Optimizing Recovery With the Work-Rest Cycle

Philip Pape 0:02

If you're always tired despite getting enough sleep , or maybe your workouts feel like a grind and you're not getting the results you want , maybe there's something missing when it comes to your recovery . Most people get this completely wrong . They oversimplify recovery as just sleeping more or taking days off from the gym . But research shows that your body actually needs up to seven distinct types of rest to maximize your recovery , your muscle growth , to achieve the physique you want . So today , using an engineering framework called the Work-Rest Cycle , we're going to talk about exactly what these are and how to help you build smart , efficient systems to achieve your dream physique .

Philip Pape 0:58

I'm your host , philip Pape . Now you know that feeling when you get a full eight hours of sleep but you still wake up exhausted . Now you know that feeling when you get a full eight hours of sleep but you still wake up exhausted . Or when you take a rest day but your next workout feels heavier than ever . There's a reason for that . Sleep and physical rest are just two pieces of a larger system that your body needs to recover and grow . How the engineering concept of the work-rest cycle combines with research on seven essential types of rest to create your complete recovery system . And before we get into it .

Philip Pape 1:32

I want to share something that will help you implement an improved approach to stress . It is an expanded version of my stress solution guide . So if you've ever downloaded this before , it was a pretty small guide based on some ideas that we had talked about on the previous episode , but I've expanded it with probably three or four extra pages of very detailed strategies for managing stress . So to get your free copy of that , just click the link in the show notes . You could always go to witsandweightscom slash free . Again . This is the expanded stress solution guide at witsandweightscom slash free or the link in the show notes . All right , in engineering because today we like to talk about engineering frameworks and applying them to your body , to your life In engineering we use something called the work rest cycle to maximize productivity while presenting or preventing system failure .

Philip Pape 2:22

So I want you to think about a manufacturing line that's always running 24-7 , producing widgets Doesn't matter what kind of widgets and if you let it keep running forever , if you never have scheduled maintenance periods , machines are going to break down and when that happens , efficiency is going to drop and eventually the whole system is going to fail . Your body operates on the same principle . It is a complex machine . It's not like a complex machine . It is a complex machine . It's not like a complex machine . It is one and it needs multiple forms of maintenance to perform at its peak . And the problem is that most people focus on just one or two types of maintenance and ignore the others , and that's like only changing a machine's oil while ignoring all the other aspects of managing the machine . It's kind of like with your car , like a lot of us we change , we get gas , we fill up the tank , but then we neglect a lot of the other things and then , before you know it , we've got a thousand dollar bill at the auto mechanic . Eventually , something's going to break , is the point here .

Philip Pape 3:15

And this is where Dr Sondra Dalton-Smith comes into play . She is a researcher who identified seven distinct types of rest . I learned about her with a recent guest on the show , allie Shapiro . She mentioned her on the show the seven types of rest and I looked into it and I said you know , I need to do a podcast on this because I think this is a great way to frame your overall recovery system and each one of them can play a vital role in your fitness and I think we're neglecting a lot of them , myself included . So I think you're going to get a lot out of this . So here we go the seven types of rest and how they relate to you and your recovery .

Philip Pape 3:51

First is physical . This is probably the most obvious that we are familiar with . This , yes , includes sleep , but not just sleep . We need both passive physical rest , like sleep and complete relaxation and naps , but also active physical rest . Like you know , light movement , walking , that kind of recovery you do on your rest day , but you're awake and doing something . So studies in the Journal of Applied Physiology have shown that proper sleep increases muscle protein synthesis by up to 60% . Research in sports medicine shows active recovery between training sessions can reduce muscle damage markers by 40% . So sleep and active recovery it's kind of like with a machine which needs to be shut down occasionally and needs some light operational periods while it's running . Same thing your body needs both forms to optimize recovery .

