No Rucking for a Week? How to Protect Your Fitness During Medical Rest

0:00 Here's a scenario for you. You've been put in the work, your rucks are consistent, your body's feeling strong, but then a doctor tells you no physical activity for a week. That's exactly what I just went through. And it has me thinking, how do you rest without losing momentum? In this episode, I'm walking you through exactly how I'm handling a medically forced week off of rucking. I'll talk about what matters, what doesn't, and how to return in a way that protects your recovery and your long -term progress. You're listening to the Rucker's Edge podcast, a show all about rucking that is designed to help you improve your rucking routine, lose weight, and ultimately gain your strength and energy back. Each episode dives into the science, stories, and strategies behind rucking. You'll learn from top ruckers, coaches, nutrition experts, and performance specialists who break down what it takes to train smarter, recover faster, and stay ready for the next challenge.

0:53 So whether you're new to rucking or an experienced rucker that's already logged hundreds of miles, this is the show for you. I'm your host, Spencer. Thanks for listening in. This is going to be a quick solo episode for you today. I'm in the middle of recovering from a sinoplasty surgery. Basically had a deviated septum that was severe enough that warranted correcting with surgery. During the prep appointment, my doctor explicitly told me no strenuous activity for a week. So no rucking, no running, nothing. Not even what I would call a light recovery ruck. I was a little disappointed, but totally understood. And I definitely don't want to mess anything up that the procedure corrected. So I started focusing on what I can do in the meantime. I don't want to lose progress I made with rucking or my fitness. I mean, not that sitting on the sidelines for one week would set me back that much, I guess. But I have found myself asking, you know, how do I protect my fitness and come back stronger when I can after the seven -day break? So that's what this episode is about. And quick disclaimer up front, I'm not a doctor. This is just what I'm doing during Medical West. Your doctor's instructions override everything I say here, always. This is just my experience and what I'm focused on. So let's get going. Let's start out by thinking about how long a seven day break actually is. Is it really going to move the needle that much with my fitness? Probably not. I mean, research shows aerobic fitness usually only starts to dip after about a week of complete rest. And even then the drop is small and it comes back pretty quickly once you restart your activities. The strength loss over a single week is pretty minimal. And

2:24 honestly, a lot of people come back feeling better because their body finally gets recovery. I've talked about the importance of building recovery into your workout program on a previous episode. I think it was episode five. So if you're interested, go back and give that episode a listen. But in my opinion, the real danger isn't the week off. The real danger is it's doing too much too soon. You're straining too much and kind of resetting the healing clock. But what should you do during medical rest on a week off? First thing, sleep. If you do nothing else, do this. Sleep like it's your job. Sleeping is when tissue repair happens, inflammation drops, hormones normalize, and your nervous system resets. Here are your rules. Eight to nine hours in bed, cool dark room, ideally the same bedtime and wake time each day. After sleep, the second thing, nutrition. Eat to heal, not to diet. In my case, I'm not necessarily trying to eat healthier or change anything about my diet. I feel like I already eat a pretty balanced diet. I'm continuing to eat a healthy balance of protein, carbs, and fats, but I am cutting back on added calories like snacks between meals.

3:30 After nutrition, third thing, hydration. Definitely maintain a healthy level of fluid intake. While healing up and taking meds, proper hydration remains vital. Next up, mobility. And only if you're cleared to do so by your doctor. If your doctor says no physical activity, Take that literally. But if you're cleared for gentle movement, do some stretching. I talked to my doctor. She said gentle stretching is fine. So I've been doing ankle circles, some neck mobility, shoulder rolls, and some other just light general stretching. While stretching, you definitely do not want to strain too hard. You don't want to break a sweat. You don't want to feel like it's a workout vibe. If you feel an uncomfortable amount of discomfort, stop. This is just maintenance. You're not trying to... improve your fitness here. And lastly, breath work. Do some breath work. Focus on your breathing. If you wear a fitness tracker or a smartwatch, cycle through some of the breath work activities. Do a few a day. I'm doing two a day. Well, I'm doing two a day when I remember to do them. It's just not something that I normally do, so sometimes I'm forgetting to do them, but these breath works should be light. And on my Garmin, there's a few that I like. There's one called Relax and Focus. It's a quick five -minute one. There's also another longer Relax and Focus, but the five -minute one works for me. It's using the box method, so you inhale for four seconds, you hold that breath for four seconds, you exhale

5:01 for four seconds, and then you hold your breath again for four seconds. The other breathwork activity I like to use is tranquility. It's at night, and it's about 12 minutes, and it progresses to longer lengths of breaths and really calms you down. It helps with your sleep. Doing breathwork can help with your stress levels, sleep, and your recovery. It also makes returning to cardio smoother. Okay, so that's what I'm doing while I'm on medical rest. Now let's go over how to approach your first ruck back. Before we do, I want to take a quick break and say, if you're enjoying the show, please consider texting it to a fellow rucker that is temporarily sidelined or planning to be sidelined in the future. Sharing this episode will help the show grow and help them to return to rucking without skipping a beat. All right, so let's roll into your first ruck back. How do you come back the smart way?

5:49 When you get cleared for physical activity again, here's the rule I think we should be following. Your first session back should feel too easy. Because if you do too much too soon, you could erase the recovery your body has made over the last week. And then, you know, now you're going to be off longer trying to make up for that recovery. This is what I'm doing. About 70 -75 % of your weight. Do a shorter distance and a slower pace. Cap at about 20 -30 minutes. You should finish thinking, man, I probably could have done more. But, I mean, that's the goal. You don't want to go out trying to... trying to break a record, not coming off of medical rest. If you're taking recovery time built into your plan, maybe so, but not off medical rest. You don't want to undo any work your body did repairing itself. So quick recap. If you're out for medical reasons, don't try to maintain fitness with sneaky workouts.

6:41 Sleep is your number one training tool. Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Do some breath work. And when you return, return at about 70%, 75%. Cap your rock times at... 20 to 30 minutes and build back to where you were. That's how you come back stronger. At least that's how I'm planning on coming back stronger. Well, that's it for today. Short and sweet. If you've been enjoying the show, make sure you subscribe to it in your favorite podcast app so you're notified of new episodes. In next week's episode, I sit down with Kayla Gergen. She's a registered dietitian and a certified personal trainer. And she's also the author of RuckFit, a book that was just recently released about a month ago. We sit down and have a chat about glucose, continuous glucose monitors, and, of course, Rucker. All right, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening to this episode of the Rucker's Edge.