Losing Muscle From Overtraining? 4 Recovery Rules After 40

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabe? Hey, everybody. Nikkiey here, and welcome to our Sunday WarriorBabe Revolution Rally Call. I am super excited to be here with you guys, as I'm going to bring you another fire topic as we move into another week. I just got off the Blueprint Q&A literally five minutes ago, and today's topic was inspired by that Q&A, because I know that if this group of ladies is doing it too and struggling with it, then you guys are struggling with it as well.

I have to stress the importance of it now, and I will repeat it over and over and over again until it gets drilled into your head, because if you aren't implementing the specific things I'm going to talk about today, there's a good chance that's why you're not seeing the results you think you should be seeing with the hard work you're putting in. So that's a little teaser for today's topic. We'll start in just a few minutes.

So go let the Facebook group know that this rally call is live. Comment in the group and let them know they don't want to miss it, because it's better to listen to these live. What I'm trying to share with you gets drilled into your brain in the moment, with conscious awareness, and you can carry it on throughout the week. It's good to tune into these lives so you can catch what I'm saying and then actively put it into action right away. So go let the Facebook group know this call is live and we're getting started.

Really quick, before we dive into it, I want to give a huge welcome. Our community keeps growing every single week. We're impacting your lives, and new lives are coming in. I'm super excited. Anybody who is new, you're part of a community of thousands of women who are getting toned and becoming stronger, more confident versions of themselves. This program works. All you have to do is put in the work. Get out of your own way. Follow the tactics, the skills and the habits I'm helping you build and set up in your life. I guarantee you, if you can do that and get out of your own way, you will have the success and the results that you want to see.

But starting any new program, there's a lot of resistance, because there are things you've tried that maybe have worked, and things you've done. And you're thinking, oh my God, this is a lot of food. Just get out of your own way and do what I'm telling you to do. It's as simple as that. Don't overcomplicate it. Just get in, do it, do the work. This program has helped thousands of women. It's transformed hundreds of women's bodies and lives, and now that's going to be your story as well. So get out of your own way, listen to what I'm telling you to do, and just do it. Don't overcomplicate it. That's some tough love for you.

All right, let's dive into tonight's topic, because I'm really excited to talk about it. I've talked about it before. I know I've talked about it on Q&A days. But, you know, constant spaced repetition: the more I bring up this topic, the more maybe you'll take it seriously and actually act on it.

Look, guys, I need to talk about recovery. I need to talk about rest. I need to talk about sleep. I need to talk about taking a fucking chill pill. You don't need to be in the gym two to three hours daily to achieve results. When you're working on changing your body composition, when you're working on building muscle, when you want to get toned, you have to give your body rest. That rest time is extremely important for you to get the results you want. Doing strength training, CrossFit, whatever it is you do every day for two to three hours, and then cardio on top of that, is completely counterproductive to anything you are doing and completely counterproductive to the results you want to accomplish. I'm not kidding.

So I have four recommendations for your recovery. Hopefully these four drill into your head a little more than when I've talked about how important this is before. And I hope I can drill it in with the story I'm about to share with you.

A woman got on a Blueprint Q&A a couple of weeks ago, and she shared her InBody scan results with me. If you don't know what an InBody scan is, it's the device that gives you a comprehensive view of your body composition: the balance, the body fat, the muscle mass, water, minerals and so on. So she shared her InBody scan results on this Q&A, and she said, "Nikkiey, I'm wondering why my muscle mass is decreasing instead of increasing." That's her goal. She wants more muscle. And she said, "But my muscle mass is decreasing." She was getting all freaked out: "Oh my God, why is this happening?"

So I asked her, what's your daily activity like? What are your workouts? What does that look like? And guys, you could be eating your macros perfectly across the board, but if you're doing what this woman was doing, this is why. This is what I mean by it being counterproductive to your results. Her answer to my question about what her activity and workouts look like: she told me she was doing six days of CrossFit, five days of WarriorBabe workouts, and cardio every day.

Silence. My jaw dropped. I was like, you wonder why? You're really wondering why? The decrease in her muscle mass was due to her overtraining and not taking recovery seriously, guys.

Let that story be an eye-opener for those of you who want to work out every day and do cardio every day. It can seriously impact your results and push you in the opposite direction of your goals. I'm not joking. I'm not kidding. People who work out six days a week: I used to do it. To this day, six years into my journey, I'm like, six days is a lot of fucking days. You need rest. You need recovery. That 24-hour period is where your body recovers the most. It's not the hour in the gym. Yes, the hour in the gym is good. It's where a lot of work gets done and a lot of results happen. But the 24 hours is the most important time.

So listen up. I've got four recommendations here that are really important for your recovery.

Number one, obviously, from that story: you need to take some days off. You need full-on rest days. I recommend anywhere from two to three days a week, depending on your body type and your age. If you're older, I'm not joking when I say that three to four days of training is optimal for you. This is something I preach inside my Blueprint program, and a lot of people hit me up about it the other day when I answered a question. They were like, "Really? For postmenopausal women, you recommend three or four days?" I'm like, yes.

The reason is that in your later years, your hormones are different. More stress is happening inside your body. You don't feel the stress, but your hormones are not the same. So you can't train like you once did when you were 20 or 30 years old. Three to four days is optimal for you in the later years of life, and you can still get results. So you have to take that rest period. I'm not joking around. Rest is so important. Two to three days, depending on your body type and age, is really important.

This next one, I cannot stress it enough: getting seven to eight hours of sleep. On the Q&A I just got off with the Blueprint community, there were so many people saying, "Sleep, sleep, sleep, I don't get enough sleep." Well, guess what? You're not going to get the results you want. I'm not kidding around with this. Sleep is so overlooked in this world, in the fitness industry, but it's so fucking important. It's the time when your body recovers the most. I can't stress it enough.

You can find more time to sleep. If it's important to you, you will find it. Get off Netflix. Shut the TV off at least half an hour before you go to bed so your brain isn't firing a mile a minute when you're trying to fall asleep. Take ZMA, which I recommend; it helps you sleep and helps you recover. I'm not fucking around. Get sleep. Seven to eight hours of sleep. Fit it in. Cut other shit out. Make it important to you. If it's important, you'll find the time.

The third one: stay on top of your nutrition. Don't stop just because you didn't work out that day, you guys. There are so many women I see who don't eat on the days they don't train. The 24 hours outside your workouts, like I said, are the most important time for the growth of your muscle, which is what's going to get you toned. That's what's going to get you toned, and food is going to help you do that. So you have to make sure you're still staying on top of your nutrition, even on rest days. And on those rest days, for some of you, your metabolism will spike even more. You'll feel even hungrier. That's great. That's fire. It means your metabolism is working for you.

And the last one: stretch. For real. I'm kind of kicking myself on this one too, because I'm really bad at it. But stretch. Do it. Your muscles need room to grow.

So again: two to three rest days, seven to eight hours of sleep, stay on top of your nutrition, and stretch. You guys, it's not about working out nonstop. It's about giving your body what it needs to see the results that you want. What I just shared with you is how you can start seeing them. It's a small thing, and it's not 100% of it. Macros and workouts, yes, those are important. But getting enough water, getting enough sleep, reducing stress, all that shit is so fucking important. You've got to figure out how to manage it in order to get the optimal results you want with your body, and to be happy and have success.

So: two to three rest days, seven to eight hours of sleep, stay on top of your nutrition, and stretch. Remember, it's not about working out nonstop. Give your body what it needs to see the results you want.

All right, you guys, take it seriously. Have a good start to the new week. Put in the work. Take what I just said seriously. I'll see you inside the community on Wednesday. Bye, everyone.