By Conor Cantwell
When talking about recovery we must first ask What is recovery? Recovery is return to a normal state of health,mind or strength. So why is recovery important? When we train we put our body under stress for a prolonged period of time. This has a massive impact on our bodies. While we train in the hope of improve our performance, if we do not put an emphasis on recovery our training will actually become worthless and impact negatively on our ability to improve. We train to become stronger, faster or just be a better all round athlete. We also hope that are training will help reduce our risk of injury. If we do not focus on recovering after training we are doing the opposite as we leave ourselves even more exposed to injury than we were before we started training. In this blog I will outline my top 5 recovery methods that you can implement into your training for optimum performance.
When talking about recovery we must first ask What is recovery? Recovery is return to a normal state of health,mind or strength. So why is recovery important? When we train we put our body under stress for a prolonged period of time. This has a massive impact on our bodies. While we train in the hope of improve our performance, if we do not put an emphasis on recovery our training will actually become worthless and impact negatively on our ability to improve. We train to become stronger, faster or just be a better all round athlete. We also hope that are training will help reduce our risk of injury. If we do not focus on recovering after training we are doing the opposite as we leave ourselves even more exposed to injury than we were before we started training. In this blog I will outline my top 5 recovery methods that you can implement into your training for optimum performance.
1. Sleep
Sleeping is one of the best things you can do to allow your body recover from a hard training session. Sleep allows your body to recover physically and mentally. An athlete who is training should be aiming to get 8 hours of sound deep sleep every night especially night after a rigorous training session. This can be achieved by making sleep a priority. We as humans have evolved to staying up later into the night in recent times changing our sleep cycles. Traditionally humans went to sleep as it began to get dark. With an increase use of technology we now find it harder to unwind at night. The bright screens of televisions,phones and lights around the house keep us up. As the evening progresses we should slowly wined down in preparation for a good night sleep.One hour before we go to bed we should try eliminate all technology and lights. This may seem an alien concept to us and may not always be the most practical solution. At the very least we should use the reduced lighting setting on phones. This will ensure we get a good sound night sleep to allow our bodies bounce back from the rigorous training we put it through. Sleep does not have to be confined to the night time either. 30 minute daytime naps in afternoon can be a great way to reenergise. These naps may not always be possible with work/college being balanced with hectic training schedules but if a 30 minute nap can be achieved it can be very beneficial form of recuperation. These day time naps are so important several sports clubs such as Swansea City Football Club have introduced sleeping pods for their players to use in between training sessions. This ensures players are well rested in between sessions so they can get the most from each session. However if you do decide to have an afternoon snooze be sure to set an alarm for 30 minutes. If you sleep for longer than 30 minutes in afternoon we will start to interfere with your night time sleep cycle. Night time sleep always gets priority.
2. NUTRITION
As important as it is to fuel our bodies before training it is even more important to refuel our bodies post training to ensure our body has fuel for optimum recovery. When we train our muscles break down with micro muscle fibre tears. These tears build back stronger so they will not tear as easily next time we train this is how our body adapts and gets stronger. To do this our body needs nutrients to rebuild and repair muscle. Our body needs these nutrients quite quickly after training. The first 20 minutes after training is commonly known as the window of opportunity. This is when our body begins to repair broken muscle from training. If we do not give our body nutrients straight after training it will not have nutrients to rebuild muscle fibres. This means muscles will not be repaired properly which leaves you exposed to a potential injury in the future. This food straight after training should ideally be in liquid form as it can be digested much quicker. This meal should also be high in protein but should also have carbohydrates to allow body replenish energy stores. This post session meal does not need to be a big meal as some people can find it hard to eat a big meal directly after training. A larger meal can be had 1-2 hours post training this can be one of the main meals of the day eg Breakfast,Lunch or Dinner. This meal should consist of high protein content and carbohydrates also. This will give your body further supply of nutrients to rebuild muscle and further replenish energy stores which were depleted during training. It is also very important to be aware of hydration after training. People often underestimate how much sweat they lose when training. When calculating daily water intake use this simple formula below.
Body weight divided by 30 = water intake + 350ml for every half hour exercise
EXAMPLE.
70kg ÷ 30 = 2.3 Litres + 1 hour exercise 2 x 0.35= 0.7 + 2.3 = 3 Litres total intake
Body weight divided by 30 = water intake + 350ml for every half hour exercise
EXAMPLE.
70kg ÷ 30 = 2.3 Litres + 1 hour exercise 2 x 0.35= 0.7 + 2.3 = 3 Litres total intake
3. MOVE IT
When people think of recovery they think sitting back and relaxing on the couch for hours without move. While it is important to sit down and unwind we should avoid sitting for prolonged periods. If we sit for long periods of time our muscles tighten up and we become even stiffer than we were before we sat down having the opposite effect. On our rest days we should go for short walks,cycles or light jogs. This helps getting our blood pumping around the body to aid recovery. It also helps get our muscles moving and prevents them tightening reducing our range of motion through our joints which would increase our risk of injury.
4.Myofascial release
What is myofascial release? It is a therapy which will help relax contracted muscles, improves blood and lymphatic circulation through the body and it also helps stimulate the stretch reflex in our muscles. You will be familiar with these therapies in the form of foam rolling exercises or the most recent product on the market the back baller. The idea behind these items are to act as training tools for athletes to improve their recovery. When we train we often get knots in our around our muscles which leads to reduced movement and discomfort. This can relieved by using myofascial release tools such as foam roller. You should roll out the entire muscle initially. Once you find tender area reduce the roll to that area only with small rolls over and back until you feel it is no longer tender. This should be done the day after training to ensure body will be ready for the next training session. Hockey/tennis ball balls and sliotars can also be useful with a foam roller to work on smaller areas such as back of shoulder or glutes.
5.Water Therapy
Water therapy is an excellent way to aid recovery either straight after training or the following day to reduce aches and pains you may experience from the previous days training. This can be done with ice baths or sea recovery. These are both very efficient ways of allowing muscles to relax. While this therapy may not always seem to be helping in recovery consistency is the key. Using water therapies after training regularly is very good way of keeping your body fresh and healthy to train. 1-2 minutes in ice bath after training or 10-15 minute swim in sea are very effective ways of ensuring your ready to tackle your next training session.