Friday, April 4, 2008

Workout Myth #1- Recovery time?

It's Friday and I woke up feeling pretty good. I usually am a little muscle sore from my various workouts and it feels good - makes me feel alive and like I am working towards something. Yesterday ended up being a 3 workout day: 2 Pilates workouts and a Crossfit workout.

Now I know a bunch of people get alarmed when you tell them you workout everyday and more than an hour a day. That doesn't make sense to me. Any Olympic athlete, gymnast, ballet dancer or any professional athlete didn't get to where they are on one hour a day 5 days a week. They push themselves. Even Madonna or an actor training for a physical role will workout like crazy to get ready.

But don't you need a day to recover? My response is: If your legs or arms or glutes are fried then yes you need some time to recover but that is just logical and listening to your body. Abs can be cranked on every day because there is so much blood running through them to help with recovery.

So some days I wake up and discover that my hamstrings or glutes or arms are super sore so I give them some time to recover. I also try to get a little extra sleep to help with that process. And then I go at it again. And again, and again.

Today will probably be a no workout day unless I run the stairs because I am going to the ballet tonight to see those athletes work their bodies in amazing ways. BTW, it's Midsummer Night's Dream

1 comment: