MAXimize your recovery, MAXimize your growth

Much of our modern civilization and society is built upon the “more is better” mindset.

In the context of bodybuilding and getting jacked, there are more ill effects that arise when this mentality permeates a lifter’s brain than there are positive.

The “more is better” mentality goes against all of your body’s natural defence mechanisms, instincts, and desires. The most effective approach in building muscle, dropping fat and getting stacked? You have to coax your body to get to where you want it to be. Subscribing to the more is better mentality often leads to people forcing their way to their goals. If – and that’s a big if – they manage to get to where they want, these are often the lifters who revert back to their starting point quite quickly. This is largely because they pushed when they shouldn’t have, and tried to force their body into making adaptations it didn’t want to. Instead of coaxing and encouraging fat to be burnt or muscle to be built, every trick in the book gets used. All at once. If you’re looking for a recipe for mental and physical disaster, loop back to the top of this article and start reading again.

When I was first stepping into the industry, I decided to take a gamble and move across the country. I moved on the basis that I might have a job at one of the top performing Goodlife facilities in the country. Long story short, the gamble paid off and I was soon surrounded by and learning from some of the brightest minds in Canada when it comes to training. Despite the wealth of knowledge and experience I was surrounded by, the lesson that stuck with me the most, is also the simplest. Begging the question, what was the lesson that dictates much of my training philosophy to this day? What guides much of the advice I give to clients, friends, and fellow lifters?

You can only train as hard as you can recover. This was eloquently said by a man wise beyond his already experience-packed years, Mike Demeter. He went on to elaborate, albeit with only one more sentence. Your recovery dictates your training, not the other way around. As a brash young dude who had little clue as to what the hell he was doing, this was a timely and impactful lesson. I’d spent much of the past 5 months training anywhere from 2-4hrs per day. Hell, my “recovery days” often consisted of messing around with heavy deadlifts and clean and jerks for an hour or two. Neither of which – to be clear – are conducive to any form of recovery. While overtraining may be up for much debate, the concept of under-recovery is very, very real. As with anything in the fitness space, there are steps you can take to support your goal, maximize your recovery, and in turn, your growth (or fat loss).

It Starts With Your Sleep

Getting enough high-quality sleep should be your primary concern when it comes to maximizing your recovery.

• You need enough of it.
• You need it to be high-quality.
• You need to make it a non-negotiable.

It’s a serious need. Don’t neglect your sleep.

Be religious about when you go to bed, and when you wake up. As a personal example, I’m in bed by 10 PM (give or take) day in and day out. My morning alarm is set to repeat every day at 5:57 AM. And here’s a cool piece of biofeedback I discovered from keeping my sleep/wake cycle consistent: when I’m rested and recovering well, I will naturally wake up before my alarm or I’ll be wide awake as soon as it goes off. If I had a low-quality sleep, stress is higher than usual or I’m not recovering well, I often end up in bed until 7:00 or 8:00 AM. Despite my best efforts to force myself out from under the covers. Being religious in when you fall asleep and when you wake up allows you to gauge your recovery (and state of your body) on a daily basis. Pretty nifty, if I may so say. If any of the above pieces to your snoozing puzzle are missing, there are many options before you. You can take certain steps to improve the quality of your sleep (regardless of length). There are also a select few supplements you can use to support your sleep cycle. Take a look below.

Steps to improve your quality of sleep

1. No electronics for at least 30 minutes before bed
2. Have an evening ritual. I eat my last meal, immediately shower, take any sleep supplements I may be using, brush my teeth, lie in bed and read a few articles, roll over and pass the fuck out.
3. Darken your room, and eliminate any unnatural light. When I’ve been able to do it, I really like having a bedroom that’s only lit by natural lighting.
4. Practice meditation or breathing techniques before bed
5. Read for 15-30 minutes as your last activity.
6. Practice gratitude.
7. Keep your room relatively cool. This allows melatonin to be released.
8. Chamomile tea (or similar) in the evening helps to relax you.

Supplements that will support your sleep (depth, quality, duration)

Quite often supplements that are marketed as sleep aids are more along the lines of stress management and reduction. Which in turn, of course, will aid sleep.

• Melatonin
• Valerian root
• Vitamin C
• L-Theanine
• Lavender

You Need to Support Your Body in and around When You Train

Something I’ve picked up from John Meadows has been the importance of the window of eating that extends from before your session, during, and afterwards.

It is the most important part of your day when it comes to maximizing your training, nutrition, and recovery. Walking hand-in-hand with your sleep, properly supporting your training sessions with adequate food and nutrients is arguably the most crucial point of your day.

Your pre-workout meal should be designed to replenish your amino acid pool, provide some glucose for use as fuel during your session, and just enough fat to slow your digestion and blunt the release of insulin (you don’t want to turn into a puddle of hypoglycemic drool during your session, trust me).

