. We can seek shelter from the storm but we must build the strength to endure; we can seek solace in times of trouble yet we must learn how to survive; and we must feel all that is given to us in hope of understanding.”

-Carolyn

“To reach beyond what you are, you must ignore the rules and fashions of the day. Or perhaps better yet, cast them way out in your peripheral vision where you can still see them but only as a vague reference point. This doesn’t mean that all the rules are gone. It might mean that you adopt a far tighter code of conduct to ensure the necessary level of intensity and adventure.”

-Peter Croft

Nutrition
Eat at a "zone" friendly diet, consisting of a balance of carbs/fats/proteins. This is a diet of whole foods, grains, vegetables, and lean meats, avoiding processed sugars, processed grains, trans fatty acids, and fast foods. Most recommendations these days lean towards a carbohydrate/protein combination to optimize muscle gain, and glycogen replenishment and in some studies show an indirect positive effect on cortisol production.

See Nutrition!

Sleep
8 to 10 hours a day, avoid or decrease stress. Read "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival" by T.S. Wiley. Most people are deficient in the amount of sleep they get, and they tell you they don’t need it. I couldn’t disagree more with this statement. While we sleep, our bodies repair, replenish, cleanse, and rest.

Hydration
Being hydrated well is critical to all the bodies’ processes. Achieving adequate hydration is tricky and needs to be based on many factors including: environment, size and age of athlete, type of activity, and length of activity. 3 to 4 L of water a day is not a bad place to start, watch the color of your urine, it shouldn’t be yellow. Replace and replenish electrolytes, especially as water intake increases. For more info on water needs: read “Your bodies many cries for water” by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.

Stretching
Stretching should be done by every person/athlete. A 15 – 20 minute daily stretching or flexibility regimen can greatly enhance your current training program. Yoga can be a good complement for many as it also builds in a period of meditation and relaxation which is another critical element of recovery and stress reduction.

Massage
This is not just pampering. Depending on the condition of the athlete, a monthly sports massage may be just the ticket and not that much of a financial burden. If the athlete is recovering from an injury or is an acute state of stress and over training, a weekly massage may be more necessary to help get the athlete back to a state of health. Needless to say massage can be an incredible tool for improving the health and condition of the body.

Chiropractic adjustments/Acupuncture
These are a personal choice but I know many athletes who get regular chiropractic adjustments to maintain a state of health as well as use Acupuncture or Oriental medicine as another tool to support the body through the demands of training.

Contrast therapy
If you are not familiar, this is a practice involving use of alternating hot and cold water submersion. While most of us do not have hot tubs and cold water tanks available, your shower can work as a great second at the end of your shower rinse yourself with cold water especially showers after strenuous workouts. Contrast therapy is useful as a relaxation technique especially before bed to enhance sleep or before a post workout nap.

Relationships/Personal time
I don’t think this needs explanation, however… time for yourself to decompress and relax, even meditate is key to stress reduction and balance in life. As well, positive or negative events in your personal relationships can dramatically affect your training and recovery. Keep these things in mind and work on them both.

Warm-up
And don't forget to warm-up! I can’t emphasis enough what warming up does for the body before a workout or an event. Injury prevention is high on the list of benefits, increased performance capacity during the actual “work” phase of the work out, ergo better training. Take the time to design a general warm-up for all workouts.

Balancing the Rest and Recovery Components
Now that we’ve briefly identified some components of rest and recovery let’s look at how to quantify amount of what you might need and how to know you are getting quality from what you do.

A brilliant coach, Dan John, introduced me to the Lonnie Lowrey Scale which can actually be used to quantify recovery. It is a point scale totaling 20, broken down by the following:

Nutrition: 8

Hydration: 2

Sleep: 3

Rest/Massage/Chiropractic: 1

Meditation/Relaxation/Personal time: 1

Emotional Support/Relationships: 2

Warm-up: 2

Stretching: 1

These are all the components we discussed with a point value, every day you should assess and give a number to each of these categories, be honest. Then consider the intensity of your training, the demands of your workout and your life, and give that a number on a scale of 1 – 20 as well. Begin to compare your totals. If your recovery number is lower than your workout number you aren’t getting enough recovery and you are in a deficit, if this cycle continues you will eventually end up in a hole, most likely injured or under performing. And be fair even if you don’t think you are training that “hard” say (10), and you have a recovery score of (10) you aren’t doing well at a (10) for recovery no matter what!