Latest / Health Unscripted / Rest Isn't A Four Letter Word

Transcript

Rest Isn't A Four Letter Word · Health Unscripted

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: What's up guys?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Health Unscripted with Dr.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Dwyer.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I am Dr.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Ashley Dwyer.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's up?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Happy Thursday if you're listening on the day of release.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're back doing these podcasts.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Heck yes.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you hear my little Finlay in the background barking, it's because he has to bark at any noise ever.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, he's trying to be a little good guard dog.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: You may hear him, you may not.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I apologize ahead of time.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: But welcome to this week's episode.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: This week's episode is all about rest days.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So rest is not a four-letter word.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: It is not a bad word.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is something that is completely necessary in our training regimens.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna get into that in a second.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: First, I want to announce that in two weeks, uh, May 26th, I am going to be hosting a workshop all about macros.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's called Mastering Macros.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: We are going to take a dive into what macros are, why we track them, why we care about them, how to track them, all of the things all about macros.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we're even going to show you how to calculate your own macros and how we do it for all of our clients.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to take some QA's at the end.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I am super excited for this workshop.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is open now for registration.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to post the link in the show notes to sign up.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So please do for the first 100 signups.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be buying your ticket.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if you click the link and you don't have to input any information, you are the top 100.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So congrats.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot wait for this in two weeks.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you're going to hear about it at the end of this episode, but right now I just wanted to drop it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you're interested in getting started with macros or just want to like hear me chat for an hour outside of this podcast, please sign up.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to see you guys.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in on rest days.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So why am I taking an entire podcast to talk about rest?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And why do we need rest?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what's come up in a general theme when I'm talking to clients or talking to potential clients is that, you know, they're trying to do all the things to achieve these weight loss goals, and especially with summer coming up, right?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like I'm working out every day, I'm exercising every day, and I'm eating this and I'm eating well, and I'm still not seeing results.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, you know, are you taking any rest days?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, six or seven days a week is a lot to work out.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're experiencing all these symptoms of overtraining.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, this can be your problem.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's as simple as just not taking enough rest for yourself.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So let's break it down into, you know, in this podcast, we're gonna go over why we need rest days, um, many reasons why we need rest days, um, signs of overtraining, and then kind of different ways to relieve stress, because a lot of individuals like to use um the gym as their stress reliever.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So also if you can't hear Finlay, you can hear police sirens.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So another day in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So exercise, when we're exercising, whether it is, you know, weight training, running, walking, depending on different, doesn't matter what type of exercise.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Most exercise creates two forms of stress on the body.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we have metabolic stress and we have mechanical stress.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So metabolic stress is literally depleting the energy in our muscle cells.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: So depleting those glucose stores.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our muscles do swell with glucose.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we recommend carbs as well.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is our number one energy source in the body.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That is what fuels our muscles.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So metabolic stress is depleting this energy.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Mechanical stress is literal physical damage to the muscle fibers, which, hello, that's the point.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like quoting that TikTok, like, uh yeah, that's kind of the point.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is why we work out and that is why we lift weights, is to physically damage muscle fibers and then have them repair and grow and become stronger.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the mechanical stress happens.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's something that we want to happen, but it is a form of stress on the body.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, couple this and and add this to other stressors in our life from work, home life, dieting, and being in a deficit is a stress on the body, emotional stress, a lot of things can can accumulate and just be too much on the body.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that is something we have to take into account too when we're trying to, you know, pick out how many rest days we need.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, for example, if you're in a training split right now and you're working out five days a week, how are you separating those days?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Are you doing something total body every single day?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are you running every single day?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you, you know, doing arms on Monday and then not doing them again until Friday?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is your what is your high intensity training versus moderate intensity intensity training versus light training, right?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Lower intensity training.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're having a particularly stressful week at work or at home or or just a lot of things are going on in your life at the moment, high intensity work workouts, um, high intensity lifts, really strong lifts may not be the best option for your body without proper rest days because it's just gonna, you know, make that stress level go as high as it possibly can, right?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not what we want.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So rest days should not be thought of as lazy days.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: They should not be thought of as, oh, well, you know, no days off, I don't take any days off.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like the guy or the woman, sorry, not being sexist, who says, no days off, I don't take, you know, days off are for quitters is absolutely a tool and is completely wrong.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Days off are actually for people who want to succeed and do the best for their body.