January 8 2012

Rest Day

3 days of training followed by a day of rest allows maximum intensity on training days with regards to motivation and recovery. Therefor I will not suggest any form of intensity training on a rest day. However, low intensity days can still offer great opportunity to prepare the body for better performance. I do recommend the following :

• Yoga - P90x Yoga is the most enjoyable Yoga workout I have seen and I can do it from home. It is interactive, fun and very educational and instructive.
• Stretching - This can be 10-20 minutes or 45-60 minutes, it all adds up. Increased range of motion =  ease of movement, better function and great capacity to use strength.
• Swimming - Zero impact full body workout that can be done at 40% of effort for enjoyment and technique training without ruining your ability to produce max effort tomorrow.
• Ice Baths - Any day of the week, fill your bath with cold water and throw in a brick of ice that you made the night before in the freezer * Fill an Ice Cream tub with water each night *.
• Foam roller - Foam rollers are a miracle. Or use a piece of plumbing pipe works just as well. Roll the junk and tension out of your thoracic, lumbar, shoulder, quadriceps, hip flexors and anywhere you can imagine.

All in all when you need to have a complete rest by all means do it. If you need to take a break and not see an ice bath, foam roller or yoga block ever again throw it in the cupboard and keep it out of site out of mind. Perhaps this is when you should get a few massages and keep your recovery program as interesting and varied as the TrickyFit programming.