You have put in the work. Now set yourself up to succeed with these four very accessible strategies.
Quality of life is something that we all crave. And for each of us, the definition of what a quality life is will be different, but most will agree that health is one of the top contributors. In regards to health, exercise is one of the key factors that we can control. For many of us who are fortunate enough to have the resources, access and ability to exercise, the benefits to quality of life are well researched and documented including reducing depression [1], improving pregnancy outcomes [2], reducing all-cause mortality [3], as well as reducing fall risk [4] and increasing cognitive function [5] in older populations.
Sometimes, however, an increase in exercise duration, frequency or intensity can lead to pain, burn-out or injury. In order for your body to adapt to exercise in a positive way, it needs the support of the four R’s: Rehydrate, Refuel, Rest and Rebuild.
Rehydrate – Fluid loss during exercise has several variables including the ambient temperature, intensity of training, and individual sweating rate, as well as other variables. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests weighing yourself pre- and post-exercise to get an idea of how much water is being lost, and for each pound lost to drink 16-20 ounces of liquid gradualy over the next few hours [6]. Don’t drink it all at once and be sure to check this protocol with your doctor to make sure it works with your specific situation.
Refuel – Take into account your goals for exercising your body. Are you wanting to add lean muscle? Decrease body fat? Just keep moving? All of these options will have different post-exercise refueling needs but the base line intention should always be to provide the body with the resources to repair any damage from training stress. If you have ever had remodeling done on a house because you wanted to improve it, you wouldn’t just stop after the demolition. You bring in new materials to create the changes you envisioned. And, like the remodling analogy, the higher the quality of materials – the higher the quality of results. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends refueling within 60 minutes after training [7].
Rest – This is one of the easiest to skip for a lot of us but it is as important as the exercising if you want to improve your health. The amount of rest depends on, again, your specific factors including the magnitude of change in activity (longer duration, increased resistance or intensity during training), the amount of general stress in your life, the amount and quality of your sleep and your general metabolism, to name a few. The goal for this one is to collaborate with your body. It loves to be challenged and will rise to the occasion as long as the challenge is appropriate for where it is starting from and you give it time to process the challenge and make use of the hydration and nutrition that you gave it in the previous two steps.
Rebuild – This is where the growth happens! You have shown up for yourself. You have put in the effort. These four steps are your tools to support your goals. Without these critical tools, a workout routine can lead to frustration, burnout, pain and an increased risk of injury, but by including the hydration, nutrition and rest, your body is then able to do what it does best – adapt! Trust your body!
Now go push yourself! But not too much. ;)
Brady Guinn BCTMB, LMT
Citations for further reading:
[1] Ren J, Xiao H. Exercise for Mental Well-Being: Exploring Neurobiological Advances and Intervention Effects in Depression. Life (Basel). 2023 Jul 4;13(7):1505. doi: 10.3390/life13071505. PMID: 37511879; PMCID: PMC10381534.
[2] Ribeiro, Maria Margarida, Andrade, Ana and Nunes, Inês. “Physical exercise in pregnancy: benefits, risks and prescription” Journal of Perinatal Medicine, vol. 50, no. 1, 2022, pp. 4-17. https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2021-0315
[3] Kraus WE, Powell KE, Haskell WL, Janz KF, Campbell WW, Jakicic JM, Troiano RP, Sprow K, Torres A, Piercy KL; 2018 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY GUIDELINES ADVISORY COMMITTEE*. Physical Activity, All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality, and Cardiovascular Disease. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jun;51(6):1270-1281. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001939. PMID: 31095084; PMCID: PMC6527136.
[4] Sherrington C, Fairhall NJ, Wallbank GK, Tiedemann A, Michaleff ZA, Howard K, Clemson L, Hopewell S, Lamb SE. Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Jan 31;1(1):CD012424. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2. PMID: 30703272; PMCID: PMC6360922.
[5] Gallardo-Gómez D, Del Pozo-Cruz J, Noetel M, Álvarez-Barbosa F, Alfonso-Rosa RM, Del Pozo Cruz B. Optimal dose and type of exercise to improve cognitive function in older adults: A systematic review and bayesian model-based network meta-analysis of RCTs. Ageing Res Rev. 2022 Apr;76:101591. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2022.101591. Epub 2022 Feb 17. PMID: 35182742.
[6] American College of Sports Medicine; Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, Maughan RJ, Montain SJ, Stachenfeld NS. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007 Feb;39(2):377-90. doi: 10.1249/mss.0b013e31802ca597. PMID: 17277604.
[7] https://www.eatright.org/fitness/physical-activity/exercise-nutrition/timing-your-pre-and-post-workout-nutrition#:~:text=Get%20a%20combination%20of%20the,works%20best%20for%20your%20body.
