There Are Times to “Push It” and Times to… Not?13

Posted In Rest/Recovery

As you all can probably tell from my some of my training sessions and some of my YouTube videos… I am NOT afraid of hard work. I am NOT afraid to push myself to the limit and bust my ass to reach my goals. In fact, check out some of my crazier videos here:

155 lbs Deadlift for 54 reps in 2 minutes

165 lb Bench Press

Bret Contreras’ Sexy Challenge

315 lb Hip Thrusts for 12 reps

Are you Bankrupt?

Like I said above, I am obviously not afraid of hard work, but the point of my post is not to show how hardcore I am. In fact, quite the opposite. The point of this post is to explain that you CANNOT push yourself hard every day. In fact, pushing it hard on a regular basis without replensishing yourself can actually prevent you from reaching your goals and leave you “bankrupt.” Literally. You see, I like to think of my body like a bank account… stay with me here… I am not crazy (well, OK maybe I am… but not about this!) You see, if you continually take more out of your bank account than you put back in, you will be bankrupt, right? And we all know that once you’ve gone bankrupt, it’s way harder to get back on your feet again. Same thing with your body. If you continually push yourself past your limits without doing what you need to do to rest and recover, you’ll end up in the same boat.

Putting Money in Your Account

Here are some things that “put money in your account:”

Sleep

Good nutrition

Recovery work (foam rolling, contrast showers, epsom salt baths, etc)

Massage work

Acupuncture

Proper supplementation

Meditation

Healthy social interaction with friends/loves ones

Light recovery workouts

Walking

Etc, etc, etc.

Taking Money Out

Below are some of the thing that “take money out of your account:”

Lack of sleep

Work stress

Financial stress

Family stress

Excessive exercise and/or the wrong types of exercise

Super intense exercise (especially CNS-intensive exercise)

Poor nutrition

Unhealthy social interaction (fighting, drama)

Negative self-talk

Etc, etc, etc.

As you can see, it’s not just exercise and nutrition that put money in or take money out… in fact, it can be mostly what you do outside the gym that counts. My business partner Jim Laird put a sign on our door as you walk out of the gym that says, “The Real Work Begins Now.” And it’s true… we may only see our clients 2-3 times a week for 50 minutes. It’s what they do the rest of the time that will really affect their long-term results.

In case anyone was wondering, yes, this post was inpsired by my Facebook status from Saturday afternoon as I soaked up a little sun and relaxed. Here is what it said:

“Didn’t really feel like getting in a hardcore workout today… So I just did some breathing drills, my PRI (pelvic/hip rehab), a little rolling, and a few sets of pulldowns. Just because you don’t have much time or don’t feel like getting your butt kicked, doesn’t mean you can’t still do a few things that will bring you closer to your goals. Every little bit helps and it’s often neglecting the small things that can keep you from reaching your goals and/or keep you injured/in pain.

Listen to your body… There are times to push it and times to reign it in and rest. Today is one of those days for me!”