Recover

I just completed day 38 of Insanity. Today's workout was Max Cardio Conditioning, and I have to say, after Monday's Interval Circuit and yesterday's Plyo workout my body is HURTING. My legs are sore, my butt is sore, my pecs are sore, and my back is sore. I think of the three workouts, Max Cardio Conditioning is the least difficult (notice I'm not using the word 'easiest') but definitely still a great workout. It's the Max version of Pure Cardio from Phase 1. So it's pretty much 30 minutes of straight exercises with no allotted time for water breaks. There are definitely some less intense workouts thrown in there though to give you a couple "breaks" in between. 

Somehow after today's workout I didn't feel as exhausted as I typically do. Imagine: me on my hands and knees on my garage floor, dripping sweat, gasping for air...yeah, you get the picture. But with this feeling of pain, misery, and exhaustion always comes the feeling of accomplishment, pride, and satisfaction. I think the workouts in Max Cardio Conditioning are more slow and controlled, focusing on raising your heart rate through burning your muscles as opposed to by doing a lot of quick movements. With that said, it was really difficult for me to push past some of the exercises because of how sore I am! I was trying to think of why I could possibly be so sore. The workouts are obviously new to me and they're undoubtedly physically exhausting, but I never felt this sore with any previous Insanity workout. Even during my first week of Phase 1 when I came off of doing nothing!

I thought about it and came to the conclusion that my muscle fatigue must be do to lack of proper recovery after days 36 and 37. I'm making more of a conscious decision to cut back on calories during this Phase because I don't think I did it enough during the first phase, but my efforts might have been too extreme. I didn't replenish my body with enough protein, carbs, fat, and calories afterwards to give my muscles the fuel they need after a rigorous workouts!

Always remember to give your body a good amount of protein and carbohydrates after you workout. There's a window of about 30-45 minutes after the completion of your workout when your muscles are starving to be fed and you don't want to deny them any replenishment or you won't have a successful recovery. Your body has just used so much energy that it needs the proper nutrients back to reap all the benefits of exercise. Your muscles are going to be looking for any source of energy, so something is better than nothing! Ideally, you'll have protein bars or shakes on hand. Chocolate milk works well too because it has a lot of carbs and protein.

If you don't recover properly, you'll likely be sore and/or fatigued and won't be able to work as well as you normally would.

Recovery is just as important for your body as the workout itself! I know I'll be remembering that because I hate being sore like this! Stay safe!