Today, we talk the bastard child of the fitness conversation… rest and recovery (and maintenance). It’s difficult. We’ve been conditioned to believe we have to be going going going going all the time in order to “be successful” or reach our goals, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Rest and recovery is essential for progression in the gym, adherence to nutritional balance, mental health, and LIFE.

We chat in depth about de-load weeks, some ways to structure them, why it’s important to de-load your central nervous system. We talk about some healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, the importance of building a nighttime routine (and offer some ideas there), a deep breathing exercise that could potentially help ease you into sleep, and some ways to set yourself up for success in the sleep department.

We talk about rest days! How many, what to do on rest days, why they’re so important, and why they actually have a huge impact on your workouts. We explore some symptoms we see in people who can’t progress in the gym, and those who don’t gift themselves time to rest and recover.

We also talk about our experiences with the fear of taking rest days and how everything changed once we finally did.

We talk about diet breaks: what, why, how, when. We about the diet break Iris has built into her current calorie deficit and how it will help her continue toward her goals. Do our food choices change in a calorie deficit or during a diet break? 

And so much more.

“We need recovery so our bodies can be healthy and grow and change and adapt, and we need coping mechanisms to deal with distress… things that are going to help calm your nervous system. So, it’s really important to make sure you’re recovering not only for your body’s sake, but also for your mind, because your body doesn’t know the difference between mental distress and physical stress.”

- Brooke

“How do we get over things we’re afraid of?

We face it. We don’t get over stuff by avoiding it, we do it.”

– Iris

This week on Tater Talks: Two Bitches Talk Fitness:

·      What is a de-load week and why are they important

·      How to structure a de-load week

·      Why you don’t go balls to the wall every time you lift weights

·      The 4-7-8 breathing method

·      The importance of a sleep routine

·      How to do what you can when you can’t get 8 full hours of sleep

·      Active recovery and rest days

·      More is not better, better is better

·      Symptoms of people who don’t rest and recover

·      The problem with “no pain no gain”

·      Diet breaks: what, why, how, when

·      How to retain muscle in a calorie deficit

·      How much water to drink

·      When to drink water

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Tater Talks: Two Bitches Talk Fitness! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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