Philip Pape 4:43

The second type of rest is mental rest . Think of this like rebooting an overloaded computer . You know when your computer starts to crash and Chrome gets really slow and you're like what's going on , I'm just going to reboot it . That usually solves everything . Well , think of your body like that as well . You kind of get this buildup of mental stress . Research in Frontiers in Psychology shows that mental fatigue significantly impairs physical performance and it reduces time to exhaustion by up to 15% and impairs decision-making during exercise . So we know mental fatigue is not just about in the brain . It translates to your physical and can reduce your performance in the gym . It affects your workout focus , your form . You're literally just like running on fumes , right , mental fumes , and you you kind of know when you get to this point , but sometimes you may not realize it because it's that just at just below that , just above that level . But you need more mental rest than that and studies show that even brief mental rest breaks , even a minute of breathing and taking a break and just stopping Again , this was on let's see episode with Molly McNamee recently . She talked about taking 30 second breaks between meetings or tasks . Even just the 60 seconds of conscious breathing can improve cognitive performance by 26% . So mental rest is incredibly important .

Philip Pape 6:05

Third , we have sensory rest , now your body's sensory systems . This is more than just the physical , like the overall sleep and rest that we need . In that sense , these are the actually your senses , right , your eyes , your ears and so on . They can get overwhelmed , right ? Just like on any machine , you could get overwhelmed by constant input from screens , from noise , from artificial light . Research in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism shows that excessive sensory stimulation increases cortisol by up to 50% above baseline . And we know about cortisol , don't we ? It directly impacts everything Muscle growth , fat storage , you name it . A 2023 study found that even two hours of screen time reduction per day can lower cortisol levels by 20% and improve sleep quality by 35% . So when we talk sensory rest , oftentimes we're talking about sleep quality , and yes , these all tie together , but I'd like you to think about it as its own form of rest . How do we reduce the sensory overwhelm ? And , by the way , I'm going to get to strategies for all of these , but I really wanted to lay them out first and get you thinking about why these are important .

Philip Pape 7:15

The fourth type of rest is creative rest . Now , in engineering terms , this is like giving your system an upgrade right ? A new algorithm , new input , new inspiration , right , a new feature . Research in behavioral sciences shows that creative activities reduce cortisol levels and increase BDNF , that's brain-derived neurotrophic factor , and that is a protein that is crucial for learning and adaptation . Amazing , right . So creative activities , we know , increase that . And for fitness this means better movement patterns , increased training motivation , which means increased adherence and consistency .

Philip Pape 7:57

Studies show that , for example , just varying your exercise selection this is an argument for variety , right ? Argument for variety here . It can improve things like muscle activation and your neuromuscular activity efficiency significantly , compared to something that is repetitive over and over and over again and we kind of know this intuitively . I do argue for some level of variety . I'm I'm , I'm okay or I'm a big fan of a basic but boring approach when you first start training just to get super strong , super fast . But then I think there needs to be a little variety in there , for a variety of reasons . Um , muscle activation is just just one of them . There's a study that I found that linked those together . But there's a lot of other reasons having to do with what might be called creative rest .

Philip Pape 8:43

The fifth type of rest is emotional rest . Think of emotions . Like your pressure gauges , they need regular release of the emotions to prevent system overload . I never want you to hold your emotions back . We need to express them , we feel them . We can't help it . It's a matter of how we cope with them and research in psycho neuroendocrinology shows that emotional stress increases cortisol by up to 30% or 37% and decreases testosterone by 10 to 15% and that , of of course , directly impacts muscle growth and recovery . And then , conversely , we know that emotional regulation techniques can reduce stress-induced hormonal disruption .

