E.S.P

Post date: Sep 03, 2011 11:26:11 PM

“Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.”

-Ralph Marston

One of the most neglected facets of our training is the recharge cycle. We all love to train, and we love to train hard. It’s great to push yourself to the limit, in order to expand the boundaries and grow, and the feeling after a great workout is, well, great. But, in order to sustain a high level of training, in order to surpass where we are today, we gotta be sure that we allow ourselves to recharge physically, mentally and spiritually. Here are a few suggestions, and since I’m not a doctor, nor do I want to play one on TV, take this advice for what it’s worth…uh, my opinion.

Eat:

Be sure to eat, and drink, the right stuff and plenty of it. Calories are good. Calories are your friend. I repeat, calories are you friend. They are not the enemy, so eat up; just make sure the calories you consume are the good ones. Avoid refined foods as much as possible. No white flour products or white rice; go for the whole grains and complex carbs. Balance your meals and be sure to eat plenty of fruits and veggies and an adequate amount of good quality protein. There are tons of websites that can give you good advice on what and how much to eat based on your needs, so check them out.

Along with health eating, be sure to drink plenty of, as one of my old engineering professors used to say in just about every class, “good ole H20”. Skip the sugary drinks, avoid the “healthy” sports drinks that are chocked full of high fructose corn syrup…don’t get me started on that. Just drink water.

Sleep and stretch:

Make sure to get a good amount of sleep. While everyone is different in their needs, 7 hours is what is most recommended.

Most people stretch before training, but be sure to do a warm-down stretch after training too. And, on days that you are not training, stretch to keep your muscles and body strong and supple.

Pray and play:

Make time everyday to feed your spirit.

Take time everyday to laugh and enjoy the simple things around you.

Finally, don’t be afraid to just chill out and rest. That’s not always easy, and deep down, I still fear that if I take a day off, or if I do light training instead of hardcore mad-dog training, I’ll somehow lose or forget everything I’ve learned. Is it just me? Maybe it’s just me. Well, so far, I haven’t contracted skill-amnesia from takin’ it easy. In fact, I think I benefit more from takin’ it easy and training lightly every now and then, than from always going all-out. So…I think it’s safe to say, resting is extremely important and should be an integral part of any advanced training regime.

There you go, simple advice that I believe can go a long way in improving your training and enhancing your life. Train hard, and then eat up, drink up, and chill out.

EDB

08.17.09