| By: Julie Eibensteiner PT, DPT, CSCS A lot – If your goal is strength, function, and resilience! ——————————- Physical stress is not where the magic happens — that’s just the input. Strength training Conditioning Speed work Technical/skill work for your sport Competition (And if you want to go deeper, emotional stress from things like family/friend fights, academics, and life stressors also goes in this bucket.) The improvements happen when stress is paired with recovery. Your two biggest “rocks” for recovery are: Nutrition Sleep Where Does the Brick Wall Come Into Play? If your goal is to become stronger, faster (run, sprint, jump), and more resilient, the proverbial wall (your body) needs the best bricks, the best cement, and the best design. Every time you train (stress your body), you’re taking bricks out of the wall — breaking yourself down. How do you rebuild the wall? Building Supplies (Nutrition): You need to replace the bricks. That’s where total calories — and especially protein — come in. ✅ Athletes should aim for 80–90% of their body weight in grams of protein. Example:100 lb athlete = 80–90 grams of protein per day 📣 Those recovering from injury or looking to maintain muscle mass while losing weight need to overshoot those percentages a bit! Time to Rebuild the Wall (Sleep): You need time and workers to put the bricks back. The best “workers” (your body’s repair systems) show up during deep sleep. Deep sleep happens best at night, with around 8 hours of good sleep.What Happens If You Don’t Rebuild? Keep taking bricks without replacing them? → You’ve got a crumbling wall.Bricks but no workers? → You have a pile of bricks, not a wall.Workers but no bricks? → You’ve got a bunch of workers standing around with nothing to do. The Goal: Bricks + Workers = You rebuild your wall. Better bricks + Better workers = You upgrade your wall! Take Home Point: 1. If you want to improve – you need stress AND recovery. 2. Protein & Sleep are your two biggest tools for physical improvement. Whenever possible – try to get your protein through real food and if you can prioritize, this is the way to go: No legs = Fish (and seafood) Two legs = Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) Four legs = Red meats (beef, pork, lamb, etc.) Protein through clean high quality supplements (like Thorne) only to top off protein through real food first! |
  Pick your Pick your habits after stress (training), pick your outcome. |