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what do what are the importance of rest days?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Why am I sitting on here telling you guys that you need rest days?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend at least one to two rest days a week.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I will also go over my split of what my rest days look like and my training splits so you can see kind of how I do it as well.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously it's dependent on your body and how you feel for that day too, right?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: If your schedule is one way but you feel completely depleted and fatigued, you're not gonna go in and do a workout.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like listen to your body sometimes, right?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is where self-awareness comes in.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So rest days are super important for you know a handful of reasons.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: The top one being it allows time for recovery, duh, right?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Rest days, rest and recovery.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: That is super important and super underrated.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just lost my train of thought.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if anyone knows me, I have very many squirrel, squirrel moments, and I'm not editing this podcast at all.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So enjoy.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, rest and recovery are underrated uh things that we need to do in our life to maximize results.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So during our recovery, we have cells called fibroblasts.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Their literal job is to repair damaged tissues.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: These are repairing our torn muscle fibers on rest days.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if we don't have rest days, how are they supposed to repair the fibers and then get stronger muscles and then be able to crush another workout the next day?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're not.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to allow time for muscle recovery and damaged tissues to be repaired.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Two, we also need to allow time for the glycogen to um get replaced in our body.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're working out, stored glucose in our muscle tissues and in our liver and things like that are used to fuel our workouts, right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So without the carbs that, you know, if we don't have enough glycogen stored in our muscles for our workout, our body will start to go to other sources and that'll be like breaking down our protein and our muscles for energy.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not what we want.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: What we want is to keep the muscles we've put on, preserve lean muscle, and make sure we have enough glucose for our workouts.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So allow um, rest days allow for recovery of muscle fibers and for glycogen stores.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the top two that we absolutely need rest days for.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, rest days also help prevent injury.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're overworked and we're fatigued, we may fall out of form.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: We may not be, you know, as strong in our lifts and attempt to lift the same weight that we've been lifting, and we end up struggling, hurting our shoulders, hurting our backs, trying to do a squat.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're not paying attention because we're mentally fatigued as well.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So rest days prevent injury by allowing us to come back stronger in our workouts the next day.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Rest days also improve performance.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when you have adequate rest, you're going to have adequate energy and you're gonna have less fatigue to come in and do your workout.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're trying to sprint, if you're trying to run marathons, if you're trying to um lift heavier in the gym, do CrossFit workouts, et cetera, you know that you will have decreased performance if you go back to back to back to back to back.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't allow yourself that time to get adequate sleep and adequate rest time, you're not gonna perform the same the third day as you would the second day or the first day, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So improved performance is awesome, especially if you're an athlete.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You definitely need rest days.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Rest days also help us get better sleep.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're exercising, not only are we producing like the dopamine hit, right?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're also producing adrenaline and cortisol, which are stress hormones.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: We are stressing out the body when we exercise.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is in a good way, but over-training can produce over, like over amounts.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: What am I doing?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I swear I'm smart, guys.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exercising too much can produce too much adrenaline and cortisol, which will a hundred percent affect our sleep quality.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: It'll keep us awake, it'll decrease melatonin production, it will just keep us in fight or flight.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not what we want.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: We want to relax, go into a good night's sleep, and let our fibroblast repair our muscles, right?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So when we are thinking of like, how do I know if I'm overtraining?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I know if I need to incorporate more rest days?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if your sleep is poor, for one, if you're waking up in the middle of the night, you're just not getting great sleep, that's one sign.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Feeling physically exhausted and fatigued is another sign.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're just like dragging throughout the day, your nutrition's good, right?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're also needing to focus on nutrition.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are under-eating, and I think I need, um, that's gonna be next week's podcast.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: But um, signs of odor training, feeling physically exhausted and fatigued, poor sleep, extreme soreness for multiple days after working out.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're super sore, that means, and and for many days, not just the day after, that means your muscles are not repairing properly.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: You still have that buildup of lactic acid in there.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your body's not able to clear out what it needs to during the recovery process.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So extreme soreness or even just being more sore than normal is a sign of overtraining.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Having mood swings is also a sign of overtraining.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So when our cortisol is increased, serotonin can become imbalanced, um, we can start to get really cranky and irritable.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: These are all signs of overtraining as well, and signs of under eating.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if your nutrition's on point, but you're just exercising like six times a week, um, you may want to drop that back.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know the cool thing when people are trying to get in in shape and lose weight is two a days, and that doesn't allow for rest, right?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I physically don't think there's any reason to do two a days unless you're an athlete training for something or you're training for a competition and you're only doing it for a very short amount of time.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Two a days are not sustainable and do not give you proper rest days.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just my little aside.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: But um, so how do you incorporate rest days into your routine?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So for me specifically, my routine is um I work out sometimes on Monday.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Monday's actually my rest day.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know how people get back into the gym and they're like, Monday, new week, I'm gonna work out.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Mondays have become my rest day.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So Tuesday I will do legs, I will do lower body.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Wednesday I will do shoulders and uh some chest, barely some chest, maybe some arms.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thursday, I'll take another rest day.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Monday, rest day, Thursday, rest day.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Friday will be legs again.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll target different areas.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Tuesdays are generally quads or quads and glutes or just hamstrings and glutes.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then Friday we're gonna do glutes and quads, or you know, I'll do the opposite of what I did Tuesday.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that allows for at least 48 to 72 hours in between leg days to have the recovery because I don't touch my legs on Wednesday or Thursday.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So they have adequate time to recover.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll do legs again on Friday.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Saturday, we'll do arms and shoulders again, maybe some chest.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've been hitting shoulders a lot because I want them to grow.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then Sunday's back day.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that's been my split as of you know the past couple of weeks.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I have two rest days.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll even take three rest days and make one or two of those active recovery days.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So active recovery days to me look like yoga and not hot yoga, like regular yoga, low intensity yoga.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: It'll also look like getting my steps in and going for walks.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: It might even be a you know, load, slow jog.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: They're not anything crazy that includes a hip, hip boot camp workout or uh sprint training, anything like that.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like my active recovery days might be bike rides, walks, maybe a jog.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you who know me, I don't run, so it's like never a jog, and yoga.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So those will be my rest days.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll have one true rest day where I literally don't do anything.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do any activity.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: I may still get my steps in, I may not, but that's my total recovery day.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and some of you are like sitting there listening to this and you're like, but the gym is how I get my stress out.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: The gym is what I do to unwind after a long day.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I absolutely need the gym.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I would do without the gym.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way I can take a rest day because my stress levels just can't handle it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, wrong.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the gym should not be your place of therapy.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Therapy should be your place of therapy.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the gym should not be a stress reliever because it is a stressor on the body.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what's happening is you're not taking enough stress.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, you're not taking enough rest days, which is just having this stress response in your body accumulate and compound on each other.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can't take a day off from the gym because it is your stress reliever, that is a sign that it is time to find a healthier coping mechanism, whether that is podcasts, books, painting, a musical instrument, um, a therapist, like I said, uh, doing podcasts because talking to the world just helps you feel therapeutically better.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, find another hobby.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: It cannot be your stress reliever.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Journaling is awesome.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend journaling.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend getting outside in nature.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend a puppy, but they are loud and probably gonna bark in the background.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you get the idea.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summation, because we're gonna keep this short, um, rest days are super, super important.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: They shouldn't just be deemed lazy and unnecessary.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: They are so necessary.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that we like to emphasize in our programs with clients is rest and recovery.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: If your nutrition is on point, if your workouts are on point, but your sleep is trash, your recovery days are trash, your mental health is trash, you are not going to make the results that you're looking for.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way that you're gonna put on adequate lean muscle without giving those muscles time to heal and, you know, recover for your next workout.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: How do you think in progressive overload when each week or each workout you're trying to, you know, increase your weight, increase your reps, decrease your rest, things like that, when you're trying to get better at these exercises and get stronger, how do you expect to get stronger and improve if you're not allowing them time to come back to full capacity?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the point of this today.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Rest is not a four-letter word.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you take those signs of overtraining seriously because they are so, so, so common.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I see that time in like every single day of just mostly women, because that's who we speak to, just telling me these symptoms.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, first of all, we're eating a thousand calories and we're working out six days a week.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the answer, girlfriend.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So please take rest days to recover, prevent injury, improve your performance, and get better sleep.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So once again, check out the link in the show notes for the Mastering Macros workshop that is happening on May 26th at 6 p.m.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Eastern Standard Time.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: It will be a live training, so I will be here with you.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a recording, I promise, snag your spot.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll see you guys next time.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you've had an awesome week.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to me ramble.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have any certain topics that you want me to talk about on this podcast, please find me in on Instagram and DM me, you know, health unscripted, and the topic you'd like me to talk about.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm open for anything.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is for you guys mostly, and um, please follow along as well.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, talk to you guys later.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Have an awesome week.
• 16:20
  unknown: Bye.