Rest. Recover. Rejuvenate.

Being your best, strongest, healthiest self does mean resting, recovering, and rejuvenating each day. Instead of choosing one specific day as your “rest day” why not learn about how to rest and relax everyday, how to eat right everyday, how to sleep right every day.

Let me start by asking: how are you feeling? How is your body feeling? What is your heart, soul, and flowing energy telling you these days?  Hopefully your physical body and mental body and flow of energy is feeling amazing. I sincerely hope that you do feel recovered and well in whatever busy lifestyle you lead. And, if not – I have your back as I cover all my favorite tips to recovery. 

Over the last couple of days/week, I have seen various posts and heard from different people about soreness, fatigue, overwhelm, and just feeling tired in general. This is very normal after the holiday rush, the new year, winter blues, change of pace in society/country and so many other things going on. 

While we are reaching the three week mark of 2021, this is the time when individuals want to give in or give up on their goals.  This is when we begin to slowly skip a workout here and there, bail on a walk there, accept less than our best, and simply go through the movements without solid intention.  

Let’s talk about and address what is really happening here. It can be a variety of elements: soreness, fatigue,  overwhelm, pain, aches or other hiccups in the journey. These are normal. These things happen. No wellness journey or fitness journey comes easy served on a silver platter. 

I do think it is important to be proactive in the mindset and understand that these complications come up. It is important to welcome these mixed feelings, welcome them with open arms. If you can welcome obstacles into your journey, you can address them in more optimistic manners with a plan of action to over 

As I talk to you in this blog, I am going to mainly address recovery, in the area of normal soreness and normal fatigue. I am not a physical therapist or doctor that can address or solve pain. Although I can help you navigate general soreness and general fatigue in areas of workouts/nutrition. 

First, it will be important to recognize if you are experiencing soreness or true pain. It will be really important to distinguish between the two. That is hard. Only you know your body to know if it is sore, in the muscles/tightness/range of motion or is extreme pain, excruciating, shooting throbbing pains. 

If/when you’re falling into that category ‘I’m so darn sore I cannot move, I am going to skip my workout, and I will not continue this program”– keep reading. If you fall into the “I want to feel better after a workout so I can kill the next workout even better,” then continue reading also. 

I am going to give you all the tips and tricks that work for me to make it through “exercise streaks” or what we often call the “no-zero days.” This simply means that we move our body a minimum of 30 minutes a day in a variety of ways. 

Recovery Tips & Tricks: 

First of all, I firmly believe in the following order of operation to care for our body for longevity: hydration, sleep, nutrition, movement

Hydration: Whether training for a big athletic event or simply working on your body movement and mobility for 30 minutes a day, hydration is an absolute must. For any human body that is active throughout the day, I highly suggest aiming for that 100 ounces of water a day. Starting with 12-24 ounces in the morning, another 12-24 ounces before lunch, another 24 ounces between lunch and dinner, and a final few ounces between dinner and bedtime routines, your body will be hydrated enough to fulfill daily life tasks, run the internal organs, keep your muscles happy, generate overall flow in the body. 

Sleep: With sleep, your body will be able to come into rest and recovery mode, allowing the internal organs, tendons, ligaments, muscles and mind to gently shut off for a few hours and rejuvenate for the next day.  Not only do you want to aim for a descent amount of hours (7-8+ hours) of sleep, you want to aim for a schedule. It will be important that your body is on a schedule, similar to babies and children. Plan to turn off your electronics about one hour prior to sleep, create an evening routine, and go to your bed without electronics. Try to do this at the same time each evening. Over time, your body will start to fall asleep and wake up at similar times day to day. 

Nutrition: Eating real foods, anti-inflammatory ingredients and following a macros-based nutrition plan will provide your body with the necessary ingredients needed to treat your body right from the inside out. Following a plan and knowing what to eat is going to combat the fatigue faster than anything. Eating right is what is going to generate energy in a positive way. On the contrary, eating sugary foods, breads, sodas, and high inflammatory foods is going to contribute to your soreness. It will lead to your soreness becoming aches and chronic pains. Eating a poor diet is going to inflame your joints and make movement very difficult.  




Truthfully, eating right is the biggest component of recovery and overcoming fatigue and chronic pain. Knowing what to eat pre-workout and post workout will be key to fueling your body to work your muscles properly without fatigue. Knowing what to eat directly after a workout will be even more important for recovering worked bodies – muscles, blood flow, hydration, ligaments, tendons and even the mind.  The following video was filmed at part of my Nail Down Your Nutrition program, but addresses the pre/post workout meals. 

Seminar 8: Eating & Exercising:

The WHY, WHAT, HOW of the pre/post workout meals: 

Typically the pre/post workout meals are packed with protein, carbs, and fats – meeting each macros group. Fruit and veggies can also contribute to these macros. When it comes to fruits,  choose the most anti-inflammatory fruits that also aid your muscles – such as pineapple, mango, cherries and apples. These will contribute to your carbs and healthy glycogen, key components of your nutrition. 

These three macros working together will accelerate recovery time so that within 24 hours so that you are ready to tackle your next workout even more efficiently than the day before. After the pre/post workout meals, of course you do eat all your other meals throughout the day  to keep recovering at all times.

Movement: When it comes to movement on a regular day, I always suggest warming up or stretching prior to workout and after your workout. I also believe you need to and can stretch periodically throughout the day. This movement can come in any form: 60 second walk or stretch each out, 10 squats each time you go to the bathroom, standing stretches as your coffee brews or many other ways.

As a coach and athlete, I stand behind the importance of 30 minutes of movement every single day, even rest days. When it comes to rest days, I firmly believe in active recovery: walking, stretching, foam rolling, or meditative movement for the mind and muscles both.  As I have talked about before, you have to distinguish between pain and soreness. Pain = rest and listen to your medical professions. Soreness: we have to move through the soreness.

When feeling sore, I’m a strong believer in active recovery such as walking, biking, stretching, yoga, and pilates. When you are dead tired, feeling fatigue, and simply don’t want to move, opt for the seating stretching while watching a TV show. The stretching usually leads to walking or stepping in place, a walk outdoors or maybe even feeling well enough for a recovery bike ride. biking. 

Active recovery doesn’t need to be strenuous. Lay down & stretch.

Thing to avoid: 

Just as there are essential elements and ways to accelerate recovery, are some that slow down recovery. Being sedentary, using soreness as an excuse to give in or give up, sugary foods, low quality breads, and many others are things that cause soreness and fatigue to linger around longer than needed. As stated earlier, high inflammatory foods, processed foods, sodas, juices, alcohol and many other ingredients will aggravate your joints and muscles. They will make soreness much worse than it needs to be.  (Spoiler: they also make weight loss much harder.) So, as always, try to stay clear of processed sugars such as candies, condiments like bbq sauce and ketchup, extremely processed granola and fiber bars (pretty much almost any granola bar that comes in a box), cereals, flavored yogurts and more. Stay clear of white breads, rolls, and tortillas.

Thank you for reading thus far. Please do comment on the blog, social media, or message me with any questions/concerns.

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