Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Resting Is Investing: Boost Recovery and Enhance Performance

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

“Don’t skip rest day!” That’s not a phrase you often hear, but there’s a valid argument that it should be if you want to boost your fitness and performance. The key to enhancing your recovery is not another supplement or a fancy gadget, but simply adequate rest. Quality rest isn't laziness; it's an often-overlooked investment in your wellbeing.  In this podcast, you’ll learn about data-backed restful activities and why common habits like TV or social media might not offer the restoration you need.  Tune in, and invest in your rest! Timestamps: (0:00) - Please leave a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to subscribe! (0:25) - How much you rest isn’t all that matters (0:46) - What you do to relax is important! (2:10) - Using a basic Likert scale (3:38) - My new protein cookie: buylegion.com/cookie Mentioned on the Show: Try my new protein cookie! Go to https://buylegion.com/cookie and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% or get double reward points!

Too many fitness fanatics are willing to try just about anything to enhance recovery except the most important thing, which is just adequate rest. So don't view deloads and rest days and relaxation in general as a waste of time or a sign of laziness. Those things are an investment in your health and your recovery, and they really are a source of energy and well-being. Now, how much you rest isn't all that matters either. How well you can renew yourself is important too. Similar to sleep, it's not just quantity, there's quality. And so in the case of recovery, the more rapidly and the more deeply you can calm your body and calm your mind, the more restored you can feel in less time. And what you do to relax is a big part of this, of course.

According to a study of over 18,000 people from 134 countries, the most restful activities are as follows. Reading, exercising, being in a natural environment like being in nature, being alone, taking a nap, listening to music, socializing with friends and family, and doing nothing in particular. And those aren't given in any special order, but those are the most restful activities, the most effective ways to rest and relax, according to this research that I am citing. Now, conspicuously absent from that list are many people's go-tos. Television, for example, which studies show may have limited restorative power in moderation, but can also produce feelings of guilt and inadequacy. And then we have social media, which for many people causes feelings of isolation, unhappiness, jealousy, not effective strategies for reducing stress and relaxing. So

if you want to get just as good at relaxing as you are at working and working out, experiment with the different activities that appeal most to you and experiment with routines, combining activities in different ways, and keep a record on how well these things work for you, how restored you feel after each so you can hone in on what works best for you or what combination of things works best for you. And one way you can do that is with a simple Likert scale, whereby you rate your feelings on a scale from one, which would be strongly disagree to five, strongly agree, or sometimes it's one to seven, but one to five works for our purposes. And a few statements that you can use with this scale that you will rate your agreement with are one, after this activity, I feel more energetic and ready to take on other activities. Two, after this activity, my body feels comfortable and relaxed and free from tension and symptoms of stress like headaches

or digestive issues. Three, after this activity, I feel less anxious and calmer. Four, after this activity, my mind feels clearer and I have less mental and emotional fatigue. And five, after this activity, I sleep better. And so the idea then would be to try each of the activities or at least each of the ones that most appeal to you several times, not just once, I would say at least five times, maybe between five and 10 times. And after each time you try one of the activities, you rate your level of agreement with those statements and you record that. And then after trying all the activities that you want to try and recording how well they work for you, you can look at the data

on which are best for you. And then finally, of course, hopefully you've found at least a few activities that work well for you and work reliably. And then you combine those into a rest and relaxation routine. If you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me do more of it, please do check out my sports nutrition company, Legion, because while you don't need supplements to build muscle, to lose fat, to get healthy, the right ones can help. And that's why over 400,000 discerning fitness folk have chosen Legion. Well, there's that, and there's our all natural products. There is our clinically effective ingredients and doses and our no hassle money

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buylegion.com, B-U-I-L-E-G-I-O-N.com slash cookie. Well, I hope you liked this episode. I hope you found it helpful. And if you did, subscribe to the show because it makes sure that you don't miss new episodes. And it also helps me because it increases the rankings of the show a little bit, which, you have ideas or suggestions or just feedback to share, shoot me an email, mike at muscle for life.com muscle for life.com. And let me know what I could do better or just what your thoughts are about maybe what you'd like to see me do in the future.

I read everything myself. I'm always looking for new ideas and constructive feedback. So thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon.