The Health Huns
The Messy Side of Health and Fitness!
Your favourite amateur athletes keeping it real, discussing the messy side of health and fitness
The Health Huns
EP.11: SLEEP, REST, RECOVER
Ever felt guilty for taking a rest day? You're not alone. Sleep, rest, and recovery might not be the sexiest topics in fitness, but they're the secret weapons that can transform your health journey.
We dive into the science of sleep cycles and why waking up naturally feels so different from that jarring alarm sound. Understanding your own sleep patterns could be the game-changer your body's been craving. Did you know sleep debt accumulates over time, potentially leading to serious health consequences? Or that shift workers have higher rates of metabolic disorders not because of diet, but because of disrupted sleep patterns?
The distinction between rest and recovery isn't just semantic—it matters. While related, they serve different purposes in your wellness journey. Rest involves deliberately taking time away from strenuous activities, but contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always mean doing nothing. Sometimes rest is simply changing activities to something that fills your cup rather than draining it.
We share our personal approaches to rest days and recovery strategies, including how to listen to your body's signals. Those persistent niggles and pains? They're conversations your body is trying to have with you. Ignoring them can lead to serious injuries that set you back months rather than the few days you might have needed if you'd respected those early warning signs.
Whether you're a seasoned athlete or just starting your fitness journey, this episode offers valuable insights into creating sustainable health practices that honor your body's needs. Subscribe to The Health Huns podcast for more honest conversations about the messy side of health and fitness, and don't forget to send us your questions for next week's Q&A episode!
The wildest sex scene in a book that I've ever heard read in my life.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the Health Huns, the pod where we discuss the messy side of health and fitness.
Speaker 1:From gym fails to newfound communities.
Speaker 2:We're here to help you feel like less of a failure and find your place in the messy world of health and fitness.
Speaker 1:Hello, hello and welcome to the Health Hams. Here we are again a full episode. I'm going to count this as 11, and the mini-sodes are an episode all on their own.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so technically episode 11. I think, when I done the little thing, I put episode 11. I don't know, I might have put 12, who knows? But I can change, it, doesn't matter, doesn't?
Speaker 1:matter, doesn't matter, it's just a.
Speaker 2:Thing.
Speaker 1:It's just a thing. We're talking about Sleep, rest, recovery. We've written some notes down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I literally just wrote a few words just now.
Speaker 1:But who knows what direction this episode is going to take.
Speaker 2:I mean, we never know.
Speaker 1:And I think that's the beauty of this podcast. Yeah, I think people live for the chaos. We turn up with all intentions of being professional.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And then it just doesn't happen like that For those listening. Obviously, because you're all listening, betty is sitting on my lap trying to lick things.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Trying to talk to the microphone.
Speaker 2:You've got a lot to say, haven't you? About rest?
Speaker 1:She looks like she's actually ready to get her nails done.
Speaker 2:You do need your nails done.
Speaker 1:Before we begin, I'd actually like to do a massive shout out to our number one fan, which is my dad, david. I know you're listening, hi, david. I thank you for tuning in and binging the latest episodes of the hell funds. It's very much appreciated. We'll be sending you a t-shirt in the post. Oh, my god, we need t-shirts. We do need t-shirts. We need a logo. I thought we had a logo on the way. Well, I'm gonna have to chase it up, I think yeah but I've lost my train of thought already.
Speaker 1:how was your week? How how was my week? My week's been good. I had a migraine Tuesday which was a bit shit, so that was a write-off, but apart from that, I'm starting to enjoy my runs again. Good. Because it's not, so fucking hot.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm getting back into the gym again like I've didn't just had no time to work out, like I actually didn't have time haven't you been like specifically working on your traps or something?
Speaker 1:yeah, so every now and then, when I get bored, I think let's just focus on one part of the body to see how long it takes to grow. And so I chose my traps this time, and I have to say what do you think they are? Hen, aren't they? They are. So I'm going to keep going for that for a few weeks and just see how massive I can get my neck amazing it's kind of look I'm going for.
Speaker 1:You know, um, for those of you who have young children or just enjoy Moana, the film Maui from Moana is kind of the look I'm going for is that the one that the rock plays? Yeah, fit, just fit. Yeah, you know a demi god, yeah, so I just want to be big and butch and broad and I want a man to look at me and be like, not today, we're not gonna mess with her right now yeah so that's what I'm going for.
Speaker 1:Week's been good, probably about seven out of ten Amber. How about you? Um well, it was my birthday.
Speaker 2:Happy birthday, thanks uh, so that was good. Um, I've done a couple of runs. They've been short, but I've actually got out and done them. I've lost all of my fitness, but I'm sure it will come back oh yeah, for sure also, I've been running around here and it is much more hilly than, say, marriott's. Way, you definitely live in the hittiest part of Norwich, yeah yeah, I literally done a 2k run and my elevation was like 30 meters. Yeah, I hate hills.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I live in a very flat part of Norwich.
