A word on recovery

Fridays are another "off" day at least until I start my m/t/th/f schedule. One side effect of driving a vehicle that only gets 12.1 mpg is that I try to drive as little as possible (this is where you say "no duh") with gas prices soaring, so I have really expanded my radius of what I consider to be "walking distance". Last night I walked over to whole foods to eat, whereas I would have driven if this were 3 months ago. So even on my off days I try to get some exercise in, but its important to give your body recovery time. Granted, there's a line between "recovery time" and "taking 4 days off" that I wasn't balancing very well when my idea of getting into shape consisted of running 3 miles when only the perfect conditions presented themselves.

Going along the lines of recovery, its also very important to eat protein within an hour of completing a vigorous workout. I usually down a muscle milk (21g of protein, very little sugar, no dairy despite the name, and tastes good to boot) because of the protein and the recovery amino acids. I haven't been able to research different recovery drinks, but I am looking into myoplex purely because of the commercial with Brady Quinn slamming one home and proclaiming "Now I'm done." I'll go in depth in a post down the line, but basically your muscles are starving for nourishment and ripe for growth within that first hour post workout. So my non-phd-driven advice, is to feed those muscles with some good protein (either protein shake, recovery drink, or just doing it the old fashioned away and eating some meat).