Active Recovery, a Walk, and Some Great Indian Cuisine

After Tuesday's rigorous workout at the Y, I decided to take a deload week from weight training. The purpose of a deload week is to allow your body time to recover fully and to prevent overtraining. Heavy lifting can cause systemic fatigue that drains your central nervous system. A deload week relieves training pressure and gives your connective tissues the time they need to heal. Now, "taking a break" doesn't mean being idle. It can, of course. But one also can do what's called "active recovery." Simply put, active recovery involves low-intensity exercises like walking to help you heal faster and prevent soreness. Studies show that active recovery helps your body reach homeostasis faster than passive recovery (doing nothing). So today I got in a nice walk at the High Bridge Trail. As you can see, it was a beautiful day to be outdoors. 

While we're on the subject of walking, let me take a moment to remind everyone that to become fit and healthy you don't have to become a super elite athlete. You don't have to become Rambo or Captain America or some superhero. You just need to be above average. For example, the average American gets between 4-5,000 steps each day. I'm willing to bet that most of those are non-intentional. If you were to just raise that bar every day by another 5,000 steps, you'd get a total of 10,000 steps per day. That gets you out of the "average" status and puts you more into the athlete category. You can easily add 5,000 steps to your day by taking two 25-minute walks every day. It's just that simple. You don't need to run for miles and miles. Just walk more. Spend more time every day being more active than the average person. If you can't get yourself to 10,000 steps, get to 8,000. You just need to get into a plan that's better than the average. You can also do this for your calorie intake and workouts. You do not have to become an elite athlete. You don't have to have a perfect workout schedule. However, if you can find the discipline that will get you over that very low bar of the average American, I can guarantee you that you will see changes. It's as simple as that guys. 

By the way, I've passed a certain Indian restaurant in Farmville a billion times. 

Today I decided to rectify that, and man was I not disappointed. 

Their lunch buffet is out of this world. It even included goat meat. 

And the fresh naan was to die for. I love Indian food because of its spices and its mixture of different textures. It's amazing how mixing the same spices in different ways lead to completely different tastes and flavors. I'd like to learn how to cook it at home but, alas, I'm still trying to perfect Korean bulgogi.  

If you find yourself in Farmville around lunchtime, be sure to say hey to Suresh and his team and enjoy a great Indian meal!