Speaker 2:But I do feel like hills are good for you, so I'm trying. I've done two runs. I saw you today for PT. I did spin on my birthday. I'm not doing spin tomorrow because I've got Botox in you. I don't want to like sweat it out or anything When's your Botox Tonight Wow, six o'clock.
Speaker 1:Looking forward to it. Can you sweat botox out?
Speaker 2:well, if you they say you shouldn't exercise for like 48 hours, for 24 hours, yeah, because you can it cannot be as effective. So yeah, I've got 24 hours of no exercise and then I'm gonna do a little run tomorrow. But yeah, I'm feeling, yeah, I, I don't know, maybe like a seven and a half it's been all right.
Speaker 2:Last week I really was probably the last two weeks I really didn't feel very well. I was so tired I was having to have naps, I fainted. I paid for a private blood test because I was convinced I was dying. Everything's like optimal or like good, but yeah, I don't know, maybe it was the weather, but I feel, I feel like I'm back to normal now you were really hating running like I thought this is it, she's never gonna run again yeah but if you're not feeling right and it's frustrating when you can't do what you were doing well, I was running and I just was doing like 1k and I could barely breathe.
Speaker 1:I do think it was.
Speaker 2:The heat was so muggy and humid and heavy, like I was struggling yeah, I probably should have just gone out for more like really short runs for like 1k to keep going, but I was just like I can't run. But yeah, I'm feeling more back to normal. So, yeah, watch this space. I have rest and recovered.
Speaker 1:And that's great Nice segue into sleep, rest and recovery. So should we start off by distinguishing between the three, because they are the same but they are different, aren't they? Yeah, obviously sleep, we all know what sleep is. I mean there, aren't they? Yeah, obviously sleep, we all know what sleep is.
Speaker 2:I mean there's different sorts of sleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there is. We'll break sleep down in a minute, maybe.
Speaker 2:Are we going to have to Google this?
Speaker 1:Well, I have been tracking my sleep recently on my Garmin.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have not, because I take mine off at night.
Speaker 1:So I have been trying to work on my sleep the last couple of months because I just couldn't get it right. I was either having too much, too little, not enough deep sleep, not enough REM. So I wanted to track it and try and find my optimal bedtime and my optimal wake up time. So I was looking into it. There's different cycles Okay to it. There's different cycles okay, so you have.
Speaker 1:or there's a whole cycle that you go through and you can have four to six of those cycles throughout the night right, and sometimes, if your alarm's going off and waking you up in the middle of a cycle, you're going to feel groggy, you're not going to want to wake up, it's going to take you longer to kind of get ready for the day and okay, I mean, that makes sense. It does make a lot of sense. So was you know when, sometimes, naturally, you just start waking up?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:That's when you should get up in the morning, okay, not. Then think, oh, I've got another hour, then I go back to sleep.
Speaker 2:What time do you naturally wake up?
Speaker 1:Annoyingly. Naturally, it seems to be about half four in the morning. Okay, four in the morning, okay, but I don't want to get up at half four. No, that is early because you're still like cozy in bed and like you could still drift off yeah then, by the time I need to get up, I'm then in the middle of a sleep cycle, yeah, so this is where I've been trying to adjust my bedtime, so I've been trying to go to sleep anywhere between 10 and half 11 at the minute.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm trying to see what were you doing? Before I could. I could be asleep at half eight if I really wanted okay, so you weren't early.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was having way too much sleep. Okay, so god, where did we get into this? Um, tracking, tracking, sleep, that is sleep. So I guess we've kind of gone straight into our sleep routines as well, but I've been a bit obsessed with it at the minute, so this is a really timely episode. Yeah, so that's sleep. Sleep helps recovery and it aids rest, but only if you're having good quality sleep.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So guess what is rest then? What's the difference between sleep and rest?
Speaker 2:Well, a rest is when you are not asleep. Yeah, you could be asleep, so it aids it, but, like you know, you are actively not doing things to allow your body, your mind to have a little rest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but also we have active rest as well, don't we? I thought it was active recovery. So in the gym world I hear things like active recovery or active rest days. So you're maybe say you're like in the gym, you're a bodybuilder. On an active rest day you might go for a nice long hike or something like that yeah so it's a.
Speaker 2:It's a different stimulus active recovery because, yeah, recovery is like where your muscles are rebuilding themselves. So you're keeping them going but you're not putting them through more strain, whereas rest is more like you are actually resting see, I think recovery is what happens when you rest.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and I think when you're doing an active recovery slash rest day, it's in order to enable the overall recovery in a controlled way, so you're not fatiguing yourself, you're not putting unnecessary stress on the body, but like you're pumping like blood around the muscles, you're stretching things out, you're maybe changing things up mentally from what you normally do, which is a part of rest. It's not just physical, is it?
Speaker 1:yeah I don't know. I've probably just said the same thing about 50 times in 50 ways so rest and recovery is sort of pretty much.
Speaker 2:They're twins they're twins.
Speaker 1:They're non-identical twins. Yeah, like you may not be able to tell the difference straight away, but they.
