When you have done your physical activities, such as workout, yard work, hiking, biking and so on, you do want to make sure that your body starts its recovery process as soon as possible. The body gain strength not just by participating in physical activities but recovering from the physical activities. When the recovery process is delayed it will take the body longer to heal and adapt to the work you have put and may affect negatively on your next physical activity. People speak of overtraining; however, under recovery is more common and causing more unnecessary inflammation and prolonged fatigue.
Basic concept of recovery is to replenish what the body has used and restore the stress that has been placed on to our body during the physical activity. Depending on intensity of your physical activity, time it takes for the body to recover may take longer depending on your fitness level. However, as you learn to recover properly after your activity and practice the recovery process on regular basis, it will help your body adapt to the physical activity and able to handle more, which means you are getting stronger. On the other hand, when the recover is not done right or being ignored, the body will eventually deteriorate and be tired all the time.
Replenish
Replenishment is the priority. You want provide body with what you have depleted through physical activity and building blocks that are needed to repair the damage you may have caused.
Two things that will be depleted during your physical activities are water and minerals. These two things are depleted through moving the muscles and heat and sweat production. Even if you do not sweat during physical activities the body does create heat. To not overheat the body will use what minerals you have in the body. Excretion of water and minerals are not only by sweat but also by urine.
It is ideal to have electrolyte supplement or simply salt with water before and after the physical activities. If you are focusing on fat loss, you do want to avoid sugar, therefore it is good to avoid majority of sports drinks. If the supplement is not available, you can take 1 teaspoon full of sea salt and drink it with water. I personally prefer not to mix in the water because it will taste like sweat but put salt in my mouth and wash it down with glass of water.
Building block that our body need is amino acids or protein. Protein is group of amino acids so if you are getting protein after your workout, you are already consuming amino acids. Amino acids are breakdown form of protein; therefore, it is easier to absorbed by the body. If you have difficulty with protein, you can try amino acids. Throughout the physical activities, the body will be going through damage and by repairing the damage the body gets stronger. Area of damage can be, muscles, blood vessels, ligaments tendons, bones and so on. Majority of the organs require protein, therefore supplying the body with protein after the physical activities will speed up the recovery process.
Amount of protein you should be getting in a day, if you are physically active, should be 1g protein per 1lb of bodyweight. If you in weight loss program it should be 1g protein per 1lb of target bodyweight. For me, my current weight is 150lb, so I consume around 150g of protein per day. After my workout, I supplement myself with about 25g of protein mixed with minerals and water. Because protein gets digested better with fat, I do have nuts to go with my protein shake. This way, I’m covering all my depleted nutrients that are needed to be replenished immediately without too much of insulin spikes. I’m not worrying about my weight, but I’m currently not interested in weight gains either so I’m taking control over my insulin as much as I can. If I want to gain weight, I may add banana or some sort of fruits with my protein shake. I can also add coconut milk instead of water. If you are having a meal after the workout, make sure to apply similar guideline mentioned above. You will need protein and minerals in your diet. Some of the sources are, meat, fish, beans, nuts, leafy vegetables, avocado, sea salt and so on. Eggs are great source of food, however, when it comes to total amount of protein it is not that much. If you’d like to add to your salad with other source of protein, then it will work well because of its fat content that will help digest protein source easier.
Don’t be afraid of salting food. If you are active individual and just getting minimum requirements of salt, you are mineral deficient and may feel fatigue and stiffness all the time.
Restoring
For my personal workout, I make sure to use full range of movement so that muscles will be worked in proper length. Even then, the muscle require restoration. Two things that should be restored, muscle length and joint mobility. Muscle length can be restored by stretching. Joint mobility can be restored by stretching but requires movement.
I do realize that some “educated” trainers has been posting about how stretching does help but from practical application it does helps the performance and avoid unnecessary injury. What I also notice is people who has less mobility or tight muscles tend to have poor balance and has more frequent visit to the doctors. Also, why would Olympic lifters who are lifting over 400lb from the floor to above their head spending time stretching before lifting? Maybe it is important?
For muscle lengthening you can start with static stretch where you hold the stretched position for 30 – 60 seconds. Some of the area that should be stretched are, calf, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, lats, and chest. Obviously, depending on your training program, stretching location will be different and other muscle groups may need to be stretched. You may also utilize foam roller and massage percussion devices; however, they loosen up the tension of the muscles but not really restoring the length so you should be stretching after the foam rolling and massager.
Joint mobility can be worked by using dynamic stretching where you are moving from the joint rather than holding the position like explained earlier. One example is Yoga. Yoga uses dynamic movement to mobilize both muscles and joints which will help accomplish both stretching and mobility restoration. It is common for lifters and sports athletes to attend Yoga classes to restore their body.
Compromised Recovery Task
One of the recovery processes that are usually compromised is sleep. As much as sleep has been spoken to be important for health, not many are practicing on regular basis. Sleep has been compromised easily because of other priorities sets in such as socializing, watching TV, answering e-mails, and simply just wasting time. I’m not proposing for people to have boring lifestyle but may be perhaps prioritize the sleep little bit more.
Through physical activities, the body go through challenges, learning new skills, and damage. Along with proper replenishment and restore work, sleep will enhance the benefit you can obtain from your physical activities. Even a problem that you may have in life, when sleep right, you will find a way to take care of that issue. Hence the phrase “sleep on the problem”.
If you have been compromising your sleep, you may need to retrain your body to improve your sleep quality. First thing to work on is make a set schedule for sleeping and waking time and stick with it. Second, you should control your environment for better sleep. Keeping room temperature below 68 degrees Fahrenheit and keep the room dark and quiet are some of the key components for better sleep.
Things to Avoid for Better Recovery
There are few things that we need to be aware of not to do for better recovery.
Over consumption of stimulants or chemicals such as caffeine, alcohol, smoking and recreational drugs will slow your recovery. I do understand that there is research that has shown those stimulants and chemicals may help with certain issues, however, if you don’t need it don’t take it. If you are addicted to them, you should avoid them.
Consumption of sugar and industrial fat should also be limited. We may not be able to avoid 100% however we can strive to avoid them as much as possible. Sugary foods such as cake, pie, ice cream, latte, cookies are rewarding but also cause inflammation to the body when consumed frequently. Industrial fat such as corn, vegetables, canola, cotton seed oils, margarines are also inflammatory and may cause more damage to our body than good.
Discipline is Myth
We do have life and we want to enjoy it. I do realize that some of the things mentioned above may pull you away from fun in life. You do not need to follow them 100%.However, if you can start with 3 days a week to dedicate yourself to recover your body, then you will start seeing some amazing changes in both energy, strength, physique, immune system, and cognitive functioning.
This is not so much into disciplining yourself but pursuing who or what you ought to be. I truly believe what former strength coach Charles Poliquin shared that there is not such thing as discipline. If the goal you've set is what you really want, then you will do the tasks without any issues because you love the outcome.
You might fail but you can always get back on track if it is important to you. Many of my clients and myself have derailed but we always get back on track and enjoy the process and the outcome along the way.
Kota Shimada
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