Philip Pape 9:26

The sixth type of rest is social rest . So , just like collaborative systems you know , like think of teamwork or teams working together , they need breaks between intensive , all out brainstorming , right ? You ever been in a team in a meeting ? You can't just go on and on and on . You're going to eventually burn out . You need a balance , uh , so , similarly , you need to balance socially draining versus energizing interactions in everything you do . Whether you are more of a loner type or more of a social type , we all need relaxation and periodization between being with people and not being with people . Research in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine shows that positive social interactions muscle protein synthesis by up to 25% and increase inflammatory markers . And you notice I'm throwing you a lot of numbers and research and everything . I wanted to make sure this one tied into some of the findings we actually see associated with these types of rest . There's plenty of science behind it and a lot of it is somewhat intuitive , but it's good to understand these .

Philip Pape 10:38

Finally , number seven the seventh type of rest is spiritual rest , and in engineering , this is like having a clear mission , operational purpose , what I'll call a user story or a requirement for your machine . Now , that's kind of a stretch for an analogy . So let's talk about what this means for you . Spiritual rest means connecting to something larger than yourself . That can mean a lot of things to people . It's not just religion or spirituality per se . It could be finding deeper meaning , finding purpose , finding why you are doing this in the first place on the long arc of life , and this maintains your long-term motivation , your long-term consistency , versus just having short-term reasons for doing this . So , if we're gonna take all these seven types of rest , how do we create a practical system for implementing them ? Now , I recently went over these in my group coaching program in Physique University . We had one of our coaching calls . I went through specific actions for each one that people could take to apply to them .

Philip Pape 11:42

But I'm just going to ask you , without without just listing a laundry list of things , start by auditing your current recovery patterns . Like , think about the seven types of rest we just talked about . You can go back and reference them . What are your biggest rest deficits ? Right , most people are severely lacking in at least one or two , if not three , of these seven areas , so identify the ones that need the most attention , and then I want you to have a recovery schedule that hits all of these . Now , some of the things are going to be things you're already doing and some will be to address the one or two that you identified as the biggest low-hanging fruit , and this doesn't mean adding more to your day and doing more . Please don't take it as that , because that is going to affect your stress and rest in the most ironic way . This means being strategic and efficient , using stacking , combining things

Strategic Recovery Through Seven Rest Types

Philip Pape 12:45

and so on .

Philip Pape 12:45

For example , you can combine sensory and mental rest by doing your relaxing thing that you like to do . Let's say it's walking outside without listening to a podcast or listening to music . Now you're going to say wait a minute , philip . Haven't you talked about habit stacking , where you can walk or listen to a podcast ? Yes . However , if you're constantly stimulated , if when you're indoors , you're always on a screen or have something in your ears , and then you go for a walk and you still have something in your ears , that could be a problem and you could be overloaded and you don't have sensory rest . Instead , take advantage of the fact you're outside to look at the sky , the clouds , the birds , the trees , the animals , other people . Just be with your thoughts and get the sensory rest along with the mental rest . And , by the way , you're probably also getting a form of physical rest in recovery . Getting a form of physical rest and recovery all three just by going for a walk out in nature .

Philip Pape 13:47

You can stack emotional rest and spiritual rest by taking a moment to write down or journal or think about your deeper fitness motivations . If you haven't done that in a while , right , that's tied to your spiritual rest , but it's also emotional because it lets you get out on paper what you're thinking and feeling . This is where , when you're working with a coach , you can be super helpful when they're prompting you , when they're asking questions from a objective , unbiased sense . So I'll give you an example of this . Many of you , you probably share things with your loved ones or family or friends , even someone who's very supportive , and you tell them hey , I'm tracking my food or I'm lifting weights or I'm focusing . If they're super supportive , they're going to be positive , hopefully , about it . They're not going to question you , they're not going to sabotage you , and they're going to say , hey , that's awesome . And if you've had a bad day and you say this terrible thing happened , they might say , oh , that sucks .

