P90X Recovery Week

“Hey Coach, is it OK if I skip recovery week?”  I seem to be getting that question a lot lately.  Trust me, I understand why!  When I was doing my first round of P90X and I started to see results from pushing hard, I didn’t want to ease up and take a recovery week!  I wanted to push through and get the best results possible in 90 days!  Many people, myself included, sometimes feel that unless you are training hard all the time you are not making progress?  Well, that’s not really how the body works.

First of all, those of you who have done the recovery week know that it isn’t just a week off.  For many it is actually one of the more difficult weeks because it includes a lot of synergistic movements that are difficult to do?  Think of recovery week as more of a “transition week” that is getting you ready for another block of training…because it is!

In each block of training in P90X there are 3 phases:  Adaptive, Mastery, and Recovery.  In the Adaptive phase your body is learning the new exercises and movements.  In the Mastery phase your body goes through a growth period and masters the curriculum…then approaches a plateau.  Most traditional fitness programs will transition from the mastery phase into a plateau and stay there.  With P90X you go into the Recovery phase.  It is during this period that your body gets a rest from the heavy resistance training and allows the small tears in the muscles, called microtrauma, to heal.  And when they do you will be stronger, rested and ready to push even harder in the next phase.  Your muscles grow when at rest, not at work.

So, recovery doesn’t mean you can lie around on the couch all week “resting”.  It means you have to allow the muscles that have been targeted for the previous 3 weeks a chance to heal.  While they are healing you target new areas, like stabilizer muscles, flexibility, and coordination.  Recovery week workouts are perfectly suited for these new targets.  Don’t skip the Yoga or X-Stretch!   I know, Yoga is too long!  I agree!  At least do the first 45-60 minutes.  Flexibility is so important…and my weakness!  FYI, the Yoga in P90X2 is going to be much shorter.

I have always taken my recovery weeks and I am always amazed at how much stronger I am after giving my muscles a chance to grow, rest and recover.  You can substitute more intense cardio, like Insanity, into your schedule, but always give your body the recovery weeks.  You will see better results if you do, and reduce the risk of injury from over training.

Getting results is not just about lifting heavy weights all the time.  It is about properly timing your workouts, nutrition, and supplements.  When you are training hard, make sure you are supplementing properly to refuel your body for a quicker recovery (with a post-workout supplement like Results and Recovery Formula or something similar).  Beachbody has been kind enough to lay it all out for us in an easy to follow plan.  I think you should follow it…I do!