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2005/09/16, 05:35 PM
One of the most important aspects in any athletes training can often be what he or she is doing while they are NOT training. The rest you get in between sessions is the real time that you get bigger, faster, and stronger. That is why I decided to start this thread. I know there are threads out there that mention it, but I figured I should start a new one entirely dedicated to recovery tips. Everything I am recommending, I have researched, as well as experimented with...
Rest: Often overlooked, but very important. Athletes in training should aim to get between 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Waking up at the same time every morning is a good way to get into a good sleep cycle. Aim to get out of bed and get moving at the same time everyday, even if you don't have to. Resist the urge to snooze late, and try to set a reasonable bedtime goal.
Post workout nutrition: Within one hour of working out, try to get something in your stomach. If your going to cheat, this is the time to do it.
Along with that, you want to get protein into you body immediately after lifting. This will end the catabolism of your muscle tissue, and aid in the rebuilding of your muscles. After practice, or if your an athlete, you want to also get some carbohydrates into your system. This will replenish you body's glycogen stores, which is one of your muscle's main sources of energy.
Many sports performance scientists recommend a 2-1 ratio of carbs to protein. I disagree. Depending on your goals, you may need more or less protein or carbs. If you were an endurance athlete I might go as high as 3 or 4-1, and for a bodybuilder I might go as low as 1-1 or even 1-2 during cutting. Me, I just get a protein shake with some high fructose source, such as fruit(yes, fructose isnt all bad... In fact it can be very effective at controlling anabolics through the release of insulin, but that is a different post) and then try to eat a meal within half an hour. It has also been shown to be very effective to absorb some slow absorbing micellar cassein protein after the one hour window. This will help stabilize insulin levels, and keep protein in your system longer. Some cassien sources: cottage cheese, milk.
Rest revisited: Take time away from the weights. Enough said.
Cryo-massage: An ice massage is amazing on your legs after ME squat day, or on your traps after snatch or ME DL day. An easier, and less expensive way to do this, is to fill a stryrofoam cup with water, freeze it. When you are ready to use it, just peel the styrofoam away from the ice. Use long strokes, and do it for 3-5 minutes per side alternating until the cup is melted. You will feel much better.
Contrast Bath: going from hot to cold water, usually about 40 seconds warm, 20 seconds cold, is an excellent way to get blood flowing through your muscles. If you ever get into grip training heavily, many guys swear by this technique for the hands and wrists. For joint soreness, use hot water and cold water. For muscle soreness, use warm to hot water and very cold water. Along with this, contrast showers might be an easier alternative.
Massage: I forget the term for it, but there is a specific type of deep tissue massage that is very helpful in recovery. Try it as soon as DOMS sets in. Not only will it help, it will feel really good to. :)
Stretching: A common recovery technique. You should emphasize short, static stretches, with holds of about 5-10 seconds. Your goal here is recovery, not flexibility. Stretching for recovery and for flexibility are different. Yes, dynamic stretching may help with recovery, and it will build more strength, but short static stretches are great for recovery.
GPP: General Physical Preparedness training isn't just for strongmen anymore. Not only can it help to bring up your lifts, but it can also be used for recovery. Dave Tate has touched on this many times in the earlier elite fitness systems articles. Just use a lighter weight, focus on the muscle group your looking to recover, and go for time or distance, not weight or time.
Liniment: Tiger Balm, EMU oil, ICY-HOT, etc. Even menthol and cayenne pepper. It may not be the final word, but it does feel good. I have never been fortunate enough to experience it, but I am told the Olympic training halls reek of liniment. I love the stuff, and use EMU oil on my hands and wrists after rock climbing or grip work, and Tiger Balm everywhere else.
100 rep sets. Fist popularized by the westside crew as a way to bring up lagging body parts, doing light weight for one set of 100 reps on days off to get blood and nutrients into the muscle is an effective way to reduce DOMS and build new muscle. Not recommended with compound movements.
Epsom Salt Baths: They feel really great, they can help joint aches, and its an excellent way to increase stores of magnesium in the body, something many athletes are low on. Magnesium can actually be absorbed through the skin.
Now I know there is something I am forgetting, so when I remember it, I will post it. Any one here is welcome to bring up other methods or discuss any of the points. I hope some one finds this helpful.
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2005/09/16, 07:22 PM
awsome post, if you would like to include some supplements zma would fit the bill
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-Andrew
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2005/09/21, 05:44 PM
Great post. This is something so important that most athletes don't pay a bit of attention to. Like you said, the contrast baths work great...taking a contrast shower afterwards is great for rushing the old blood out of your cappilaries. One thing, you mentioned micellar casein for one hour after the workouts. This is good, but one should also have some casein before bed considering its slow absorption.
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt
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2005/09/21, 05:45 PM
Also, I was reading up on ATP restoration last night. This is also important. However, right now I do not have the time to find info on it or post it for that matter. Gotta run!
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt
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2005/09/21, 11:45 PM
That is why it is important to take in some carbohydrates immediately after working out. Also, creatine can be useful at rebuilding ATP stores...
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2005/09/22, 04:27 AM
Glad to hear all this since ever since I started doing this stuff, all I want to do is sleep.
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2005/09/23, 12:25 AM
Stretching: A common recovery technique. You should emphasize short, static stretches, with holds of about 5-10 seconds. Your goal here is recovery, not flexibility. Stretching for recovery and for flexibility are different. Yes, dynamic stretching may help with recovery, and it will build more strength, but short static stretches are great for recovery.
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Dynamic stretching isn't the best method for recovery. Dynamic stretching is a warm-up method. Static stretches held 15-30 seconds are best for recovery. There is clear cut research on this. There is also nothing wrong with working on your flexibility while stretching for recovery.