Speaker 2:They go together like peas in a pod, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think do we get enough of all these things is a big question, I think, and Depends who you are and who you ask. Yes, it does, as we were discussing earlier. Yeah, but sleep, rest and recovery I hear a lot about them because I'm interested in that side of things, but I think most people are entering to the health and fitness world for weight loss. Normally that's not talked about.
Speaker 1:It's really not spoken about as much as like calories and macros and steps, whereas I think, actually it's one of the fundamental, fundamental things you need to nail down, like especially sleep at the beginning of any health journey yeah, and sleep is so important.
Speaker 2:Even if you I mean, we're not talking about weight loss, but even if you are trying to lose weight sleeping is really important yeah, I was reading like it helps hormone regulation.
Speaker 1:Obviously it doesn't leave you feeling really tired during the day. Better cognition your body just works better yeah once you've had more sleep, which then makes any effort you're trying to do throughout the day probably a little bit easier yeah and you don't want to be trying to be in a calorie deficit and tired at the same time no ain't gonna work and you're just gonna want to eat sugary stuff and when, when I was really tired, the other week or the last couple of weeks, I had some naps yeah.
Speaker 2:I didn't really do.
Speaker 1:I mean, I still exercised, but I didn't do as much as I would normally do, like I cut my running down because I needed that rest yeah my sleep was always fine, my sleep's fine, but like I did choose to rest yeah, I mean to be fair my body made me rest and I think this is a really interesting point is I think that's why I got a migraine actually on Tuesday, because I hadn't stopped for ages like properly and it's getting that balance between not having too much rest and convincing yourself maybe you need to rest.
Speaker 1:I sound a bit like a toxic bro here. Like you know, every day you need to be having or, like every other day, you need to have a complete rest day, but also not getting to the point of burnout, which probably maybe we are maybe guilty of at times where your body then starts to be like nah stop yeah, which for me, I don't think necessarily has been because I've been exercising too much.
Speaker 1:I think I've just been working a lot oh yeah like mentally I've been quite exhausted and also it's been really hot, so you need more rest definitely and you need to slow down when it's hot yeah, and I think it's important to remember that things that cause fatigue and stress in the body like stress isn't just like mentally feeling stressed about stuff, but you know, exercises, stress to the body, work can be a stress to the body all these things they all add up and they all drain your battery in some way or the other. Yeah, so even if you've only done one workout that week but you've had a mad week at work or with family, that's still gonna be draining you at some point yeah and everyone has different levels of tolerance for that, so I think I've got quite high tolerance yeah I think I have too.
Speaker 1:But then maybe you could argue at times we push past the point of exhaustion, yeah, and we just keep going. But I think keeping busy like fills my cup Same.
Speaker 2:I like I. There's nothing worse to me, unless I really want it than on my day off sitting on the sofa watching TV.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't really like watching TV in any way. On the sofa watching tv yeah, I don't really like watching tv at any way. Like I'd rather be puttering around the house doing a few things with a podcast on. Like to me, that is almost resting because I'm making my environment more like conducive to me I yeah, I don't think rest always has to look like that sitting down doing nothing.
Speaker 2:I think rest is doing something that is bringing you joy and isn't draining you in that same way and is, like you said, filling your cup, like to me at the minute because I've been really busy. I have been tired. My house literally looks like a jumble site and that is stressing me out.
Speaker 1:But I know, once I've got that sorted I will feel much calmer and everything will feel back to normal when I have anxiety about something, the only way I can get rid of it is to do something like actively to solve. If it's in my power to try and sort that problem out, or whatever. Like if I can just do one thing towards reducing that anxiety, I've got to do.
Speaker 2:I can't just sit and be anxious yeah, I'm like right because being anxious is exhausting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is exhausting. Yeah, so that's kind of rest recovery. What drains you, what doesn't? Yeah, um, we've kind of I've touched on my sleep routine, but I think, how do you? You say you have good sleep. Yeah, I've always been a good sleeper just get into bed, crash out. Yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 2:I mean, occasionally it takes me longer to go to sleep if I've got. You know, sometimes I'll have like a song lyric in my head and it's going round and round and round and I'm like, great, I can't sleep. But usually I like to be in bed, if I can, by 10 o'clock, and I mean, I know there's all these things you shouldn't be on your phone for like an hour before you go to bed, and it should be this and it should be that I literally will get into bed at 10 o'clock. Hopefully I'll scroll on my phone for like 10 minutes, half an hour and then I'm like, oh yeah, I'm. I'll scroll on my phone for like 10 minutes, half an hour and then I'm like, oh yeah, I'm tired, I'll set my alarms and I pretty much go to sleep.
Speaker 1:That's nice.
Speaker 2:I've got two pugs on me. I'm going to be green somewhere, somewhere. I fall asleep quite quickly. I don't very often wake up in the night, and I naturally sort of wake up about quarter to six that's nice yeah, yeah, and I wake.
Speaker 2:I mean some when you said you wake up during these sleep cycles. Actually, sometimes, if I wake up and I am, I'm in a dream, I wake up and I'm in a dream, I wake up and I'm like, oh, and I'm so groggy. But if I just wake up, I actually am like I'm awake, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's why it's so nice. That makes sense. Yeah, because your body knows it's ready to wake up. Yeah, that's why I hate having an alarm Like I want to get to the point I'm sleep training myself. I'm like a toddler, I want to get to the point where I can fall asleep at a similar time every night, and I want to be able to just naturally rise in the morning, but you can't really do that when you've got to get up and go to work.
