Welcome to self-care kindy, where you learn that bodies are not actually built in the gym. “That’s where you put in the hard yards of training, but it’s not until you put your feet up or go to bed that night that you reap the benefits of your workout,” says Matt Driller, Associate Professor of Sports and Exercise Science at La Trobe University in Melbourne. “That’s when your body starts to repair, rebuild and strengthen the muscles of your heart, lungs, glutes, etc. So you should put as much planning and consideration into your recovery needs as your training ones.”
In fact, miss your recovery quota and your body can be, male exercisers doing two days of back-to-back high-intensity workouts performed just as well in the gym on day two, but experienced an impact on their levels of cytokines – vital molecules involved in healthy immune system function. “A greater risk of getting sick is a definite side effect if you’re under recovering, but you might also notice changes in mood, motivation, body composition, sleep and level of soreness,” explains Driller. Yikes.
