So you've done the hard work,
Finished your training session,
Let's take a few moments
now to reflect on what you've learned,
Bring the body back into equilibrium and
kickstart that recovery process before you carry on with your day.
You get comfortable,
My preferred position post-training is to lie on my back with my
legs up the wall or on a box,
So letting that blood drain down from the legs back to the heart.
You get comfortable and let your eyes close or relax your gaze.
Tuning in with the body now,
Feeling the ground beneath you,
Providing some support,
Briefly scanning down from your head to your toes and just noticing whatever
sensations are present in the body.
So you might be able to feel the pulse beating in your chest or neck,
You might feel generally energized or maybe there's a sense of fatigue.
Perhaps there's sensations through the muscle groups that you've been using.
Feeling the warmth,
The openness,
Maybe even the heaviness or tightness.
So just checking in with the body,
No judgment,
Just observing.
Observing the effects of your physical training.
Let's see if you can even perhaps picture the adaptations you work towards in your training,
Starting to sink into the body.
So you've just provided a healthy dose of stress for the nervous system and now you're beginning
to adapt,
Grow stronger from it.
To acknowledge to yourself that you've put in the effort,
You've expanded your comfort zone,
Now you fully deserve to slow down,
To rest and recover.
Could even thank your body and your mind for getting you through.
Seeing if you can maybe find a sense of relief,
A sense of comfort,
Thank your body and your mind for getting you through.
Seeing if you can maybe find a sense of gratitude for your body.
Let's tune in with the breath now.
If you've just finished your training,
Your breathing rate might still be a bit faster than
usual.
So let's see if we can begin to calm things down.
So the work has been done and now we're down-regulating,
Shifting towards a rest and digest state.
See if you can gradually begin to slow down your inhale.
So you're filling up that torso
and then letting everything go on the exhale,
Sighing it out if that feels good.
I'm getting a slow,
Calm,
Easy inhale and letting it all go on the exhale.
On the next breath,
See if you can start to extend the exhale.
Slightly.
So if you're breathing in,
Say,
For a count of four,
See if you can breathe out for a count of six.
On the next breath,
Can you maybe make that exhale even longer?
Maybe by just one second or so.
You might find you need to make some subtle adjustments in your body position.
Maybe to let go of some of that tension in order to be able to extend that exhale.
In doing this,
We're calming the nervous system and kick-starting that recovery process.
And that's where we gain the benefits of the actual training,
Not when we're pushing ourselves in the gym,
But during our rest and recovery.
The more skilled we become at shifting the nervous system from action to non-action,
From yang to yin,
The more effective we can be as athletes.
We're more adaptable and resilient.
And in your own time now,
With each breath,
Seeing if you can extend that exhale slightly longer,
Feeling the heart rate slowing and the body starting to cool down.
The muscles and fascia relaxing,
Spreading out,
Letting go of any tension that's built up.
Deeply relaxing and absorbing all the benefits of your training.
Still ticking over with those slow,
Relaxing breaths.
That calm,
Full inhale,
And then a slow exhale.
Let's spend a few moments now reflecting on the session,
Seeing what we can take away to perhaps inform our practice moving forwards,
To keep learning and improving.
And if you're interested in learning more about this session,
Seeing what we can take away to perhaps inform our practice moving forwards,
To keep learning and growing as athletes and human beings.
If you set an intention at the start of your session,
Were you able to meet it today?
It's okay either way,
Just reflecting,
Investigating here,
Trying to remain somewhat neutral.
If you've achieved your goal,
What allowed you to do so?
Did you approach things in a certain way?
Essentially,
What went well with the training?
What can we celebrate and be grateful for?
The first thing that might pop up might be a specific result,
Like a weight lifted,
Maybe a PB.
And that's great.
It's okay to celebrate these measurable things.
But as we've discussed in our pre-workout meditations,
We can also benefit from bringing our focus to something that's a bit more
about the process as opposed to the outcome.
And not every training session goes exactly to plan,
So you might also want to bring to mind something that didn't go as well as you hoped.
Something that you'd like to approach differently,
Maybe improve upon for next time.
Might be to do with how you performed with certain movements,
How you responded to challenges,
How focused you were in the session.
You don't have to have the solution right now,
We're just putting some questions out there,
Seeing what comes up and where the mind takes us.
It's okay if there's nothing that comes up right now.
The important thing is that we're approaching our training with some thought,
A degree of mindfulness and acknowledging how our training makes us feel physically and mentally.
So let's wrap things up by solidifying the main takeaway from this session that you can
bring into your next practice,
Competition or everyday life.
It might be a specific goal,
Maybe just a word or a phrase.
What does the body need next?
A few more slow breaths here.
Feeling the sensation of the breath and feeling the contact with the ground.
In your own time now you can open your eyes and bring yourself back into your environment.
This post-training downtime doesn't have to take long but it can be hugely beneficial
for kick-starting the recovery process and making sure we're on the right path.
So not just working towards goals but actually
checking in to see if this is something we really want,
Are we enjoying our training and getting the most out of it as opposed to just
going through the motions and doing something we feel like we have to do.
If you've got a training journal you could always spend a few minutes jotting down
any ideas that came up.
Good job,
Enjoy re-feeling and recovering.
I'll catch you soon.