Pre-workout rules of thumb:

• low-moderate protein
• moderate carbs
• dash of fat

Try 4-6oz of chicken breast or ground turkey. There’s no magical amount here, and the goal is simple. All you want to do is top up your amino acid pool (and provide some satiety). For pre-workout carbs, 20-40g is often enough. But if you’ve really got things dialled in, feel free to experiment with higher and higher amounts. My pre and post workout feeds are extremely carb heavy. I usually have 80-90g beforehand, and 110-140g afterwards. In terms of fat, you only need just enough to slow your rate of digestion and blunt the ensuing insulin release from the carbs. One tablespoon of quality nut butter or coconut oil is typically enough. If your pre-workout carbs are on the low end of the spectrum (20-30g), you’ll probably be good with half a tbsp. Keep in mind that the amounts are contextual, and will depend on how much you eat per day.

Post-workout rules of thumb:

This is where the fun begins. From my own research, and what I’ve tested, I’ve found that the following setup works best for post-workout meals. Again, the range in amounts is there to represent the differences in each lifter’s individual nutrition. I mean, the 200lb dude who eats 250g of protein each day probably doesn’t need to cram as much of that into a post workout meal as the 112lb female who only eats 3 times per day. Context, my friend. Context is everything.

• moderate-high protein
• moderate-high carbs
• low, low fat

I’m a big fan of post-workout protein waffles.

Try 3-8oz of protein. Like I said above, how much post-workout protein you need depends quite a bit on how much you’re eating over the course of the day. But as a general rule of thumb, 25-40g is often more than enough. The post-workout period – especially if muscle growth is the goal – is my favourite meal of the day. There’s little better than filling up on a massive bowl of rice, meat, and veggies with some rice cakes or toast on the side. Keep the fat as low as possible, and take in as many carbs as your body can handle. After training, your muscles will preferentially soak up the glucose from your meal and use it to fuel repairs and recovery for your next session. Take advantage of this. Having a large amount of post-workout fat will slow the uptake of glucose. Avoid that.

Stress Management

Training, by nature, stimulates a stress response and cortisol release.

This is beneficial while you train as it brings you energy, drive, strength, and even a mental boost. But afterwards, you want to bring your sky-high cortisol way, way down. Not only does this allow you to relax, but it allows you to begin your recovery process.

Stress management supplements

Below are a few supplements, as well as some lifestyle practices to aid sleep and stress management.

• Cortisol
• Rhodiola
• Ashwagandha
• Valerian Root

Supplements aside, there are a number of simple, actionable stress management techniques you can slowly begin to implement into your life that will boost your recovery.

1. Read for 10-15 minutes before bed
2. Eliminate any and all screens for at least 30 minutes before hitting the sack.
3. Practice meditation, yoga, or stretch for 10-20 minutes per day.
4. Maintain a gratitude journal. In the morning: write 3 things you’re GOING to accomplish that day, and 3 things you’re grateful for. In the evening: Write down 3 things you’re proud of, and one thing you could have done better that day.
5. Take 5-10 minutes at some point during the day to just breathe and be cognizant of yourself.
6. Drink a cup of chamomile or sleepy time tea before bed
7. Actually make your sleep a priority.

You don’t need to start doing all of these all at once. Pick the one or two that appeal to you most and you know you’ll be able to do regularly. Start there, and expand outward if needed.

Reaching the point of bashing your head in with an old school phone is all too avoidable.

Peri-Workout Protocol

I believe that the peri-workout portion of your nutrition is key to your recovery, and resulting gains.

I believe this so much so, that it gets a section all to itself. Equally as important, if not more so, than what you eat before and after your training session is what you put into yourself during your session.

In a perfect world, you’d sip on a shake while you train that consists of the following:

• electrolytes (muscle contraction, sodium balance, hydration status)
• something to support blood flow (chase dat pump, son)
• amino acids (they taste delicious, and may act against muscle wasting/protein breakdown.
• carbs (if earned, necessary, and conducive to your goal).
• something neural/strength support (if you’re looking for that extra mental edge)

Here’s what the above could look like when you mix it all up in your shake.

• 1 scoop of electrolyte powder
• L-citrulline is converted by your kidneys into l-arginine, which in turn supports nitric oxide production and blood flow. In the context of training, 6-8g about 60min prior to training will serve this purpose.
• 5-10g of Essential Amino Acids (EAA’s)
• A rapidly digesting carb source (I prefer highly branched cyclic dextrin OR coconut water). This being said you need to have earned the right to have carbs during your session. Meaning, you have to be training hard enough and/or long enough OR condition your body to be able to use intra-workout carbs.
• The combo of creatine and beta-alanine can serve both purposes here. Creatine is a mild nootropic and works synergistically with beta-alanine to increase your power output. And who doesn’t want a few extra pounds on the bar? 5g of creatine and 2-5g of beta-alanine will do the trick.

Here’s What You Need to Take Away

Putting the following steps into action is a great place to start, and will get you well on your way towards maximizing your recovery.

1. Maximizing your recovery will, in turn, maximize your growth and help you get the most out of your sessions.
2. If nutrition is something you struggle with, focus on the peri-workout period and expand out from there.
3. Take what steps you need to improve sleep quality, then support it with a few select supplements.
4. Manage the fuck out of your stress. If you’re constantly in a state of stress (or fight or flight), none of your body’s restorative functions will take place.

Go get your gains, my MASSthetic friend.

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