Recovery Myths That Are Holding You Back from Gains
Welcome back Primitive Fam! This week we wanted to go into detail about recovery myths in the fitness world. Sometimes the idea of what a gym environment may be like can scare people away from effectively hitting their goal or even trying at all. The “toxic gym culture” and “no pain, no gain” mentality understandably causes some people to shy away from a life involving going to the gym consistently. This could be because they feel like they may get discouraged or lose all their progress if they miss a day in favor of rest or recovery. We want to clear up some of these myths and encourage our potential and existing members to flip that mindset in favor of always paying attention to what our bodies are telling us.
Routinely going to the gym has a lot of preconceived notions attached to it. There are punchlines we constantly see revolving in the gym world, like “grind never stops” or “pain is just weakness leaving the body”, that encourage the idea that you have to suffer to see results in the gym. This could not be further from the truth. Here at Primitive x Swole AF we want our family to get their gains in a productive way that promotes a long lasting and healthy balance. We understand that rest and recovery, while they’re two different things, are both important. Now we have discussed the difference between the two before, but a deeper dive would show us that neither holds you back in your fitness goals. Rest is not laziness in disguise and recovery can take many forms depending on your personal goals. Actually, recovery often helps accelerate your gains timeline.
So what does this look like in reality? As discussed before rest refers to a period of inactivity while recovery is moving your body in ways that actively promote the healing process. Using real recovery to your advantage may look like having a mobility day in your routine to improve range of motion (ROM) and joint stability. The benefits of ROM and joint stability are endless. Almost all basic gym exercises involve a squat/hinge or push/pull movement so we need to keep these parts of our bodies strong in order to perform workouts correctly. Strengthening these parts of your body also translates to home life e.g. lifting heavy objects or being able to keep up with the kids. A mobility day could include dynamic stretching, foam rolling and controlled band exercises that all work together to reduce muscle stiffness and improve circulation. Another version of recovery could involve making a visit to our sauna or cryotherapy machine. While both of these are able to promote a quicker recovery, they definitely help your body in different ways. Cryotherapy, which is known as exposing the body to extremely cold temperatures for short periods of time, helps in recovery by reducing swelling and providing temporary relief from muscle soreness. On the opposite end, using the sauna boosts circulation and helps loosen tightened muscles and repair damaged proteins and cells. These three versions of recovery all aim to accelerate the muscle recovery process, which allows you to stay consistent in the gym because your muscles will be prepared for the strain they take on from intense workouts.
If we break it down in terms of how this would play into the life of a gym goer at any experience level, it would look something like this. You go to the gym for a leg day and you absolutely crush your workout, but are feeling particularly sore. Maybe it’s because you pushed yourself a bit too hard or you haven’t been to the gym in a while, or maybe this is your first time working out legs ever. No matter how it happened, you find yourself the next day feeling like your legs are tree trunks that you can barely move and you want to skip the next workout because there's no way you will be able to keep up. This is where using recovery to your advantage comes in. Instead of calling it quits and giving up or doing another hard workout because “pain means progress” you might try having a mobility and massage day to work out the tight and sore feeling. Doing this instead can help your legs recover faster than if you were to just go home and wait out the pain. It will also help you in the long run because instead of losing the progress you could be making while waiting, that progression will continue because you're actively working to decrease recovery time.
While taking time out of your schedule for active recovery is very important, rest is also vital for the body to continue to perform at optimal levels. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, you’re already playing at a disadvantage. Feeling exhausted every day, but still getting in your workout can be counterproductive because you won’t actually be performing to the best of your ability. Physical exhaustion can lead to poor form and possible injury while mental exhaustion can lead to burn out and stress. Both of these hinder progress in the long run because it can eat away at your ability to stay consistent and disciplined. So if you need a rest day, there is nothing wrong with taking some time to recharge and coming back ready to rock with us and our trainers.
The most important thing when it comes to gains is being able to stay consistent and disciplined. This goes for gym life and personal life, but what we do in the gym changes things on the outside. “No pain, no gain” is a motivating mantra, but is not conducive to a healthy relationship with fitness. We aim for our family to live their best life in and outside the gym. So if all of this seems like a bit much, our trainers are the perfect people to seek out for extra guidance on how to utilize active recovery so that you can always feel and do your best.
Written by the Primitive Movement x Swole AF Team
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