63: Why Recovery Is NOT Optional - Strategies for Longevity in Fitness

Recovery isn't a luxury—it's the foundation of sustainable performance and longevity in fitness. In this game-changing episode of Group X Appeal, Kimberly and Terry challenge the "no days off" mentality and reveal why prioritizing recovery is one of the smartest investments you can make in your well-being. 

From active recovery techniques to the mind-body connection, learn how to create a personalized recovery ritual that prevents injury, enhances performance, and keeps you energized for the long haul.

Key Takeaways:

• Recovery Drives Growth - Understanding that muscle repair, adaptation, and resilience all happen during recovery, not during the workout itself
• Beyond Rest Days - Discovering active recovery modalities like yoga, walking, and gentle movement that promote healing without complete inactivity
• Mind-Body Recovery Connection - Why mindfulness, stress management, and controlling cortisol levels are just as crucial as physical rest for optimal performance
• Schedule It Like Workouts - Learning to treat recovery with the same intentionality and priority as your training sessions and class schedule
• Personal Recovery Rituals - Creating customized recovery practices that fit your unique needs, teaching schedule, and lifestyle for sustainable wellness

Essential viewing for group exercise instructors, yoga teachers and enthusiasts who want to have an active lifestyle that lasts decades, not just years. Your recovery is your responsibility—and it's the secret weapon that separates burnout from breakthrough.

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- @kimberlyspreenglick on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
- website: www.theinspiredlifeuniversity.com

Stay Connected with Terry:
- @terryshorter on Instagram & Facebook
- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
- website: www.rippedplanet.com

Transcript

We stretch, we sweat, we lift, we teach, but here's the truth. The magic doesn't happen when you're moving, it happens when you recover. So why do so many of us treat recovery like it's optional? Well, today we're diving into the recovery revolution. Why it's not just a trend, but a total necessity if you want to perform better, stay active longer and feel your absolute best. Let's get to it.

Kimberly/terry (00:56)
Welcome back to Group X Appeal, the show that explores life, culture, and community of group exercise. I'm Terry Shorter. And I'm Kimberly Spreen Glick. And together, we help you live your healthiest, happiest life by moving with purpose, fueling your body, and finding your flow. Well, in this episode, we're taking a step back, like literally, to talk about something that too many fitness professionals and participants skip, and that's recovery. Because it's not just about taking a day off. It's about understanding.

that growth, repair and resilience, they all happen when you recover. So if you've been running on fumes or feeling a little overtrained or just need a reminder that slowing down is still progress, this episode is for you. So we've got five points to cover. Things that we think are important for you to know when it comes to recovery. Do you want to kick us off? Let's kick us off. But before we do, yes, I love the fact that we are twinsy.

It's the first episode where we are twinzing it up. We're love, we're two love. Lots of love. Lots of love going on in a heart shaped love. That's right. So, ⁓ part of the ripped family, ripped planet is our love. Our love to you. So, ⁓ one of the things we do love is recovery and it is training. A lot of people, it's like an afterthought for so many people, right? I know, right? Yeah. So most people, they think that progress happens like,

during the workout and it does, but the truth is your body adapts after the stress. know, recovery is when your muscle fibers rebuild stronger, energy stores refill, and also your nervous system resets. And by skipping your, that recovery process, ⁓ you're just breaking yourself down instead of building yourself up. And you know, that is one of the key things is just realizing that it is part of your training regimen.

Right. So, ⁓ I, I know a lot of people when they come to some of the recovery classes that, that I teach, and I know you've probably experienced this as well. they, they always say afterwards, I should be doing more of this. Absolutely. All the time. It's like, it's like the thing that people do when they've done too much of the other stuff. And it's like, no, if you incorporate it in your routine, right. As part of your training protocol, right. You won't get to the point you're at right now where you feel like you have to do it just to keep going. Yeah.

And sometimes people show up kind of too late. They show up when they're injured. They've already gone through ⁓ overtraining and they're like, I need to do this recovery class so I can heal and get better. if you just added it to your schedule, to your calendar, you can avoid injury in a lot of ways. Absolutely. Make it part of your training routine. And then of course there's idea of rest. Often people, when they think of recovery, well, that's just the rest.

