Remember Rest Your Mind As Well As Your Body

Remember Rest Your Mind As Well As Your Body

If you follow my Instagram you will have seen that I got married recently, it was a fantastic day, everything I could have hoped for and more. The morning was fantastic, I was able to run up a hill and jump in a loch with friends. Being active without having to worry at all about if it would impact the day or not. Wathcing, with everyone smiling, over dinner and then being able to dance the night away with friends, family and then finish the night looking at the stars with my new wife *Chefs kiss

We spent the next week relaxing in a Cabin and whilst I have come back still with a dodgy wrist (maybe I will actually get that seen to now!), my mind feels as fresh as it has for a long, long time. It has really made me reflect on the importance of not just resting the body but resting the mind. So often we talk about incorporating rest days for our bodies forgetting that in order for our bodies to recover fully we need to be relatively free of stress, able to sleep well, concentrate on our training and have the head space and awareness to actually give ourselves and/or process feedback given to us by others. As I have said repeatedly, the vast majority of us are not elite athletes, we are normal people with normal lives. This means juggling work (and the stresses that come with it), family, social life, staying healthy and of course whatever training goals we have. Oh yea and of course the subject of this, time to properly switch off and relax.

Spending an hour here or there in front of the TV at the end of the day, still fully connected to everything going on doesn't really cut it either. In the gym we talk about the importance of having a de-load week at the end of a hard block of training in order to allow your body to fully recover but how often do we do this for our minds? I am certainly guilty of filling up a light week of training with a bunch of other stuff. Fitting that in with a de-load week in the gym is ideal but for those of us following an affiliates programme, being able to fit that in around life is difficult at best! In one sense I am lucky that I have committed to a specialist goal so I can now plan my de-load weeks when they fit into life as well (the next one conveniently being Christmas week!). It also means CrossFit will take more of a back seat but let's chat about that another time.

Anyway the point I am trying to make is simple. In order to get the most out of your training, rather than it adding to the stresses of life, build around it. Have de-load weeks around times that work for you, go to the gym at times that suit and days that suit. It's a delicate balance and you have to do and find what works for you (accepting that this will change as we go along) some will prefer to have incredibly busy days so that they can have very clear days to fully relax, others will prefer to space it out. What I would recommend is planning in time to let your body and mind recovery from the rigours of life in order to get the most out of the hard work you are putting in. Taking a full weekend or even a full week at the right time to completley switch off will do your overall health and fitness the world of good!

Andy