Improving Workout Recovery

[Cinder]

Workout recoveries were slow after approximately 1 1/2 weeks of following the Whole 9 concept. We are talking heaviness in the legs 10 hours post workout and I have run since 1991! I also learned that ten pounds had gone away without the intention of losing weight. Guess what?! I finally got to the part in "It Starts WIth Food," that explains how MUCH to eat! Believe me, I love food and have never eaten like a bird. This way of eating/living just allows/requires me to eat more. Yeah!

If you are new to this like I am, realize that you may have to eat much more then you ever imagined. And, it truly helps to not only eat the small pre workout meal but make sure to eat the post workout dense carb and protein in order to recover quickly. I ran yesterday morning and followed these suggestions but went on an aggressive bike ride in the afternoon. Skipped the pre and post workout meals after the ride since it was only a few hours until dinner...feeling it today! Heavy, rubbery quads. The good news is that the workout meals work and we are free to eat fat!! Healthy, of course.

If you are experiencing fatigue, perhaps your body is reacting similarly to mine. You need to feed it!

[Colleen Roy]

I think it takes people a few weeks to figure this out! I was about two weeks in and exhausted after my runs. I started messing around with adding more carbs and fats and voila! Problem solved! Eating a lot of food (and I mean A LOT) didn't have any negative effects on my performance-in fact, it helped! And, I lost 20 pounds, so clearly I was eating the right food!

It's hard to wrap your head around eating MORE when you are training and we've been so conditioned to eat LESS to lose weight or gain muscle. But, if you trust your body, it will work-so much better than you could even imagine!