And we're here to tell you that yes, rest is important because that is when the repair happens is when you are at rest. But we want to bring to life other modalities of recovery, but let's definitely bring rest to life because during sleep and when you're at rest, your body releases the growth hormone. It is able to regulate cortisol, the stress hormone in your body. repairs tissue.

It is literally, you know, when you sleep overnight, that is your body's like construction crew coming to work to bring you back to homeostasis and back to a stronger place. And even, you know, just one or two nights of poor sleep can lead to poor recovery. And that increases inflammation and decreases coordination. It definitely increases cortisol levels and it can make you heart make it make you harder moment.

When you increase cortisol levels, can make it harder, more difficult, more challenging. Yes. More. It can make it more. It obstacles in your way. Yes. When your cortisol levels are up because you haven't gotten enough rest, enough sleep, can make it more challenging to accomplish whatever goals you have set for yourself where they're trying to lose weight, lose body fat, gain lean muscle.

Gain flexibility, mobility, all the different goals you might have set for yourself physically. That can just be tanked when you have high cortisol levels because of a lack of rest. So don't let it tank your goals. Don't let it tank your motivation. Especially if you're teaching or taking multiple classes a week, I think it's even more important that you get that rest. think overnight as well as opportunities to rest during the day, maybe a good power nap. Cause my friend here now believes in power naps. It's a thing.

practitioner. It is a thing. Power naps now. A power nap practitioner. Pro almost. Yeah. You could be a power nap coach. Oh my gosh. We should totally create a certification. Yeah. If you want a certification of power napping. Yes. We will build an army of power nap coaches across the world. It'll be awesome. And a construction crew too. I think might need a nap right now. I think so too. She's going off the rails. Everything's so much harder.

So number three, active recovery. You know, we want active recovery. What it allows us to do when we move, we heal. recovery doesn't mean do nothing, right? It can literally- Not necessarily, Not necessarily, right. It can be a light yoga flow. It can be a walk, a light hike, a meander. Meander.

I just love that he said light hike. I don't think this dude's ever done a light hike in his life. I try to replace it with the mean hand there. sounds more gentle. Well, galavant. A galavant. That's what my mama would say. Galavant. Let's use that. Yeah, well, galavant. So yeah, maybe a swim. One of my favorites. All of those, except for the swim thing. I don't do the swim thing, but myofascial release too. yes. So foam rolling, some therapy ball work as well. Yeah, that's like one of my favorites.

⁓ one of the other things I think I've talked about, I've done a workshop on a power plate. yeah. That's my, know Terry loves the power plate. That's my best friend. We know Terry, we know actually I love the power plate too. It's awesome. So it's not just me. It is not just you. Good. It is not. So yeah. So any low intensity movement is going to increase circulation. It's going to flush out any lactic acid, any toxins.

and really help your body recover faster. So that way, you can get right back to your next class feeling recharged. You can feel strong. You can feel empowered and not wrecked. the key is focus and intensity, right? Move body good. Yes. But moving it at different levels of intensity is important to allow the body to be challenged, but then to recover and repair. So we've got to think about mind-body. Because we have to sometimes reset that connection.

Sometimes stress happens and know, stress is stress, whether it is from teaching, training, life. And the fact is that there are different types of stress. There's what's called eustress, which is good stress. Like I got a new job, I'm getting married, I bought a new house, whatever the case may be. But there's also what we would call distress. that's, know, if you've, you know, coming out of a breakup or you lost a loved one, you lost your job, things like that, no matter what the body still sees it as stress.

