By Ciaran Russell

You will have heard this phrase ‘Go Hard or Go Home’ before but maybe this mentality is hindering your progress. How often you rest will directly impact on how you adapt to the training stimulus. By training too hard for a long period of time you run the risk of overtraining. This doesn’t have to mean a complete break from your exercise programme; it can be lighter sessions or different exercise than what you had been doing for the previous weeks. The reason rest is an overlooked part of training is because when you stress the body for a number of weeks doing the same or very similar exercises or activity your nervous system won’t have a chance to play catch up and you will eventually crash. When this happens, you may feel very tired, you might experience some cold or flu symptoms and you may find your mood is off. These are typical signs that you need to take the foot off the gas. When you have a balanced training programme of intense exercise coupled with proper rest your body will have sufficient time to adapt and recover in a way that will positively benefit you and your training goals. A ‘go hard or go home’ or ‘no pain no gain’ mentality is outdated. Too many people go all in at the very beginning of a new fitness programme in order to race to the end to see the amazing results only to give up a few weeks later. But if you accept that fitness will be a lifetime endeavor you can plan your goals better and will enjoy your training more. If you take away one thing from this article make sure it’s this; rest & recovery is a prerequisite to exceptional performance. If this is something that you are struggling with and would some extra support you can contact me by emailing ciaran@ciaranrussellcoaching.com or find me on Instagram @ciaranrussell_coach.