Some of you might not know this but I am an experienced seamstress. These days it’s more of a creative outlet than anything else but I love sewing and creating a beautiful garment out of a piece of fabric.
In dress making, we judge the quality of a fabric by its ability to regain its original shape after being stretched and pressed. We call it recovery. If the elasticity of a fabric isn’t good enough, we end up with a poor quality end product that will soon be used as a rag.
When it comes to fitness, we need to judge our recovery by our ability to bounce back after being injured, pushing ourselves passed out perceived limits, or after trying something new.
The faster we can recover, the faster we can get back to training. Our ability to recover quickly determines our success at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter if we’re the fastest runner, or if we can lift the heaviest weights; if it takes us too long to recover between training sessions and competitions, then we’re actually the slowest and the weakest.
The worst thing I could have done was to let my regular cycling training fall away. I’m paying it for it dearly these days. My knees are constantly in pain, I battle to walk, and I’ve been in agony. I couldn’t recover properly and that impacted everything else, not just my training. The depression caused by the pain justified my bad eating. The stress from bad eating and not trainig impacted my relationships and my concentration, which meant my studying was impacted too.
Something had to change.
So I made a new commitment to focus on my recovery this week. I have strict orders from the physio to cycle and, honestly, I could kick myself for stopping in the first place. I love being on my bike. It’s my meditation time. A time to think and reflect and focus. A time where no one can reach me , be it the gym or the open road. It’s just me, the open road, and the fresh air. After a cycling session, I’m high on life and have a newfound energy to smash my fitness and personal goals.
I can already feel a difference in my mood. It’s easier to walk and the pain is slowly subsiding. All because I figured out what I need to do to be able to recover quickly and that, ironically, was to keep moving and to focus on the mobility on my knees.
What do you need the recover from in order to bounce back? Think bigger than your fitness. Perhaps you’re stressed at work, or arguing with your spouse. Where do you need to focus your energy to be able to recover and get back up again?
Book a discovery call with me today and let’s figure it out together. Sometimes it helps having an outsider who can give an unbiased perspective.
My studio closes after the 9.15 am class on the 22nd December and we be back to full power on the 2nd January 2019
