I'm really good at doing nothing.

I often say that I'm really good at doing nothing. That may sound a bit strange coming from someone who works out a lot and always has multiple projects going on. But for me, there's no contradiction.

When I'm active, I'm very active. But when I rest I really rest.

And the older I've gotten, the more I've understood how important that second part is. We We talk a lot about training, steps, fitness, strength and how important it is to keep the body moving. We talk much less about what happens when we actually stop. Because the body needs both.

The training is just the signal

It's easy to think that muscles are built when we stand in the gym. Actually, that's not really the case.

Strength training gives the body a signal: We need to get better and stronger at this.

Training puts stress on the muscles and stimulates the processes that allow the body to adapt to the stress. But the reconstruction itself takes place afterwards.

It is between training sessions that the body has the opportunity to repair, adapt and rebuild itself.

Therefore, more training is not automatically better training. If If you constantly stress your body but never give it enough recovery, the result can ultimately be the opposite: poorer performance, poorer training quality, and a body that doesn't have time to recover between workouts.

Muscles need rest to grow

After a strength training session, muscle protein synthesis increases, which is the process by which the body uses amino acids to repair and build muscle tissue. For this to function optimally, of course, you need enough protein and energy. But It also takes time. You can't train yourself to recover.

The body needs to do the work. That's one of the reasons why the same muscle group normally needs recovery before being put under heavy strain again.

Training provides the stimulus. Food provides the building material. Rest gives the body the opportunity to build.

All three are needed.

Sleep is perhaps the most important recovery

Then we have sleep. During the night, a number of processes take place that are important for recovery. The nervous system recovers, tissues are repaired, and hormonal and metabolic systems are regulated.

Sleep also affects how we function the next day. If you have slept poorly, it is often noticeable in training. You may have less energy, poorer concentration and find it harder to perform. But Recovery isn't just about getting eight hours of sleep. It's also about what we do when we're awake.

Resting is also letting the system slow down.

Modern life has created a strange situation. We can lie on the couch without really resting. The phone is in the hand. Notifications come in. We answer emails. Read the news. Scroll through social media. Think about work. The body is still. The brain doesn't.

For me, real rest is something else.

I can sit down and actually do nothing. And I have no problem with that. I don't feel like every minute has to be spent doing something productive. Sometimes the most productive thing I can do is to do nothing at all .

Recovery becomes more important when the load is high

The more you train and the more things happen in the rest of your life, the greater the need for recovery.

The body does not distinguish perfectly between different types of load.

A heavy workout is a strain. But lack of sleep, high workload and prolonged mental stress also affect recovery.

That's why it's not always possible to look at your workout schedule alone. Five workouts might work great during a quiet period in your life. The same five workouts might feel completely different during a week of poor sleep, travel, and a lot of stress.

The recovery must match the total load.

Rest day doesn't mean you have to lie on the couch

Resting, of course, does not have to mean total physical inactivity. In fact, light activity can be an excellent part of recovery. A walk. A little movement. A leisurely bike ride. Getting out and moving without performance requirements. The difference lies primarily in the load.

Not all movement has to be exercise. And not every workout has to be maximal. Sometimes the body simply needs a quiet day.

Learn to listen to your body

I think many people who enjoy working out are much better at pushing their bodies than listening to them. It's easy to feel lazy when you skip a workout. But If the body truly needs recovery, rest is not a failure.

It is part of the training program.

If you feel unusually tired, lose performance several sessions in a row, sleep worse, feel worn out or notice that the desire to exercise suddenly disappears, it may be your body's way of saying that the balance between load and recovery needs to be adjusted. It is not always more discipline that is needed. Sometimes more rest is needed.

I train hard so I can also rest.

I sometimes think of the body as a system where two things have to work together.

Load and recovery.

Training and rest. On and off. I like to train hard. I like to work, create things and be active. But When I decide to rest, I don't feel guilty about it.

I can lie in a deck chair. Sit in an armchair. Look at the sea. Take a nap. Read something. Or actually do absolutely nothing. Because I know that nothing is not always nothing.

That's when the body gets the opportunity to do its job.

That's when recovery happens. That's when the body repairs and adapts after training. And that's when we create the conditions to be able to come back and perform again.

So the next time you're lying on the couch after a week of good training, you might not need to think:

I should do something.

Think instead:

Right now, I'm actually doing exactly what I need to do.

I usually say that I'm really good at doing nothing.

And I intend to continue to be that way.

All the best, Kennet Båth