Day of recovery

Wow! I had a true experience in just how important it is to allow your body a full day off from working out, so it has the chance to fully recover!! Especially, if you're like me and do a cardio and weight resistance or weight training workout. Let me start from Monday. Monday I went to the gym for my full workout. Then, that afternoon, I decided to work in the yard. Cleaning out dead flowers from the flower bed, then I took on the big job of weeding out a section of our gravel driveway that has been recovering in its own right from my van getting stuck in it back in March, ultimately leading to a temporary demise. So, I spent the remainder of the afternoon pulling weeds there, bent over in a squat position for several hours.

Tuesday, I went to the gym only for time on the treadmill. Most of my "off-days" I will still get a good cardio workout in, which will allow me to get my heart rate up, burning fat, but allowing my muscles a day to recover and repair. Then I came home to return to my weed-pulling task, again in squat position for several hours. Wednesday, back to the gym for a full workout, then my hubby and I spent the afternoon at the driving range practicing our golf swing. Thursday, a FANTASTIC workout!!! I still can't get over how much I worked myself that day! But, I was too busy the rest of the day to get anymore weed pulling in.....which proved to be a good thing. By Thursday evening, I was getting real sore, and real stiff. Yesterday, (Friday), I was so incredibly sore, there was absolutely NO way I was going to even try to walk at a snails pace on the treadmill, I could barely walk around the store when Don wanted to so some shopping! I took Advil several times yesterday to help squelch the pain from my workouts and weed pulling. Didn't really help much. I was in so much discomfort and pain, I wanted to just curl up and cry.... but I can't just sit around and do nothing, so I kept at my day of running around, till bedtime. Uncomfortable the entire day!!! I went to bed scared that I'd not be able to do my workout this morning, and that maybe something else was going on, other than a painful recovery day.

But.....here I am...after a good night sleep, and an honest-to-goodness day of recovery, most of that pain is officially gone!! And, I am ready for another great workout!!! It is sooo important to allow your body a full day of recovery every few days. Your body needs that time to repair itself. Regardless if you've been having bad diet-days, or if you've hit a plateau, and feel the need to just keep going everyday......if you don't give yourself the proper time to recover/repair....you're only going to cause damage, which could lead to injury, which could lead to a lot more time off from your workout. So, take that full day off now and then. You won't regret it! :-) :-)