Still Recovering

You may have heard about the running route I took on about 3 weeks ago. I spent 20 something hours trying to move as quickly as I could through the gnarliest mountain terrain New Hampshire has to offer. It was quite the feat. Such a feat, in fact that I’m still recovering from it today more than 3 weeks later.

We all imagine that when we exercise, our bodies build strength and muscle and more fitness right then and there. However, this is a huge misconception. We don't adapt while exercising, exercise is stressful. Instead, we adapt and improve and see our gains once we recover. My reason for sharing the story above is to help relate that message. It’s easy to see after a massive effort like that you’d be feeling a little slow or tired or unenthusiastic about training, but that happens with our everyday gym efforts, too.

Our efforts in the gym accumulate. Every now and then, you may find yourself out exercising your recovery abilities. And you guessed it, the more fit you are, the better at recovering you are. The point I want to stress today is that your gains happen when you’re away from the gym and it’s all stuff that you know about. Hydration, sleep, nutrition, stress management. All the these play an integral role in our recovery, and therefore our fitness. It’s easy to see in the extreme example that recovery takes a long time, but day in and day out, we forget that we are in control of so much that happens to us outside of the gym.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain