One of my favourite sayings concerning exercise programming is: YOU CAN’T KEEP ADDING.
Meaning exercises, workouts, cardio & conditioning workouts, or even just stuff to do (or try to remember to do) — there’s a limit to how much you can add!
Everything has a cost in terms of time, energy, and focus versus overwhelm.
Another way of looking at it is everything you do or make time for writes a check from your Recovery Bank Account.
And not just the diet & exercise stuff. All the other things you got going on? Work, kids, school, arguing online?
Those all write checks too. So it doesn’t take long before you’re into your overdraft and eventually bankrupt.
Now imagine if there was a to-do that actually reduced stress, aided recovery, and acted like a DEPOSIT into your Recovery Bank Account?
It’s called walking. Even though it expends energy, its restorative qualities are somewhat unique in that it GIVES BACK MORE than it takes.
The only downside to walking at a modest pace is it’s time-consuming. So don’t let making more time for “stress managing walks” become yet another stressor. Walk as much as you can, when it works.
In other words, don’t try to operate on 5 hours sleep so you can get up at 4 AM and walk for an hour.
Sleep is another key restorative agent so skimping on it is just, well, dumb.
As Stan Efferding says, that kinda tradeoff is stepping over dollar bills to pick up nickels.
Everything is connected and your body is way smarter than you anyway. Trust me.
It reminds me of another great quote from another great coach, Scott Abel:
“Force your body and it reacts, coax your body and it responds.”
Stop trying to boss your body around or “hack it” and start working together as a team.
– Coach Bryan