Recovery is non-linear too
Energy is not reclaimed linearly. A good analogy for this is to imagine your phone battery.
Imagine you ran your phone battery down to 0%.
First of all, you probably wouldn’t even be able to get it to 0% as it would literally just turn itself off at 12%. That's like burnout.
Then, when you plug it back in, it takes 15 mins to go from 0-30%.
Then 30 mins to go from 30-50%.
Then 1 hour to go from 50-70%
And then 2 hours to go from 70-100%.
That is a recovery curve that loads its biggest but slowest benefits at the end. Though we don't have to be 100% recovered to do a little training, we do need to be close to it to do it to the best of our ability.
We see guys struggle in between bouts of hard efforts in what we call the maintenance phase, where they aren’t necessarily working towards a stretch goal like fat loss or muscle gain, because they think they feel good enough to start pushing again towards a hard goal when they’re at 60% recovery.
This makes complete sense, they finished the previous phase and felt tired, sore, hungry etc. and now they feel a million miles away from that after 6 weeks of maintenance. The inexperienced trainee (or coach) would start the next fat loss phase or muscle building program at this point.
Data shows that it takes ⅔ to 1x the length of a fat loss diet phase to recover from the physical (including hormonal) psychological, and emotional fatigue (by emotional we mean relaxing around tasty treats and not having cravings or fixating on diet practices).
If you were to run a successful 12 week fat loss diet where you lose 30 lbs, you’ve paid a fatigue cost for that progress. If you recover for 4 weeks, analogous to having 50% of your phone battery back, and think you’re ready to launch into the next phase of your diet or training efforts, there's a higher likelihood that you’ll run out of battery before you reach your goal. Just like you’d be more likely to run out of phone battery ½ way through your day if you try and use all it’s functions from a base of only 50% battery charge.
How long Should Maintenance Be?
Best practice is to maintain your progress for 8-12 weeks after a 12 week diet. At this time, you’ll be closer to 100% recovery/charge and will be better positioned to launch your next effort of diet or muscle growth training.
Pro tip:
This same theory can be used when recovering from a cold - if you get a cold and your proverbial battery drops to 20%, then after a few days it might be back at 60%. If you try to go right back to the gym and push your training hard, you’ll likely slow your recovery, lowering your battery back to 30% again. If you wait another day or 2, then you’ll be closer to 80-100%, at which point you’ll have better ability to train with gusto without pushing your battery back down to critically low levels.
At builtXyou, we don’t just guarantee you’ll achieve transformational results, we help you sustain them too. After your 16 week transformation program, guys join our 12 month Legacy Program, which is a long term periodized approach to maintenance, muscle growth, and future fat loss efforts that are tailored to your goals, needs, and preferences. If you want to achieve your health, fitness, and physique results and keep them long term, then apply for one of our limited monthly coaching spots below.