Speaker 2:You can't, but I usually wake up about five minutes before my alarm. So my alarm is set for 5 52 right, okay, it's very specific like that.
Speaker 1:She goes like 5, 53 or 6, 32, and I'm like, why not a round number or a five?
Speaker 2:I don't know why.
Speaker 1:I think you're playful to stick. Maybe I think it's a tism thing, because I'm just like it doesn't make any sense. You're like I just don't want it on that number.
Speaker 2:I mean it makes perfect sense to me no.
Speaker 1:Okay, anyway.
Speaker 2:And I usually wake up about five minutes beforehand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you train your body Like your body knows when your alarm goes off, but whether that's still the right time to be getting up. But if you can get your bedtime and your bedtime the same every night the time you are trying to fall asleep by. I think getting up then is a lot. Your body will then just naturally rejig itself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I don't fall asleep very easily. I wish my brain would just okay so I am very specific. My bedtime routine okay, I have a little desk fan that blows straight onto me, no matter the weather so all through the winter yeah, sometimes meg makes me put it away, because she's like I always like having the window open.
Speaker 1:I window open or fan on. So I lived in the countryside for like six months last year. Yeah, too quiet. Okay, too quiet. As soon as you moved into the city, sirens shouting people walking past soothes me you're like. I'm home um so fan on um phoneoplane mode for about an hour before I actually go to sleep. So I'm just not getting distracted by things. Audiobook on Now.
Speaker 1:I don't like having headphones in because of Ziggy, or if he wakes up, I want to hear him so loud, out loud Next to me, right, okay, the other day I was listening to a book really good book and it got to a real like smutty scene and I was just drifting off to sleep. All of a sudden it's like the wildest sex scene in a book that I've ever heard read in my life. Did it wake you up? Yeah, I was like oh my God, what Meg are you? Okay? Anyway, turned it off. I thought can't be getting all excited. But, yeah, by the by, and then hopefully I fall asleep and wake up. But normally I wake up two or three times throughout the night, do you?
Speaker 2:It's my cats. It's not even my, do you?
Speaker 1:it's my cats. It's not even my kid. It's my cats. What? Are they doing? They just jump and then they're like tap dance on my head okay, cuddle or they're fighting cats are like that, aren't they, these two dead to the world?
Speaker 2:yeah, she gets on the bed, lays down asleep within seconds astrid her sleep hygiene and she gets on the bed and she spends about 40 minutes going nuts digging. Then in the morning betty's up at like. I mean betty wakes up the same sort of time as me and she's like hi, I'm awake, can I have my breakfast? Whereas astrid is like oh, I'm asleep, so they're the other way okay, so she's more of a morning girl.
Speaker 1:Astrid is a night bird. Yeah, night owl is what they say. Yeah, yeah, okay. I thought something that was interesting when I was looking into this is sleep debt. Now, I'm not sure the science around sleep debt. I think it's kind of up in the air. If you can actually prove, it's a thing. But if you have, you know, cumulative, or if you have nights in a row where you're not getting enough sleep say you've been out drinking or you've been ill or you've got a newborn baby that can all add up and has a big effect on the body. And there's basically, we need a certain amount of sleep per night.
Speaker 2:79 hours for adults. How much sleep do children need?
Speaker 1:10 to 12 hours, like growing kids, like 12 hours um. And it can have quite bad consequences on your day-to-day life if you are in a constant state of sleep debt. So cognitive impairment, mood disturbances, weakened immune system, physical fatigue we looked at the same thing on google increased risk of accidents long-term health issues.
Speaker 1:So I know that people who work shifts often so taxi drivers who work at night, or nurses, doctors, etc. Um, they are actually more likely to have or get type 2 diabetes, not necessarily because of what they're eating, but because of their sleep cycles and then that affects their hormone, which in turn, will affect insulin and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, so it can really affect you long term and be a serious thing. If you're not getting enough sleep, yeah, um, and I'm all for naps. I think if you have the chance to nap during the day and your body needs to sleep, take the sleep yeah because you've got to think.
Speaker 1:We want to conserve as much energy as we can yeah nappings if the cavemen weren't running around all hours of the day. They're having a keep bringing back to the cavemen, like actually know a thing about them I'm just assuming when they slept, they were trying to sleep. They weren't trying to keep themselves awake and have a sleep routine no probably not. I love a nap. Yeah, I think, if you can nap, nap. But yeah, that's a bit on sleep. We've, oh sorry, just kicked re um, but yeah, enough on sleep. I think we've that's a lot well, I mean.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I have written something down here. There are some, there are some medical conditions that affect your sleep. Yeah, so sleep apnea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those big machines you need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so some people have sleep apnea. You like basically stop breathing, don't you, so you'll sleep, even though you might be asleep for a long time. You're waking up all the time and you're not getting like a restful sleep. Yeah, and you have to go to the doctors. I guess you go to like a sleep clinic, whatever. Yeah, and you wear those machines that help you breathe which can't be very comfortable no, but I think they do make you have a more restful sleep yeah, I know, menopause can massively affect people's sleep yeah menopause.