And so it's really important that as part of your recovery modalities, you incorporate some kind of mindful stress release where you kind of create that mind body connection, be it meditation. That's a big one. I know for both of us, any kind of breathing techniques, some deep breathing, anytime you extend the length of your exhale. I mean, you probably know by now cause we've talked about it before, but when you extend the length of your exhale, you tap into your body's parasympathetic nervous system.

and you create the relaxation response. So just sitting with that deep breathing, really extending the exhale can kind of bring yourself to a place of ease. And maybe it's just unplugging for 10 minutes, listening to some soothing music or being out in nature. The fact is this, when your mind calms down, your body follows. And that's why mindfulness, it's not just for yogis. think it's, know, mind-body connection should live in every group experience. It really should, because it is a recovery tool.

that everyone needs to have in their back pocket. ⁓ for sure. For sure. And that leads us into kind of taking all these different elements and building your own recovery ritual. Right. just like you plan your workouts, just like you schedule appointments, you plan your recovery. It's just as important. You want to schedule it. You know, if it doesn't, if you don't have it on your calendar, it's really not going to happen. Yeah. Other things happen, right? Absolutely. Life gets in the way.

And you can't life that thing called life. Sometimes we say life and sometimes we say life. Yeah. So scheduling it and making yourself a priority is so, so important. So key, ⁓ because you deserve it. You are that important. And, again, if it's not on the calendar, if it's not in your phone on your calendar either, ⁓ it won't happen nine times out of 10. So, you know, whether you want to put in foam rolling, stretching, hydrating,

⁓ Sleeping whatever the case may be do it like it's your job Yeah, because if you're in this for the long haul which I would imagine you are just as we are right as an instructor or a participant Recovery is really it's the secret sauce to staying in the game having that longevity Absolutely with less risk for injury for sure. Yeah, that's for injury reduction in stress and ⁓ Like we said at the very top of the episode living a healthier happier

Absolutely. As simple as that. And I think when it comes to scheduling late in, this has been a really big thing for me and for the, you know, the clients and other coaches that I work with, you know, no one's going to do it for you. know, there are a lot of things that we can delegate and we can ask for accountability for sure, but no one's going to schedule in your recovery, but you, because there's no one else's responsibility. Like you are the guardian of your own energy. You're the guardian of your body, of your time, your focus. You're the guardian of the galaxy.

Did you see that? Like I was trying to be serious and I was making a point and he's bringing in Star Wars.

Well, Star Wars is in the galaxy. We do not try. Yes, there is no try. Star Wars is totally in the galaxy, right? Yeah, it absolutely is. They explore the galaxy. too. Yes. I'll take you back a few years. My point being. Now the great point you're making, I'm sorry to interject and interrupt you. I don't think you're sorry at all, but I'm not either as well. am I the guardian of? Tell me what I'm the guardian of.

You, my friend, are the guardian of your time, your energy, your focus, your body. So it is on you to make the choices you need to take to make, to take the right steps to living your best, healthiest, happiest life. love it. That's all I was trying to say. And you said it. I said it. You said it. You owned it. Drop that knowledge. I love it. So recovery.

It's not just a luxury. No, right. It's the foundation of performance. It's the foundation of longevity. It's the foundation of joy and all your movement. And, ⁓ you just can't pour from an empty cup. Nope. Right. I've heard that somewhere before. Maybe on a past episode, there might be a story with that. There perhaps can be or will be, and you can't lead or train your best if you're constantly running on empty. So, right.

So we just want to invite you to shift the mindset from go harder to recover smarter, because it's when you honor your recovery, you absolutely amplify your results. And that, I think that's the real revolution. It really is. So are you in? Yes, please let us know if you're in. We're absolutely in power plate. Here I come right after this episode I'm going. So we would love to hear how you recharge. How do you recover? What are your favorite recovery practices?

Is it yoga? Is it walking, massage, or maybe just a great night's sleep? Be sure to tag us on Instagram at group X appeal and share your recovery rituals with our community. And at this episode reminded you to maybe slow down a bit and take better care of yourself. Please do share it with a fellow instructor or participant, maybe a workout buddy who needs that same reminder. And don't forget to follow, give us a rating, a review. We'd love to hear what you think. Any of your feedback, any ideas you'd like us to explore in the future.

And we'll keep exploring how movement mindset and community can help you live your best life. You just got to remember the work may build your strength, but recovery builds your overall power and we want you to feel empowered. Yes. Yes, we do. So thank you so much for joining us today. We're happy to have you with us. Absolutely. And to wrap it up, I'm Terry shorter. I'm Kimberly Spreen click. And as always, we encourage you to make it a great day. And why? Because it's a great day to have. Yes, it is until next time.