Philip Pape 14:32

Now , some of us need that , but in some cases , that may not give you emotional rest because it didn't allow you to unburden the emotion in a full way , in a complete way . What I mean by that is a really good friend is going to empathize with you , but they're not necessarily going to help you process or move through it . Like , say , a therapist or even a coach , right ? Or ? Or someone in a community , like a Facebook community you're in who doesn't have a personal stake with you , but they still want to help you , and so they , they're listening , they allow you to vent , you can share the challenges you've had , and then , if you ask for help , they can say , okay , tell me more , what have you tried ? What haven't you tried ? Hey , maybe here's some things to try and you could unburden those emotions in that way , right ?

Philip Pape 15:16

So really get creative about each of these types of rest , and then you could , of course , make this very objective by tying that to your metrics . To make this very objective by tying that to your metrics , to your biofeedback . By the way , we just did an episode not long ago called the 6-10 biofeedback model , where we talk about different metrics . So , whether it's your workout performance which translates into , say , energy , recovery , motivation , right , all of that stuff , all of those metrics , and of course , the direct ones like sleep , stress and all the things you like to measure with your rings and your watches and everything which I do as well , you can then get that as feedback and see what's working and what's not , and then you can adjust your recovery schedule , your rest ratios , so to speak , based on these indicators . And I have a lot of ideas where those came from . Again , I didn't want today's episode to be a laundry list and I have a lot of ideas where those came from . Again , I didn't want today's episode to be a laundry list .

Philip Pape 16:21

A few other things that come to mind would be if you normally are listening to music while working out try not listening to music , just silently work out . Think about a lot of this is that rest and recovery is probably going to build more muscle for you than your training and your food . And that might sound a little bit sacrilegious from coming from me . I say it , however , because a lot of you you've you've started to dial in your training . Your training three , four or five days a week . You started to dial in your food . You know , maybe you're tracking , you're kind of understanding a little bit how macros work and energy balance , and there's still something a little bit holding you back or maybe the progress isn't as much as you'd like .

Philip Pape 17:01

I bet there's a lot of opportunity with rest and recovery . That's the one that people neglect so often , and sometimes we throw up our hands and we say you know , I just don't have the mental capability here , I don't have my life doesn't allow for it , because I don't have enough time . There's a lot of excuses we make . Let's just be honest , and so I want you to take it at a bite-sized , micro level . Pick one of the seven types of rest right and focus on it , because you want to be a well-aimed machine , well-maintained machine . A well-maintained machine Think of a car that you actually take into the shop regularly . You don't have to worry about it , like it just runs and runs and runs , just fine .

Philip Pape 17:39

But one that gets neglected is constantly going to have problems , and all those problems which you could translate to being injuries or sicknesses , or you're way too tired or whatever burnout . They actually stack on top of each other to the point where you just never get in a rhythm with your routine . But if you take the time now to actually think about getting your body rest across all seven areas , that is going to amplify your results far more than pushing harder on any single dimension . Right , and this is why some people get better results doing less , like training three days a week instead of four or five , because maybe they're resting more and then they're getting rest across all the dimensions and and and right . And so if I'm going to recap real quick the seven types of rest which , again , I encourage going back and listening through the episode for the details Number one , physical .

Philip Pape 18:38

Number two , mental . Number three , sensory . Number four , creative . Number five , emotional . Number six , social . And number seven , spiritual .

Philip Pape 18:43

All right , it's a pretty cool concept , this whole idea of work rest , um , where we don't pay attention to the rest enough . Let's be honest . And if you , by the way , if you want to see the full uh workshop that we did , where we went over all the details and gave you specifics for each , you could join physique university Anytime . Go to wandweightscom slash physique and you'll learn about everything provided there . But part of that is the regular coaching calls where we cover topics like this in detail and give you specific actions and frameworks to apply them . All right , I mentioned before , if you want to have a little bit more help with managing stress and some strategies , you can download my expanded stress solution guide . Go to witsandweightscom slash free or click the link in the show notes . Until next time , keep using those wits , lifting those weights , and remember that proper rest is much more than just sleep . It's strategic recovery across all seven types of rest we talked about today . This is Philip Hape and you've been listening to Wits and Weights . Talk to you next time .