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2005/09/23, 12:26 AM
Contrast Bath: going from hot to cold water, usually about 40 seconds warm, 20 seconds cold, is an excellent way to get blood flowing through your muscles. If you ever get into grip training heavily, many guys swear by this technique for the hands and wrists. For joint soreness, use hot water and cold water. For muscle soreness, use warm to hot water and very cold water. Along with this, contrast showers might be an easier alternative.
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Contrast baths are normally 3 minutes hot and then 3 minutes cold repeated over a period of 20-25 minutes. The body needs time for the contrast methods to work.
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2005/09/23, 12:28 AM
Post workout nutrition: Within one hour of working out, try to get something in your stomach. If your going to cheat, this is the time to do it.
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Research suggest it is best withing the first 30 minutes post. If you hit that 30 minute window then you open up another 1.5 hour window for maximum absorption.
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2005/09/23, 12:29 AM
Other than the points I posted on this is a good post.
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2005/09/23, 12:46 PM
I do agree with you on the subject of post workout stretching. It should be static, as dynamic is best for warming up...
Also, I have heard different things on the on post workout nutrition. I always try to get something immediately after working out. I have heard 30 minutes, but I have also heard 45, 1 hour, and 1.5 hours. I will take you word though gator...
As for contrast baths, I have heard both ways as well. I know when I did them, it was for almost a half hour, 4 minutes hot, 4 cold. In my post, I meant to say 80 seconds hot, 40 seconds cold. That is what I have always read. However, other than contrast baths for my hands and contrast showers for my back on deadlift day, I have only tried full ocntrast baths with a 4-4 minute rotation, and it worked great. Just throwing this out there.
Thanks gator. It's always great to hear from you, and even better to discuss things with you.
My main point of this thread was just that so many people neglect post workout recovery, and there is so much that can be done.
I still can't help but think I have left a few things out...
What do you do with your athletes Matt?
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2005/09/24, 11:37 PM
This is good stuff. Good to have Gator posting again. Wrestler, you posted that if there was a time to cheat on a clean diet, that it is right after your workout because you're replacing your glycogen stores. I understand this but am sure that other forms of sugar/carbs such as fruit like you eat are better. So what are the best kinds of sugars/preferred carbs for replacing those glycogen stores. I'm just curious cuz I miss my old food sometimes and I was just wondering just how bad it would be to eat a little something sweet with your protein immediately after your workout? Cuz if I was ever to cheat, I would want it to actually benefit me a little bit.
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt
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2005/09/24, 11:38 PM
I have also heard that the best protein you can consume immediately after would be a whey protein hydrosolate. Is this fact?
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt
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2005/09/25, 08:38 PM
Yes aron, you are right, fruits would be a much better choice. My statement was IF you are going to cheat, after a workout is probably the easiest time to get away with it. Not that I am saying go ahead and eat whatever you want just because you worked out. But...everyone has their weakness.
As for the best type of carb, I said fruits because they are higher in fructose. Fructose is the most anabolic of the sugars because of the effect it has on insulin. Does this answer your question, because I am not sure if I am reading it correctly?
Whey protein is the best protein for directly after a workout, and the isolate shouldn't matter. In fact, the best thing would probably be a mix. Read Will Brink's "The Whey it is" for more information on whey protein and its various forms.
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2005/09/25, 09:21 PM
Thanks Wrestler. I did a lot of reading the night that I posted that question. I've read a lot of different opinions on replacing glycogen stores, and I found it funny that none of them mentioned insulin. They all talked about that you should eat carbs all day long so you can replace your glycogen stores and that the best ones to replace glycogen are highly glycemic carbs such as white bread/bagels, etc. I believe I will just keep doing what I've been doing: Drinking a post workout MRP that has sugars, whey protein mix, and some creatine monohydrate followed by eating whole foods at the windows within the next couple hours. I will drink some Micellar Casein before bed (Biotest GROW!), and follow the Protein Plus meal plan (Dr. Berardi) to get leaner until the season. Wrestler, I will try the fruit one day as well. I haven't really checked on what kind of sugars/carbs are in my MRP, but this may need to be changed.
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt
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2005/09/25, 09:40 PM
Anyways, like I said on the previous post about the articles on replacing glycogen: These articles on recovery failed to mention insulin, protein or anything but hydration and glycogen replacement. Thought it was kinda sad. Seems like there's a lot of sports nutrition doctors out there that claim a lot of stuff I disagree with or I feel like they leave stuff out. I dunno maybe it's just me?
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt
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2005/09/26, 01:21 PM
Grow would be an excellent choice. Most of the Biotest products are very high quality, and very well designed. As for the fruit, ill be honest, I just mix it into my MRP along with the protein. I haven't tried it, but I looked into the protein plus plan, and Dr. Berardi knows what he is talking about when it comes to nutrition for performance enhancement.
Insulin manipulation isn't easy. I'm not going to say its something I am completely in understanding with, as it is very complicated stuff, but what I do know is important stuff.
The good thing about Dr. Berardi, is he is more than a sports nutritionist. He actually weightlifts and competes. He knows how the body responds to lifting, as well as nutrition.
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2006/12/13, 06:22 PM
100 rep sets... I like to do these with some kind of isolation movement, for an easy set of 100, 2 sets of 50, whatever, just to get the blood into the muscle. High rep sets help to promote recovery by getting blood and proper nutrition into the muscles.
Bump.
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Iron and chalk.
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2008/02/26, 01:36 PM
Why isn't this post stickied??
Seriously, this is one of the most useful threads on FT.
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The Recovery Thread...
