Physiotherapy

Next-Level Optimization Experiment

I’ve always been my own lab rat for health and fitness experiments. Whether it’s testing out new organic recipe trends, logging miles on the trail, or inventing new exercises that look suspiciously like dance moves, if it gets my body moving, I’m game.

This year, I’m tracking my stats daily. Not in a science lab, but in the real life lab. Training smarter, not harder.... more strategically… and it starts with managing our energy reserves.

Why? Because I share my energy at my workplace, at my gym, with my family, with my pets, with my friends, running errands, all day long, every day, every week. But lately….I don’t have enough energy to go to the gym after my workday. And that’s not ok if I have been sitting at a computer all day.

So I was curious, “where is my energy going?” As I took notice I realized.… it’s a slow leak. So every day, I’m adjusting small variables and watching how my system responds:

– hydration
– protein timing
– training load
– work + life stress
– sleep quality
– recovery habits

It’s the same way athletes dial in their performance — observe, adjust, repeat.

The Data:

Week one delivered a surprise. On days that I skipped the gym, my HRV dropped 25%. On days I worked out? It only dropped 10–15%,(depending on my sleep.) The math didn't add up, until it did. Exercise wasn't draining my tank. It was releasing the pressure valve. Movement wasn't the cost. Stillness was.

Realizing this not only shed light on the results of my workouts, but also on my success at work. That’s right, I’m tracking my progress at the gym and on the trail, while working full-time in a high-demand career. The gym and the office aren’t separate arenas anymore. If one pulls my energy, it affects the other arena. They’re part of the same system, and I need to do both daily.

I found myself getting frustrated after a high energy drain from my workday. Picture this: It’s 5 p.m., I still have two legal files open on my desktop, and it’s gym day. My motivation? Somewhere between ‘lost sock in the dryer’ and ‘Wi-Fi during a storm.’ I didn’t want to drive 40 minutes to the gym, only to return home in the dark and repeat the cycle tomorrow. The frustration didn’t come from working. It came from sitting all day at my computer (which my body interprets as ‘doing nothing’ - opposed to a sweaty workout) yet I’m exhausted. How does sitting zap so much energy? Not sure, never thought about it, just did it. But by the end of the workday my body feels like I just ran a silent half-marathon. Unacceptable, but trying to keep my sense of humor. This is where my mind instinctively wanders.

My tracking led to my discovery - I don’t just train like an athlete. I work like one too. And they both drain my energy stores. Energy isn’t random. It needs to be managed. And when you start paying attention to the signals, the body tells you what it needs.

Burnout vs No Recovery 

Executives call it burnout. Dramatic word...like our soul dramatically flings itself onto a couch and refuses to return emails. But in many high-performing environments, what we call burnout may simply be something else: running the system without recovery.

Long hours.
High cognitive load.
Minimal vacations.
Constant over-stimulation.

We push through week after week and call it dedication. Then, when our energy collapses, we call it burnout.

Athletes would call it something different:
Overtraining without recovery.

No athlete expects to perform well while running the body at maximum load without rest. Recovery IS part of the training plan.

In the professional arena, recovery is treated like a luxury. However, when we take a vacation, it takes three days to let go, step out of reactive mode and into relax mode. A full week before the mind finally logs off.

That’s physiology finally catching up, not necessarily burnout. Just physics dressed up in a blazer pretending it doesn't need a nap. But remember, ‘Everything is Energy’.

Our body is a miraculous machine—equal parts brilliance and stubbornness. It’ll do what we ask, adapt, and even forgive us for that midnight pizza.  (The 2 a.m. cheese fries? That would go on the permanent record.)

So yes, I'll keep tracking. Keep adjusting. Keep being my own slightly obsessive lab rat. And I'll share what I find, because if my 5 p.m. frustration sounds familiar to you, there is a way to improve that. We're all running the same experiment whether we track it or not. Might as well make it fun. But here’s the thing. Move it or lose it isn't just a catchy phrase anymore, it’s actual data .… and apparently, it aligns with the laws of nature. So get outside. Go for a walk. And let the sunshine rejuvenate your cells and recharge your battery.