How to spend your rest day! Our guide to a perfect recovery day!

Rest – it’s part of the program too!

How do I become fitter, stronger and faster? The golden question. If I do more and harder training will I improve? Potentially, but the flip side of this brings you to the fact that the harder you train, the most rest you will need. Each time you workout you are breaking down your muscles. The only way that these become stronger are the adaptations that occur during the rest/recovery periods. If you are not allowing your body sufficient rest then your muscles won’t have the chance to rebuild and become stronger. So, your rest days are essential and you should be taking it just as seriously as your training days. I am often asked: What should I do on a rest day? Well, here is your guide. Should I do an active recovery ride? Active recovery is the process of moving blood through your muscles to aid recover and flush out the metabolic waste products by increasing the delivery of oxygen to the muscles. An active recovery ride would typically be 45 minutes to 1 hour in zone 1. This would get you moving but would not be taxing on the body which would add any further recovery time. When should you do these? You need to ask yourself a series of questions: How are you feeling in the morning? How has your sleep been? What are your stress levels? Has your resting HR changed? Get your sleep in! The number of people that I have seen who train hard and do not prioritise sleep enough is countless. During REM sleep your body releases human growth hormone (HGH) which facilitates tissue growth and repair. This happens every 90-minute cycle of the REM sleep stages therefore, the more cycles we can have, the better our bodies will recover between sessions. For more information on the importance of sleep, check out our blog: How & Why to optimise your sleep Stick to the nutrition plan! There are some days that you can relax your nutrition and have those snacks you want but know you probably shouldn’t have, but rest days aren’t one of them. You need to fuel your recovery and allow your body to have the resources it needs to be able to make those changes you are looking for in your training. It’s also crucial to make sure you stay hydrated. It’s common to see hydration drop on rest days by those who fuel for the occasion. Your body still needs those fluids! Stretch & Foam Roller Stretching and using a foam roller is a great way to help the muscles repair, keep them supple, prevent an injury and improve flexibility. You want to make sure that you are focusing on the main muscles used which will be shortened and pulled on when on the bike e.g hamstrings. Alternatively, go one up on this and get a sport massage to really nail your recovery and maintenance of your muscles. Stretching is one of the most under-utilized techniques to improve your athletic improvement and preventing injury. Do not make the mistake of thinking it is wasted time. Try compression Compression clothing is aimed to increase blow flow and reduce the inflammation after exercising. It’s now easily accessible and comes in quite a few different forms with many specialist companies out there. There are also now some competitively priced compression boots to really push it the extra mile! Yoga/ Pilates Having a good core stability, stretching routine and flexibility movements for your key muscle groups used on the bike will help ensure longevity and success. One of the main causes of injuries for a cyclist is a weakness or imbalance which can easily be addressed. Yoga and Pilates improves your core strength and stability which is proven to significantly improve cycling performance. Make your training fuel Making your own fuel for training reduces the expense of having to buy sport specific products to get the same nutritional value. Use the time that you have off the bike to jump start your nutritional strategy and make the fuel for your next block of training. Check out our recipe to make your own energy bar on our blog: Guide to Fuelling For Training & Racing Clean your bike Having a clean bike not only keeps it in good working order and allows you to bank those training miles, it’s also great for the morale! Take your rest day as a chance to look after your bike! There are other techniques out there with supporting evidence such as ice baths, massages and hot/cold therapy.

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