TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Less pushing. More pausing.
Like, in perimenopause. The recovery is literally baked into this time of your life!

WHY

Maturing in life is realizing that, as women, we are not meant to push ourselves off a cliff with our to-do lists or productivity binders, or that we have to hustle and hack and grind our way to success.

Maturing in the gym means knowing when to step back and allow your body to catch up to the physical asks you have been making of her.

If big juicy glutes and delts to match are your goals, you can’t be pounding them into submission to grow. You have to love them hard and then love them hard while you pause.

Push. Pause.
Push. Pause.

So many of us are GREAT at pushing and TERRIBLE at pausing.

It’s a Type A problem. I lovingly call us the Boardroom Bettys. We are the insecure, anxious overachievers who need to learn when to take a day off without letting our inner taskmaster tell us we are failures and losers for resting.

You know who you are, BB. It’s ok. I’m you, too.

We go to the gym and go to town on ourselves even when we don’t feel like it. We work out hard to tell ourselves we did a good job and that we won’t be one of “those” women who let themselves go in midlife.

Boardroom Bettys are walking anxiety disorders with a bias for extreme productivity, organizing, and culturally deemed versions of success. You wake up each morning already feeling like you are falling behind with every minute you “waste” getting yourself ready to start your day. If you wake up 15 minutes behind today you better find ways to “make it up.”

You go through your day with an arbitrary minimum level of to-dos checked and minimum viable productivity output. And If you don’t complete it all, you berate yourself into doing more later, tomorrow, or this week.

And while you might be super successful in the ways you have deemed important (career, kids, marriage, home, lifestyle), I’m willing to bet you’re also on some sliding scale of burnt out and resentful.

Is this something you’ll ever shake?
Maybe.
Maybe not.

What I can tell you is that no one is going to give you a medal for beating yourself into the ground, pummeling your esteem, and working yourself (literally) to death.

No medal, BB.
Not even a participation ribbon.

So, without medals or participation ribbons, I’m going to speak to your brain (logic) and your heart (love) about why you need to prioritize recovery.

WHAT

Recovery from the gym is sometimes easier to understand than recovery from life so we’ll start there and draw parallels to why this is important in all verticals of your life. (When I say “gym,” this can mean wherever you do your movement/fitness.)

You have a mother of a workout. You were squatting like it's hot, your inner quadzilla was released for all to see, and the glutes? Well, those glutes were gluting.

You wrap up a great workout. Have a protein shake and do it again tomorrow, right?

Wrong.

It’s now time to pause. What we do in the hours and even days following this will help our bodies adapt to the stimulus so we can reach a new level of adaptation, muscle growth, and strength.

I have spoken about heat immediately following a workout as a way to enhance further muscle protein synthesis. Many gyms now have saunas right in their changerooms and it’s a wonderful way to accentuate more muscle growth through heat shock proteins. To hear more about this, check out this podcast I did on sauna therapy.

Cold water immersion is another important tool as it helps with recovery from intense exercise, reduces inflammation in the body, helps to improve muscle endurance and power, and of course, has some promising effects on the appearance of cellulite.

You don’t want to do cold water immersion daily, and not immediately following an intense workout. You can either do cold water immersion before an intense workout, or at least four hours after the workout. I am in the cold plunge three times a week, usually the day after leg day.

One last item for workout recovery is compression therapy. You’ve likely seen hockey players, soccer players, and any elite athlete where there is a big demand on the legs use these. They are big leg boots that you wrap your legs in and set a certain amount of compression to massage your legs.

There are numerous benefits to compression therapy, especially as it relates to recovery:

• Increases blood flow
• Improves lymphatic drainage
• Initiates release of metabolic waste in muscles
• Faster recovery from workout (and hence getting back to the gym faster)
• Increases flexibility and mobility
• Decreases muscle pain and DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness)
• Reduces edema/swelling
• Prevents varicose veins and blood clots
• Relieves feeling of heaviness

After a big workout, fatigue often sets in along with stiffness and possibly pain. Compression boots gently squeeze the entire foot and leg, enriching the areas with fresh blood making it an ideal therapy for athletic recovery and injury prevention.