Speaker 1:does menopause, menopause, menopause really fucks with people's sleep, and just some people have insomnia. Yeah, oh God, I'd hate to have insomnia. And a lot of people that have diabetes, because one of the symptoms of diabetes is that you need to wee all the time you are up weeing all the time through the night, yeah, so some people just can't help their poor sleep. No, and then we wonder why there just has a knock-on effect.
Speaker 2:The rest of their life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very interesting. So if you can't, if you're not looking into your sleep and maybe you're struggling with fatigue and these other symptoms of lack of sleep, maybe it's time to really get into it. Get a Garmin. Get a Garmin, Track your sleep. Get some melatonin and magnesium. They say. Oh yeah, magnesium is supposed to be good. Apparently, if you have two Kiwis like a couple of hours before you go to bed, that's supposed to help you sleep as well.
Speaker 2:Is it?
Speaker 1:Do you? Have to eat the skin. You should eat the skin anyway.
Speaker 2:It's good fibre, that's a hairy fruit.
Speaker 1:No, I think it's something in the actual fruit itself. I think it's supposed to release something that does something. But top tips is having a dark room yeah. Earplugs, yeah. Certain temperature of your room as well.
Speaker 2:Not too hot, not too cold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but some things you can't control.
Speaker 2:And some things work for some people and don't work for others. So just find your optimal nest, but work on it, yeah. And if you need a nap and you can have a nap, you're lucky bitch, yeah right.
Speaker 1:Rest days, rest days. What does your rest day look like, and how many? Let's. How do you approach rest days? How many do you have a week and how often are you having these rest days?
Speaker 2:well, rest days. I don't think I necessarily plan things per se and I don't. I guess it depends how much you're working out as well. Like you know, if you're working out for like three hours every day, you probably need a more intense rest day than someone like me yeah, um. So I mean I Monday always used to be a rest day, but I have started doing spin in the morning, so Tuesday tends to be a rest day for me. I'm like I just go about my day-to-day life yeah but I just don't do any exercise, any.
Speaker 2:I sit down at a desk all day yeah um, saturdays tend to. Usually Saturdays are always a rest day for me. Um, it's very rare I do anything on a Saturday other than work.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I would say like I always, no matter what I'm doing, saturday is always a rest day yeah, do you think you is that naturally, just because you're working a lot on Saturdays, or is it because you feel like you need a rest day? I just think.
Speaker 2:Saturday's a good day to have a rest day?
Speaker 2:yeah, because Sunday seems like I, for me the weekend seems like a good day to have a rest day, because Sunday seems like for me the weekend seems like a good time to have a rest day. But Sunday is actually a really good day for getting out and doing stuff. So Saturday seems like a natural rest day. I don't know, it just feels good. And yeah, I don't, I don't know, I don't necessarily if I wake up and I'm really tired. There have been times I'm like actually I'm not going to go to spin because I feel too tired and I need to stay in bed and that's just a like off the cuff rest day. Or yesterday I planned to go for a run after work but I had a really busy, stressful day at work and I thought I just need to have something nice to eat and go to bed. Yeah, so that was a rest day for me. That was not planned because I needed.
Speaker 2:I listened to my body, um, but yeah, I mean, it's funny because people, people seem to think that I'm like exercising all the time. You're an addict. But I'm not like, I'm really not. I sit at a desk all day, I drive everywhere and the. You know I maybe exercise five days a week on a, on a you know busy week. Yeah, for like 45 minutes, but also your.
Speaker 1:Your body gets used to what you're doing. So if you're doing the same level of spin class I'm not saying this is you, but every week, or how many times a week and you're doing the same kind of workout in the gym and the same kind of runs, you're not. Your body gets used to that very fast and you learn to recover from that very fast and it won't be as demanding either.
Speaker 1:And that's what's the difference between, like, the everyday person and maybe an athlete, because an athlete's training should, in theory, up until their event, be progressively getting harder and harder and harder. Then they have a taper week where they take some, they bring it down and stuff like that, whereas most of us are probably doing a maintenance level of fitness and health and exercise, yeah, every single week, and your body gets really good at recovering from that. The body and fitness and and the way it adapts to things happens very fast.
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean, I'm really not working out that much?
Speaker 1:no, I'm not. And, like I said, if it's filling your cup up and you feel energized after it and, yeah, you know you're not getting ill and you're not having injuries, then you're probably all right. What you're doing, yeah and I think that's important to talk about and acknowledge is if you feel fine and you're not getting symptoms of like over exercising, like illness, aches and pains, injuries, or you're starting to hate what you're doing, you're probably fine to just do what you're doing. Yeah, and, like you said, you woke up one day and thought oh, work yesterday was really busy, I'm just going to chill.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool, fine. Yeah, I didn't have to. It's a natural rest. I'm not. Yeah, I'm not, not an athlete you're not a freak if I need to rest.
Speaker 2:I will always rest if I'm tired, um, but if I am not tired and I sort of want to do something, I do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I approach rest days set the same way like my routine. I don't really have a same routine every single week just because of work and life and whatever, but say I'm going, I'm working out in the gym.
Speaker 1:If my upper body is sore, I'll do my lower body. If my lower body's sore and achy from a workout, I'll do my upper body, and that's kind of how I approach it. Yeah, runs, I try and fit in where I can. Yeah, some day, some weeks, I'll do four runs, five runs a week, others I'll only do two. Some weeks I'll do four runs, five runs a week, others I'll only do two. Yeah, I don't know. Rest I don't. It's not, I don't think. But I'm on my feet all day in the gym lifting stuff, showing people stuff. So my body's really used to that level of output. Whereas if someone else was to then suddenly get up and do a manual job for the first few weeks they're probably going to A can be really tired. My body's pretty used to being up and about and active. And rest days I like, because I went paddle boarding at the weekend, on Sunday after doing a run After a week at work. But that was fun.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, that to me is not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was okay, yeah, I had to paddle the boat or the board or whatever the fuck I was on. My sister fell in, by the way. Did she? Yes, flash first the fuck I was on. Um, my sister fell in by the way, did she? Yeah, flash first one. Anyway. Did you laugh? Yeah, of course I did. And then I tried to get to her to help her back. Um, but, yeah, a bit achy in my shoulders after it, but that was fun, it was filling me up.
Speaker 2:I didn't feel like I needed a big rest afterwards yeah and I actually enjoy, and maybe because I didn't for so long like I really enjoy using some energy. Yeah, I feel like that restores and balances me out in other ways rest isn't just laying down, doing nothing rest can be in all different forms.
Speaker 1:I think where the issue may lie is if you're suddenly feeling guilty on a rest day yeah so say you ended your 13 hour shift the other day and felt really guilty for not going on that run. Maybe then it's time to look at your relationship with exercise. Yeah, and whatever you're doing and whatever you're resting from. Maybe then it's more than oh, I just enjoy exercising and you're relying on it to do something else, or?
Speaker 2:I think maybe that is sometimes linked with, like you know. This is just one thing. I guess people who use exercise to help them lose weight I don't exercise does not help me lose weight. Yeah, I do it because I like it. But maybe if you're doing it for reasons like that, then you feel guilty because you feel like you've failed in that way. But yesterday I was just like I'm tired. I finished at nine o'clock. I've still got a cooked dinner. I have to eat. I can't, I don't want to like go for a run.
Speaker 1:Yeah, give it a half-assed attempt to be tired, come back and then eat a slice of toast yeah, prioritizing what you needed in that moment, yeah, yeah, I don't think you have to do anything magical on a rest day. If you're really serious about your performance, if, if you're someone who's working towards competition say you're a high rocker, you know, and that really is your focus and your love and your passion right now, then on your rest days you might be prioritizing cold plunges or heat therapies or massages or active stretching and mobility. Then maybe, yeah, that's really good for you. If you're just someone who's a normal person, who goes to gym a few times a week, does some runs, chill about balance, chill out, or maybe a rest day is actually just a really chill, easy run for you, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe a rest day is an extra hour in bed. Yeah, it's up to you. And but I think you just got to listen to your body and not ignore the signs of fatigue and exhaustion, not don't keep ignoring the niggles and that kind of stuff well, because if you ignore them, that is where you have an issue yeah.
Speaker 1:So why do you feel the need to push through that? Yeah, but that's a job for your therapist to work out, not us exactly. So if you are struggling with those things, seriously do reach out to someone but yeah, because I mean you shouldn't feel guilty for missing a run.
Speaker 1:No, even if you're an elite athlete, you actually you are probably more likely to make sure you do rest yeah, rest is where this like when you get stronger, so in the gym is where you break down your muscles. Rest and recovery is where they grow bigger and stronger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's vital yeah, and through your rest you're going to have an increased performance because you're not going to be tired yeah, our recovery process.
Speaker 1:And I think if we kind of zone in on injuries or like we could even talk about how you kind of fell out of love for the last, fell out of love of running yeah, I fell out of love with the last month and how you this is kind of almost a recovery back into running. Yeah, so you go, what is your kind of recovery process for injury, illness or just kind of getting into a routine again?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean injuries. I did like when I first was running I had these like both of my glute muscles were really pulling and hurting, yeah, big bunda. Yeah, when I was running. So I just didn't run for a week, yeah, and I had a sports massage and I had those muscles pummeled into oblivion and I just didn't run for a week, yeah, and I had a sports massage and I had those muscles pummeled into oblivion and I just rested, yeah, and did some stretching, and then they recovered and I was fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And with this you know.
Speaker 2:I just really it was weird because I got my PB on my 5k and then the next week it was 28 degrees and I I did one run in that and it was awful, but sort of my I was still okay, and then I just couldn't run. Yeah, I just couldn't run because I couldn't regulate my breathing. I just couldn't run because I couldn't regulate my breathing, like I was really wheezy. And now the weather is basically autumnal. My last couple of runs my breathing's been fine. However, I have not done a 5K like a 5K run that I've not stopped for for probably like five weeks, so I am not expecting that.
Speaker 2:I can just get out there and run 5k in, like you know, 34 minutes, yeah. So I'm just doing 2k runs and I'm doing them around where I live and I'm going on my own, so there's no like pressure to keep up with anybody. And, like you know, yesterday or this morning when I went out my first 1k, I really pushed myself and went fast, and then my second one was a little bit slower, but I thought I've really pushed myself on this 1k and then I'll have a little bit of a recovery run for 1k and it doesn't feel too much, I'm not hating it, it's over quickly. And then I'll, you know, I'll do a bit more and I'll do a long run at a slower pace and it's just about dialing it back a bit, I guess, and realising that where you were five weeks ago is not where I am today. But in five weeks time I'll be back to where I was again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm just got to take a step back, to take a few more steps forward, haven't you? Yeah, I think being in tune with your body is a skill that you develop the more you do this kind of stuff yeah because when you first start doing anything, everything hurts. Yeah, you feel really tired. It's a. It's hard to recover.
Speaker 2:Well, when I went for my first run this week, I didn't do any stretching beforehand because I thought I'm literally going to go out for like 15 minutes and like my legs were quite tired. So before I went out this morning I had done like some you know, like when we do squats you make me squat right down and like lean to side to side. I was doing that and like I really stretched my calves out and that really helped. Crazy, I know, crazy. So actually, because I haven't been doing the running, my legs probably have seized up a bit. So doing those stretches and like working on the things that I know like my calves do get tight, like that was helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they aid in the recovery process before it's even happened yeah yeah, um, it's all again.
Speaker 1:It's so individual. I think when I work with people who get injured or have been injured, they come start working out again. A lot of them say, yeah, I just didn't do anything for months. Yeah, and I think, yes, sometimes it can be so painful that you cannot move, you cannot do anything. So I completely get. I've been there with injuries before but there then comes that kind of tipping point where movement in some way, shape or form is needed for the recovery. It's like if you spray on your ankle, the worst thing you can do yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2:And like you know yeah, you know, if you have an injury, a few years ago I, what did I? I pulled my shoulder in body pump and it was really painful and I kept on going and it got worse and worse and in the end I was like I can't go. So I went to my doctors and he was like, oh, you've got tendonitis or whatever. Um, he's like you need to have six weeks of not lifting anything overhead, um, or lifting anything. So I went to spin and that's where the spin, that's where the spin love brigade began. But I didn't want to not do anything, but I knew that I couldn't do anything with weights and I had those six weeks of not doing anything. And then when I went back, if there was like an overhead, like a clean and press thing, I'd do like a row, yeah, because and I'd use like a lighter weight because I wanted it to recover.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sometimes you've got to change what you're doing in order for it to recover. So like, say, after like. So I did a 10K yesterday. Now I'm not super used to doing them regularly, so I now know that I'm probably going to do two, three days and probably not go for a run. Yeah, Before I then attempt it again, because my body just isn't used at that output at the minute yeah but then I'll slowly build it up.
Speaker 1:So I think time is really important with recovery. Yeah, getting the balance of that movement, but the right movement in a safe way to aid the recovery.
Speaker 1:Nutrition, yeah, is really important for recovery hydration, sleep yeah and sometimes recovery does require sitting on the sofa, doing nothing for a day or half a day. Sometimes it requires going out for coffee and a walk with your friend, like it isn't just a physical, it's a mental as well. Yeah, um, but it is individual and you've got to listen to your body and I think a lot of people are really not in tune with their body. No, and and I think there's that narrative, that old school narrative it's got to hurt for it to be working yeah like people.
Speaker 1:So people always say I love feeling really achy after the gym and I get that, but also unfortunately, the fitter you get, the less achy you're going to become.
Speaker 2:When I first started to see you. Yeah, and ever so. Occasionally I'll have a day and I'm like Jesus Christ what's she done to?
Speaker 1:me, but most of the time I don't ache anymore.
Speaker 2:But it's not like I'm not working hard, like today was really hard.
Speaker 1:And I feel like I worked. You know I worked hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I, I, I don't feel like I'll ache tomorrow, not yet. We'll see, we'll see. But yeah, that aching isn't always a sign of not aching, should I say isn't a sign you haven't done enough? Yeah, it's a sign that your body's probably got a lot fitter. Yeah, because I can have people come in who haven't worked out. In a year we do maybe 10 squats, 10 presses, 10 lap pull downs and they ache for days afterwards. And that's not because they've done loads and loads and loads, but they've done a lot for their body at the time and their body's not used to it. So the more you do, the fitter you get normally, the less you then ache and need for recovery as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you're getting used to it yeah you're getting fitter, um, so that's kind of recovery.
Speaker 2:No top tips, no, you should or shouldn't do this, just the basics, yeah if you've got an injury or any concerns, you should definitely speak to a medical professional me or amber yes, doctors, but you know it's definitely, if you've got an injury and you know things like that, do follow their advice. And if they say don't do anything for so long like I've got a client that's got um, this is a terrible tale.
Speaker 2:She's a brilliant, very fast runner okay and she was set to do her first marathon and she'd had trouble in her shin for like ages and she ended up like having an MRI, probably ten days before she was due to go to like Venice or Valencia or somewhere wherever Vienna, I was going to say Venice there's a lot of water.
Speaker 2:I think it was Vienna. She was going to do the marathon. She thought she was going to get like a well, she's never done an official one before but she was. She's quick. She came second in the Victoria Park in London like 10k. She's really quick, um, and she's only been into running like the past like year or so. So she had this mri she'd you know she had been sort of resting it. The the doctor consultant, whatever rang her and was like do not run that marathon, you've got a stress factor. It's the worst one I've ever seen. If you run on it you are gonna have to have surgery. You can't run for four months. So she's coming to the end of her four months soon. She's been seeing a physio and they're gonna put like a easing back into running plan because she can't just go back to how she was. So there are things like that. My one of my neighbors over there, she was running a marathon. She had a stress fracture and broke a hip.
Speaker 1:Yeah and had to have surgery. Don't ignore the pain and the niggles. If it's recurring niggle and pain, yeah, don't ignore it because it will probably get worse yeah, I don't know if she I've not really spoken to her about it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if she I've not really spoken to her about it. I don't know if she had. She is running again now. But I mean that's, if you can prevent those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sometimes you just can't, sometimes you can't. You can do like look at the most elite athletes in the world, they still get injured. Yeah, and they've got every protocol under the sun and you know all the money and team looking and looking after them. Yeah, I think there's a time to push through, Like, but if you're in pain, probably stop and seek some guidance and assistance on that, because it's not ideal. No, and it will just put you out for longer.
Speaker 2:But yeah, just listening to your body, and unless you're an elite athlete, don't worry about it. Do you know what? I think the most important thing out of all of those is getting enough sleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you're more likely to get injured if you haven't had enough sleep.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and being tired makes you feel Unmotivated and shit. Yeah, it does so to me.
Speaker 1:I think sleep is the most important thing, and then everything else should hopefully fall into place or be easier for you to fall into place. Yeah, yeah, so that's kind of it in the old rest and recovery I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Don't worry too much about it. Listen to your body.
Speaker 2:Get enough sleep eat some, you know. Fuel your body with food because you're gonna you know you're gonna be tired if you're not eating properly.
Speaker 1:And yeah, again, no advice given, just our thought rambling yeah yeah, we talk about the recovery process.
Speaker 2:This is just our thought process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't recover. Yeah, just keep pushing through.
Speaker 2:No, we're not saying that, we're not saying that, but just you know. It is just what works for you and what you want to achieve.
Speaker 1:You know and if your rest and recovery days are causing you stress because you're trying to do all the things, that's not rest and recovery no you should just be doing whatever makes you feel better and more energized the following couple of days. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Anyway, next week we are gonna do a listener special, a q a. We are because we've got thousands upon thousands of listeners and followers now, haven't we yep and we're manifesting this.
Speaker 1:It's about time you started pulling your weight to be honest yeah because we turn up and we think of all these ideas and we google and we can week out we're here for you. So I want to know, we want to know all your questions now. They can be about questions about me and amber. We love talking about ourselves, yeah, we do. They can be fitness related, non-fitness related. We might not answer them all if they're a bit personal yeah, or if they are weird, or things that we literally have no idea on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but we'll give it a good go. We can google it. Um, maybe it's about one of the odd episodes we've spoken about anything at all that you want to ask us? Write in email instagram at the health hands pod. Gmail at thehealthhandspod. Gmail at thehealthhandspod at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:Thehealthhandspod at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not at thehealthhandspod. At gmailcom. You know how to write an email address. Yeah, we want your questions. Yes, we do. And we want, betty, we want you to share these episodes, like them, review them, send them to your friend, let us know what you think, get your parents to listen to them. Yeah, big shout out to Dave again. We want you.
Speaker 2:We do, we do. We're working so hard and we want to answer some. I love answering questions.
Speaker 1:It's easy, isn't it? Yeah, we don't have to do any work. No, well, I mean a bit of googling. A bit of googling If we did though, but yeah, that would be fun. Yeah, have we done the giveaway yet?
Speaker 2:No, because I haven't taken any photos of it.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, keep your eyes peeled for the giveaway.
Speaker 2:If you ask us enough questions, I will photograph it during the week and we will do the giveaway after we've recorded the episode if you ask us enough questions, we will both record a first trap and post it on our health yeah, we will we will record ourselves in the gym.
Speaker 1:Sweaty, you do that to me anyway for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what a treat we could do a personal like what is that?
Speaker 1:a cameo?
Speaker 2:we could do a cameo for you. We'll do whatever you want ish.
Speaker 1:Do you know what? Everyone's got their price? Mine is low, right. That is it for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening and we'll be back next week with a listener special q and a bye.