HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RECOVER?

I am going to ask you a few questions. Stick with me as I think we will both learn a lot through our answers. I found this chart really helpful with my gym and workouts. After a full body workout, the next day you may feel like you may be able to lift a small car, but struggle to get off the toilet because it was leg day. Looking at this chart, does it not make sense that different muscles in the body take different time to recover? They are different shapes, and involved in different processes in the body.

Sticking with this idea, would it make sense to you that they may recover quicker after some workouts than others? How about the time to recover may be different from person to person? My muscles tend to recover rather quickly. Margie 2 days after a workout might need assistance picking up her cell phone. Our bodies and the way they react after a workout differ. Some days I am ready to go the next day. Other days it takes me a while. Does that make sense to you? To recap, different muscles recover at different rates. On any given day they may recover quicker or slower. Muscle recovery not only varies from muscle to muscle and day to day, but certainly from person to person. This all seems pretty logical right?

While this seems to make sense with muscles, let me ask you another question. How long does it take to recover from the end of a relationship? How about the loss of a job? The loss of a loved one? I often use fitness as a way to show different aspects of self-improvement as they are very similar. We never think there is something wrong with us because it took us a little longer to recover from a workout than it did last time. We never feel less than because Bob or Betty recovered from their leg day better than we did. Why should it be any different when it comes to how we recover from a personal tragedy?

One last thought on this. When we have had a particularly tough workout, we are not afraid to use tools or ask for help in our recovery. That could be those glorious massage beds at the gym, consuming some protein or a simple pain pill. When we need to recover from life we feel like we cannot ask for help, or we do not use any tools to help us recover. Many of us do not even have any tools or strategies that could help us. You would not workout without a plan for recovery. Why would you go through life without one?

My point is this – just as muscles recover different, so do people. Just like it can take us longer to recover after some workouts than others, life can be tougher to tackle sometimes. When we are having problems recovering from a workout we go for a massage or take some type of pain pill. We may even ask for some advice from a personal trainer. The same should be true when we are struggling to recover from what life throws at us. Maybe we need to take a day off or indulge in some self-care. We may even reach out for help to a friend or therapist. This should make us feel no different than needing help after a tough workout.