So how does this relate to recovery from your life, you ask?

HOW

If you can recognize that the body requires time to slow down and recover from the stress you place it under, it isn’t that big of a stretch to understand that you can get overwhelmed with the demands life sometimes places on you and the need for repose and pause.

Right?

Working yourself to the bone in life is just going to slow down your productivity. In the same way that squatting every day would be the worst idea on the planet. Not giving yourself enough downtime in between sets (or more broadly, the sets of life) is going to make you (gasp!) even LESS productive.

When it comes to muscle hypertrophy, it doesn't happen just by lifting weights. It is a thoughtful combination of the stimulus, recovery habits, and time away from the gym.

In life outside the gym, the same rules apply. We can dance with stress, but then we need to know when to break, pause, and when to get back to it.

For me, here are a few recovery habits I practice daily:

• On the weekends, I sleep in. My kids can figure out their own breakfast.
• On weekdays, I take my time in the mornings and listen to the leaves rustle and the birds chirp while I’m either walking or sipping a coffee outside.
• When my kids have late-night soccer practice, I carpool with other parents where I take the early shift so I’m not up too late.
• I walk a lot. All of my meetings that are not podcast recordings are done on my walking treadmill under my desk. (There are many quality, affordable models available.)
• I use sauna and cold water immersion weekly. (More info in “What I Recommend” below. Use code DRSTEPHANIE for a discount.)
• I use compression boots almost daily. (More info in “What I Recommend” below. Use code DRSTEPHANIE for a discount.)

This is what makes me happy.

You, too, can ask for what you want and design the life you want right now.

NOW

Take stock of your life and ask yourself:

• Where are the acute stressors and where are the chronic stressors?
• Are there conversations you are avoiding?
• Are there behaviors or activities you are engaging in because you feel obligated to do so?
• Where are the moments of proactive joy and peace in your life?
• What makes you take delight in your daily life?
• Is there one thing you can implement immediately today to make you feel calmer, more centered, or more grateful?

Stress is a good thing, as long as you know when to lift it up and when to set it down. It's like a weighted backpack: it’s good for you, but understand that you don't always need to be carrying a load on your back to progress.

What I Recommend: Compression & Cold for Your Recovery Practice

Recovery is essential to ensure every aspect of your well-being receives the attention it deserves. Whether you're managing the challenges of transitioning through life's stages or simply seeking to optimize your fitness routine, recovery plays a crucial role in supporting your goals.

RAPID REBOOT: Compression therapy benefits are many, as I mentioned in my main article. In particular, I’ve found that after workouts Rapid Reboot compression boots alleviate muscle soreness, swelling, and inflammation. They support quicker recovery time and reduce discomfort.

It does this by using pneumatic compression to simulate the benefits of a natural muscle pump, which enhances the removal of metabolic waste and speeds up the delivery of oxygen-rich blood to tired muscles. This accelerates the body's natural healing process, allowing you to bounce back faster and maintain your daily activities and lifestyle.

Click HERE to explore how Rapid Reboot's innovative recovery system can integrate seamlessly into your wellness routine. Use code DRSTEPHANIE to save 10%.

COLDTURE: Introducing cold water immersion therapy into my routine this year with a Coldture tub has helped not only with recovery, but also with my sleep, mental clarity, and overall energy.

• Cold plunging regulates my body temperature and calms my nervous system, and it’s made a positive impact on the quality of my sleep so I wake up feeling truly rested.
• Cold plunging makes me feel sharper and more focused. It’s like hitting a reset button for my mind.
• Cold plunging gives me a natural energy boost and helps manage my cortisol levels, which has been a lifesaver in keeping my emotions balanced throughout the day.

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