Motivation Monday: How to Recover

This morning, I woke up with the sorest, tightest neck muscles I can remember. This has been a mounting issue for the last couple weeks: a muscle in my neck on the right side has gradually been locking up and becoming extremely uncomfortable.

This was very, very, very covered in snow until very recently!

Do you rest?

So since today is Motivation Monday, I wanted to write a little about how recovery, resting, and stretching have to play an aspect in your efforts to get stronger, leaner, and healthier.

Do you rest? Do you take days off of your workouts? When you finish a workout, do you cool down and gently lower your heart rate? All of these are necessary things.

I don't know him personally, but I'm confident that Michael Phelps takes his recovery seriously. He's an athlete, and if we're working towards athletic goals, we need to act like athletes.

Maybe this week, you can build in a rest day, and incorporate one conscious cool down after a workout.

Do you stretch?

Strictly speaking, we should warm-up, we should stretch before working out, we should stretch after working out, and we should move slowly to open up our muscles that had tightened up from everyday living. But how much time to we actually give to stretching? If you have an hour-long workout, do you spend an hour sweating on the treadmill? Or do you spend about 45 minutes sweating but a good chunk--15 minutes--taking care of your body?

Some of my favorite ways to force myself to stretch properly are to take a streamed yoga class. Because it's a class, it's easier for me to take seriously. And it's inherently nurturing for the body. Alternatively, when I finish a workout, I'll set a timer and try to fill the time with stretching and using a foam roller.

My favorite tools for recovery:

My husband and I bought a Theragun this past summer, and it's been a great device. I love to use it on my shoulders, feet, and hamstrings!

I also love our foam roller! For some reason, it feels like a chore to get on the floor and start foam rolling, but it's very, very beneficial. In the same vein, rolling a tennis ball or golf ball under your bare foot can feel soooooo good. Anything to loosen up the tiny little muscles and tendons.

Blankets/folded towels: in many yoga classes, folded up blankets are used to prop you up a little bit, and it's astonishing how much comfort the small bit of cushioning provides.

Today's Delights:

• My husband and I were absolutely gloomy from a pseudo return of winter this weekend! But we did a couple things that we find most comforting. One of those is orange chicken from Trader Joe's. I don't know exactly why it's so comforting for me, but it just makes me feel happy. We had that for dinner on Saturday night.
• On Saturday afternoon before it got too cold, we went for a long walk at a local park. It's always wonderful to take good walks.
• Yesterday, although I am a bit annoyed by the lack of self-control, I had so, so many treats. They were very tasty, and a pretty good cure for these return-of-winter doldrums.
• And yesterday, I did a great ride and core workout on the Peloton app with the instructor, Olivia. Who I had not taken before: it was fun!

Find something delightful! -A