The “Other” 22 to 23 Hours.

So you train for an hour or two, or sometimes even more per day. That’s great, but, what happens during your non training hours might be even more important to your athletic performance than the actual hours spent training. Let’s have a look at the other 22 to 23 hours of your day.

In order to get fitter we need to place the body under strain and then allow it to recover. I focused on this in the last blog that I wrote. You can read that here. How you repair is just as, if not even more important than the actual training you do.

Let’s look at three recovery/repair areas that are vital to get right.

1. Sleep – Sleep – Sleep.
   You need to get plenty of sleep in. It is the best way to get your body to repair itself. Sleep is that eight hour window of time where you give your body a chance to repair itself. The body lies still, cells all around go to work repairing organs, bone, tendon, ligaments and muscles. The mind settles and tries to come to terms with the myriad of information that has been uploaded during the day. Bottom line, you need to sleep.
   Some points on sleep.
   – You cant catch up on a bad nights sleep.
   If you slept for only four hours last night, you can’t make up for it by trying to add a few more hours over the next few nights. The best strategy is to try diminish stress the day after a poor sleep. For an athlete that might mean replacing a high intensity workout with an easier session. It might mean trying to get off from work a little earlier and spending a bit of quality time reading or going for a walk.

    

   – Magnesium.
   Take a magnesium supplement before you get to bed at night. Magnesium will help you sleep better, overcome depression, help protect against type 2 diabetes, lower blood pressure, fight migraines, etc.
   – Avoid sugary treats before going to bed.
   – Avoid too much alcohol before bed.
   (Drink a little, and it will act as a stimulant, drink too much and it acts as a depressant. Either way, it’s going to mess with your sleep).
   – Avoid coffee and other caffeinated beverages from  1 pm – you might still be able to sleep after having an evening cup of caffeinated coffee, but like it or not, you will be robbed of the quality deep sleep that your brain is looking for.
   – Don’t look at your cell phone or TV set for at least 30 minutes before going to bed. Read a book. BTW a Kindle reader is also ok, in that it does not generate blue light as your cell phone or TV does.
   – Drink a protein supplement before going to bed. You will sleep better and the excess protein travelling around will help repair your body so that you wake up stronger than before.
   – I have found that a light stretch session also helps. I stretch for 3 to 4 minutes and it definitely has the effect of down regulating my body.

2. Nutrition.
   Nutrition has a profound impact on your performance as an athlete. You can always make an appointment with our dietitian Esme Mare for more on this, but in the mean time, here are some ideas.
   – You need to eat whole foods.
   The easiest way to get that right is to shop along the peripheries of a supermarket. Fruit, veg, meat, eggs – all those good things are on the outsides of the store with the processed foods hanging around in the middle.
   – The shorter the food label the better. When the label has 20 different products listed you can be sure that you are eating highly processed foods and they are generally not healthy. An apple doesn’t have a food label because there is only one thing found in apples – apple.
   – The older the food the better. Our bodies have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. The older the food type, the more they have evolved to be able to cope with it. We have been eating things like meat and apples for eons. We have been eating bread for about 10 000 years and Bar One bars for 55 years. The longer you can trace a food type back, the safer it is to eat.
   -You need to drink lots of water.
   I know we mess up here, well, I certainly do. I probably only get enough water in about 70 to 80% of the time, and that needs to improve.
   – You need protein. Lots of it. Training breaks you down, protein builds you back up. Put your body in a place where it can rebuild itself, and overtime you will get fitter and stronger.
3. Stress.
   Let’s fact it, this year has been tough, and it is unlikely that next year will be much better. Life is a complicated thing. There are some practical ways that we can try reduce stress levels. Go and chat to a psychologist though if you feel that you are losing this battle.
   – You need to get enough sleep. (See the first part of this blog)
   – Try some deep breathing techniques. A great place to start here would be to listen to the Dr. Jason Fyfer podcast on breathing. https://podlink.to/HPA Deep breathing exercises are some of the best ways of decreasing activity in your sympathetic nervous system and increasing activity in your para sympathetic nervous system.
   – Have a warm bath.
   – Read good books.
   – Go for walks. Walking has got huge benefits attached to it.
   – Go through a gentle stretch routine before going to bed at night.
   – Reduce sugars, alcohol, coffee and junk foods.
   – Divide all of life into two columns. (This is one of the central themes of stoicism)
   Column 1 – Things I can control.
   Column 2 – Things I can’t control.
   If a stressor is in your control them come up with a strategy as to how to deal with it. If a stressor is not in your control them stop worrying about it. The locus of control is really that simple. I really hope that helps. Remember that the success of your training hour/hours is not just dependant on hitting your training instructions for the day. It’s also about successfully pulling off the “other” hours of the day.

Regards,

Mike Roscoe.