Between the two of us, our legs are shot possibly due to overtraining. We talked about taking a week off of exercise to let things heal up but then remembered my cousin who trains pretty hard has active recovery weeks once a month. He'll do yoga and light workouts that week. We agreed that we would do upper body strength workouts and yoga or floor calisthenics. Yesterday I did this leg centric yoga session. It was quite interesting if anyone watched me (thank God the Mr was doing other things) and my hips and legs felt completely stretched when I was done.
I've decided not to bother with the heart rate monitor this week because that's not what this week is about. I'm a little weirded out by it but I have to listen to my body right now. I've got an appointment with my chiro on Thursday but I'm hoping I can do enough massage on my own to not have to go. I've got my inserts back in my shoes since obviously my feet need them. So irritating but when I think about it, I can't expect thirty some years of wonky muscle structure to be completely cured in 8 months. So for this week, light workouts and hard strength training.
Do you do active recovery weeks?
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I think doing this will be very beneficial for us in the long run. Some times I feel like my muscles are in constant soreness and giving them some rest while still getting some movement in should be the key.
ReplyDeleteI already feel the benefit between that and the massage and stretching. I think we need to make this a "thing" once a month or every other month as needed.
DeleteI don't intentionally do active recovery weeks, but sometimes they just happen. Usually when life gets really busy or I have other priorities. I am actually in one now. I have been regularly increasing my running distance and my body started to rebel. I woke up in the middle of the night Sunday night with a pain in my toe and yesterday I could barely keep my eyes open last evening. Nothing looks wrong with my toe, but touching it hurt. So I decided to take it easy, wear open toed shoes so nothing touches it, and monitor how it feels. So far so good, the pain is gradually reducing. I'll keep up with my regular Pilates classes, will take easy walks, and do some swimming this weekend instead. Hopefully I will be on the mend quickly and it will give the rest of my body a chance to rest and recover too. I have found that when I take a short break from running, I will come back stronger than ever.
ReplyDeleteGood plan. Glad to hear the pain is reducing and you seem to be on the mend!
DeleteYour active recovery week probably looks a lot like my normal week.
ReplyDeleteGo see the chiro even if you feel better. He helped you so much before, I bet even if you are on the road to recovery he can speed you on your way.
I have not been good at taking rest days even ... I just always worry that something will happen (and injury or illness, me or the kids) will come up and force me to, but so far we've been quite lucky (the kids and I did get hit with the flu back in February ... I DID take a week or two off then). I generally find I feel MORE rundown if I don't workout out some, so even on Sundays ("rest" day)I do try to get a couple sessions on the elliptical in. My exercise endorphins :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your recovery! Strength training is hard though, I sweated it up with it yesterday (so resting from weights today!)
I remember when I was training super hard that my personal trainer would tell me that I needed an active recovery week every once in a while. So much stress on your body, you need to give it some rest so it can continue to perform. Of course, with my lack of consistency in that area right now, I might not be the person to take advice from!
ReplyDeleteMy travel schedule (work or pleasure) creates natural breaks for my weights workouts. I still walk or bike during those times, but I don't worry about times and distances. It never fails, I always come back recharged and ready to go!
ReplyDeleteI have regular interval recovery weeks. I still do regular walking, but at a slower pace (more for movement than speed and calorie burn) and I do lots of stretching exercises I learned when I worked at the physical therapy place. As odd as it might sounds, I work my I-T bands the most down the sides of my legs during the recovery times (I'm NOT good about doing that after my regular exercises). I love the feeling of my hip flexors feeling like they've been greased and my legs are like loose rubber bands. Interestingly, I notice my back feels better and less tight when I do good stretching.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great plan! And I kind of do active recovery when it comes to running, but not for the rest. I think this is something that is going to be more strongly incorporated into my training in the future though thanks to your recommendation/reminder!!
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