The Quickest Way to Get Results That Most People Miss
If you've been hitting the gym and pushing your limits, but you feel like your gains are coming at a glacial pace, you're likely missing the most important step.
Working out might be the most challenging part, but it's only 10% of the iceberg.
The most impactful part of your fitness journey, believe it or not, comes after you've re-racked your weights.
The key to unlocking optimum performance and maximizing your results actually comes from these three words: rest, recovery, and nutrition.
Once you can successfully and consistently employ these 10 techniques, you'll skyrocket your results while protecting your body in the process.
Rest and Sleep: When you sleep, your body produces growth hormone, which is essential for muscle repair and growth. During deep sleep stages, blood flow to your muscles increases, bringing in important nutrients and oxygen that aid in healing and growth. Aim for 8-8.5 hours of sleep and you'll be golden.
Eat Healthy Foods: Proteins are the building blocks of muscle, so eating them after a workout helps repair and build muscle tissue. Carbohydrates replenish glycogen stores in your muscles that are used up during exercise. Vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables support various physiological functions, including muscle recovery.
Stay Hydrated: Water is crucial for all bodily functions, including circulation and the transport of nutrients to your muscles. Dehydration can hinder your body's ability to repair itself and can also lead to muscle cramps.
Stretch and Do Gentle Exercise: Light exercise and stretching can help alleviate muscle tightness and enhance circulation. This increased blood flow helps to transport nutrients and oxygen to your muscles, aiding in the recovery process. We offer a variety of movement and mobility classes that are perfect for this.
Take Rest Days: Over-exercising can lead to overtraining syndrome, where your body is in a constant state of stress and doesn't have time to recover. Rest days allow your muscles, nerves, bones, and connective tissue time to rebuild.
Listen to Your Body: Pain and discomfort are your body's way of signaling that it needs a break or that something isn't right. Ignoring these signals can lead to injuries.
Cool Down After Exercise: Gradually lowering the intensity of your exercise helps to prevent blood pooling in your extremities and assists in the removal of lactic acid from your muscles, which can reduce soreness.
Use Foam Rollers or Massage: This can help in breaking down knots in the muscles and increase blood flow to specific areas, aiding in the recovery process. This is known as myofascial release. Pro tip: use compression boots, the massage bed, or chair to release lactic acid buildup,
Take Hot Saunas and Cold Showers: Not only is sauna great for reducing all-cause mortality, when you pair it with cold showers, you supercharge your circulation and even improve your mental health. Plus you'll flush toxins out of your body in the process.
Use Wave Frequency and Light Therapy: Adding these to your routine minimizes down-time and cranks up your body's healing properties on a cellular level. Look for our next email where we'll explain this even more.
The more of these techniques you can add to your routine, the more results you'll see.
We're building out a state-of-the-art recovery center so that we can support you on all of your fitness and wellness goals. New therapeutics are arriving weekly, and we can't wait for you to take full advantage of them.
Access coming soon!
Rest up,
Your West Coast Fitness Family
