The Breakdown On Recovery
There was a time when going to the gym meant hitting it hard day after day. No limits! But, there are limits to just how much your body can do. In the weight room, HIIT program, training for the next endurance event, in the box, pushing to be the best in the orange zone, and certainly competing to reach beyond personal bests no matter what, many of the faithful discovered all to easily and quickly that ‘no pain, no gain’ could lead to burnout, fatigue, pain and injury.
Today post-workout recovery isn’t just sound science that we study, understand and continue to develop for better human performance. Recovery is a natural God designed response to our basic physical need to refuel and rest. Humans have always innately understood this. More than ever before we’re giving ourselves permission to do it.
But, recovery has become something else. It’s a big business in the fitness industry. That’s huge because it’s driven attitudes to grow from acceptance to consensus. That in turn is fueling innovation to create a better paradigm where there is a balance between the elusive goals of the outcome mentality and a more attuned approach to overall wellness.
Not long ago if your back hurt or you had muscle soreness you took pain reliever and a break. What used to be a quick dip in the hot tub, or a moment in the sauna or steam room after the workout has evolved into:
- Recovery drinks
- Aromatherapy
- High-tech foam rollers
- Massage
- Chiropractic
- Advanced engineered supplements
- Hot yoga
- Cryotherapy
- Intravenous Vitamin drip
And – the list is ever growing. So are the costs!
How To Buy-Back-Better When Your Spent
Turns out the price point for recovery starts at practical, evolves into the “daily Starbucks habit” and ultimately can morph into lux self-care for those who will spend whatever it takes to pamper their own insatiable human nature for more. Recovery is quite fashionable and can elevate us into the ever growing exclusive class who, even if they can’t really afford it, unapologetically flaunt their wellness.
Let’s do something different and turn the entire approach to recovery on its ear.
While all of these recovery modalities can be really great ways to support your physical body after exercise, they are incomplete – incapable of supporting the deeper and more lasting potential of holistic recovery.
Welcome To re:
A Powerful Solution For Pre And Post-Workout Recovery
re: is a simple, thoughtful and more comprehensive approach to recovery. It helps you to make recovery a more regular part of your life through 6 distinct yet inter-related components: release, reflection, restoration, resonate, resilience and retreat. It’s intended to help you fuse spiritual, mental and physical recovery. That’s no small order. But – as a community, exploring and defining how faith and fitness work together, we can ask tough questions, venture into new territory, innovate creatively, draw on wisdom and apply in the practice of recovery as we share together in the journey.
These 6 pre and post-workout recovery tools are outlined below. CONTACT US and contribute you experiences, knowledge and skills. Welcome to re:
re:lease
rest ● declutter ● simplify ●forgive ● surrender
Practice re:lease as a part of your pre-workout recovery. Do it before your home exercise routine, sporting activity, group exercise, weight training or other activity. Why? If you’re carrying stress, distraction, anger, hurt or other mental and emotional baggage with you then your physical fitness will be constrained by those limiting factors.
Find a quiet place to get alone with God and focus.
re:flection
pray ● listen ● receive ● perspective ● grounding
If you’ve ever looked in the mirror at the gym while you exercise, listened to a personal trainer or coach or evaluated your workout, progress or goals then you’ve practiced reflection. Take it further in all areas of your like. Look more closely at what’s going on in your life and the lives of others. Don’t be shy to ask for input from others. Patiently pursue for clarity and direction.
Don’t try to figure out everything on your own. You’ll be on track as you listen to God.
re:storation
healing ● makeover ● transformation ● upgrade
One of the most personal components of re:covery is finding re:storation. It’s something different for everyone. It can provide a path from hurt to healing, brokenness to wholeness, despair to hope and fear to freedom. You may not be able to identify the area(s) in your life where you need restoration. If you can, are you able to ask for help and get it? This is a part of recovery that requires both effort and commitment. Yet restoration isn’t based on what you do. God’s grace demands nothing other than you receiving it. When you do you get more than you’ve lost. God doesn’t restore you back to normal, it’s always better.
It may seem counterintuitive but in your brokenness you’ll gain the strength to dance.
re:sonate
enthusiasm ● vision ● celebration
God wants you to find greater value in fitness and recovery than just the usual physical gains and renewal. See the potential you have in Christ. Celebrate passion and be eager to build on the energy of your fitness community. This isn’t just a praise and worship service at church. Make noise and let the power of God’s Spirit be unleashed in you.
A fit lifestyle doesn’t just help you live better, you breathe in the joy of God and celebrate.
re:silience
toughness ● elasticity ● meaning ● others mindedness ● community care
Recovery is far more then strengthening your capacity to quickly rebound after an injury. It is your ability to be flexible with others and in circumstances. That takes spiritual toughness – a muscular Christianity. Understand that re:silience is not brute strength. It’s the potential you discover when you respond rapidly to adversity with a confident reliance on God. Where re:silience gets radical is when you unleash that potential to do the good work God leads you to do in the lives of others.
The big advantage to being fit is having the re:silience to help others get ahead.
re:treat
oneness ● sanctuary ● clarity ● exploration
When post-workout recovery becomes a planned reset from the routine then it’s a re:treat. You know you want it. You know you need it. It’s your opportunity to go somewhere special, do something different and recalibrate your perspective. Carve time, plan and build then be faithful to follow through. Discover the adventure, refreshment and spiritual renewal of re:covery.
God has a place for you to recover that isn’t small or lacking. Live openly and expansively!
re:covery – Do It Daily
Ready for a different and better way to make recovery a daily part of you wellness lifestyle? Start using re: It’s designed by Faith & Fitness Magazine so that everyone can regularly and consistently make holistic recovery a practical way to heal and strengthen spirit, mind and body. Bookmark this page as a guide in your day to day recovery maintenance. Subscribe to our newsletter service so you can keep updated on re: and all things faith and fitness.
Want your church, gym, wellness provider, small group or other organization to bring re: recovery program to your community? SEND THIS LINK TO THEM and have them get re:
