To ice bath or not to ice bath
The year is 2024 and you can’t open your phone without a wellness professional promoting a new recovery aid. Everyone from Ben at the office to World Record holding athletes, are cycling CBD supplements, wearing high-tech wearables, plunging into ice baths, and even the sleepiest of night owls are giving light exposure therapy a go. Optimising recovery really IS that girl right now.
So, do you need all the above? The ice baths? The CBD? The light therapy? Well, maybe yes, but there are also other things to consider. Humour me…
Often, the recovery aids mentioned above are designed for health-conscious individuals who hugely prioritise their body’s functionality and wellbeing. However, they’re often targeted at the remaining 99%. Those often yet to master the basics of their health, let alone are in the position to optimise it. So, my question to you is, what does your lifestyle truly look like and what do you actually need?
There are likely two kinds of Rebels reading this post:
Rebel A)
You (generally speaking) have a diet that isn’t fully nutritionally complete; perhaps not consuming enough whole foods, lacking the right amount of protein, often supplementing a hectic lifestyle with huge amounts of caffeine and pre-prepared snacks/meals, and getting in your greens feels like an entire workout in itself.
You don’t get nearly enough sleep or minimum 7 hrs every night, drink enough water, and frequently tackle a stressful week at work with numerous high-intensity sessions, whilst finding you’re often on the brink of burnout.
You suffer with regular bouts of brain fog, emotional instability, perhaps even hormonal irregularity and (sorry Mum) your sex drive is on the floor.
Rebel B)
You’re doing everything “right”. You sleep like a log, prioritise good, nutritionally rich foods for most of your week, and your workout routine is a versatile mix of quality resistance training and cardiovascular conditioning 3-5 times per week.
You’re suffering with minimal/zero burnout, you feel energetic and optimistic most days, emotionally stable and have more “pep in your step” than a Spaniel on a walk.
You may also be somewhere in between.
If Rebel A resonates with you, those on trend recovery aids will for the long run at least, do little for you. I cannot emphasise enough how there is no “optimising” the body when starting at a deficient and exhausted state. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Your life is YOUR life, and you can absolutely turn it around and train, work, rest and recover like an athlete if you choose to.
Firstly, you want to address your diet. It often rolls a few eyes or falls on deaf ears, but our diet is responsible for so much more than we can imagine. Everything from muscular recovery, cognitive performance, skin and hair health, as well as behaviour stability and the function of our sexual/reproductive system, is hugely affected by what we choose to put in our bodies. Prioritise getting your three main macronutrients (protein, fats and carbohydrates) from whole foods and from their original source (i.e. fats from avocado, and protein from chicken or raw nuts), and avoid highly processed foods where possible.
There has been a huge influx of “diet foods” populating our supermarket shelves over the past 5-10 years. Praying on our desires to look and feel our best in a busy world, these products sell us the dream. Promoting “high protein, low cal/sugar” at huge convenience and an affordable price point. However, what we often fail to see is how stripped these foods are of their natural/original micronutrients that our bodies so vitally need. They’re also pumped with additives, colourings and sweeteners that wreak absolute havoc with our hormones and neurological processes and can cause lasting damage.
Secondly, your sleep. If Matthew Walker’s ‘Why We Sleep’ taught us anything; it’s that “we can’t catch up” on lost sleep, and sadly when neurological and hormonal damage is done by sleep deprivation, it’s potentially impossible to reverse. The vast majority of your body’s repair is done in your deep sleep. Deep sleep or slow-wave sleep supports memory, growth, and cell regeneration. Not getting enough of this may contribute to heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Alcohol and high caffeine consumption also drastically disrupts the body's ability to achieve deep sleep, and this is something to think about when discussing recovery.
Consider creating a desirable sleeping routine and environment that makes going to bed feel like a huge treat to look forward to each day. Take yourself to bed a minimum of 30 minutes prior to your actual “bed time”, set some low level lighting, maybe light a candle, perhaps use a calming pillow spray, read a book or listen to a podcast/Binaural sleep beats and seriously indulge in some well-deserved “you time” before bed. For those with sleep apnea or an emotional or mental aversion to sleep, it may sound wildly out of reach to begin with, but like anything worthwhile in life, all things good for us can often take patience, practice and support, but are always so worth it in the end.
Finally, your workout routine; Crosstrain. Crosstrain. Crosstrain. Mix slow, quality resistance-based workouts such as Reformer and traditional weightlifting, with cardiovascular conditioning sessions such as Reshape, Rumble and Ride. But make sure you REST, ideally two full days a week, and really rest. Have one entire day in your week where you purely focus on muscular recovery. Perhaps incorporating hot baths, massage, mobility and/or deep stretching practices such as Yin Yoga. See your ‘rest’ as part of your training routine and allow your muscles to fully repair. We can’t drive a car on an empty engine team, so don’t expect anything different from your body.
However, if Rebel B speaks to you more and you’re looking to refine your lifestyle, optimise your athletic performance and get those 1% marginal improvements to upgrade your life overall, then YES, these recovery aids are designed for you. When complimenting a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle, ice baths and cold therapy can revolutionise the speed of recovery and mental clarity. Fitness wearables can identify missing holes in your sleep cycles, helping to educate us on what area of our day needs more attention. CBD can not only ease severe muscular aches and drastically reduce inflammation, but also calm a busy, anxious mind.
In summary, there really is no running before walking when it comes to recovery Rebels. And there is no putting a plaster on it. If we want to feel, look and behave our best overall, we need to master the basics and ignore the noise. Rebel A’s: think “slow and steady wins the race”. Make small adjustments and changes day by day, week by week and I assure you, you’ll be feeling like a machine and ready to start living, training and recovering like an athlete by the end of the year. Rebel B’s, go chase that 1%. We can’t wait to see you all destroy those challenges in class and winning 2024.
Alice