Post-Workout Recovery

[Poser]

so how does one know exactly when you need to recover and when you are recovered?

I’ve been going by what my body tells me; it’s about 10 years of trial and error of feedback. I can say at this juncture it appears to be working for rather well for me.

I think you’re doing it right and 10 years is a good amount of time to accumulate data on your body. I’m just making the point that all of these “hacks”, are for the most part psychological and physiological. From a scientific stand point, your body is either being stressed or it’s recovering. The only way for your body to repair damaged muscles is to sleep and eat, everything else is just stress management. Stretching doesn’t repair damage at the cellular level, neither does walking or fail rolling. If stretching, walking, easy runs etc make you feel better and you can manage that additional stress, go for it. Sometimes you just need to feel better and regular folks can’t sleep 14 hours a day because we have lives to live.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

For the best long term results, you need a goal and a reliable partner who is in it to win it with you. Someone who will massage the muscle and help you work the kinks out. That's my advice.

 

[Danny Hoey]

Oatmeal

 

[*zap*]

 

[Where's Bruce?]

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A pool really helps, especially if you keep it above 86 degrees.

 

[Poser]

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What book is this from? The wording of that sentence about “light exercise being better than being sedentary” is just awfully inarticulate and misconstructed since it also suggests that light exercise is better for recovery than sleep. Sleep being “sedentary” and all.

Again, I get it. I do “light exercise” probably every day with a minimum of a 10 minute bike commute to work (I don’t have a parking spot) and usually a midday stroll around down town that’s ~20 blocks or so. That being said, I’ll still maintain that if I was first and foremost obsessed with maximum recovery efforts at the cost of being practical, I would drive to work and take a nap during my walking time. For that matter, I would have been in bed at 8:45 instead of drinking a High Life at 10:30 and reading Rokslide, BUT, I do tend to be serious about sleep during periods of intense training and seasonal sports and will go out of my way to get 10 hours of sleep, not drink alcohol etc. I guess that’s the thing that rubs me about these conversations: people will advise all kinds of “hacks” when they aren’t even getting 7 hours of sleep a night. All of these “hacks” are meaningless if your sleep isn’t on point, so it’s kind of a joke to me. If you’re not sleeping more than 8 hours a night, then you aren’t serious about recovery, therefore, advice about recovery is a joke. One one of the seasons of Hard Knox, JJ Watt had a mattress installed in the locker room so he could take naps during any down time. This in addition to 10 hours of sleep a night. I’ve read about Olympic athletes sleeping up to 14 hours a night. The US Men’s cycling team requires 10 hours minimum of time spent in a blacked out room with no cell phone access. These are genetically superior athletic specimens and they sleep A LOT, yet somehow the advice about recovery amongst the “average joe’s” always skirts the obvious in favor of “hacks.” The example being, why am I the only person in this whole thread emphasizing sleep? We’ve heard about stretching, warm pools, light walks... all kinds of stuff and yet no one is staying the most obvious thing in recovery science: there is nothing more metabolic than 10 hours of sleep. Period. Not debatable. Do all of the silly bullshit you want, but if you aren’t sleeping more than 8 hours, it’s pointless and you should be spending that time sleeping. If you are getting sleep, then knock yourself out: massages, contrast showers, walks, easy bike rides, foam rolling etc. but if you aren’t, you should be spending that time sleeping, or you are just playing games.

*by “you”, I don’t mean you personally, Zap, just any person who is saying “stretch and take contrast showers” who gets 5 hours a sleep a night because they like watching Netflix. (Me: resumes netflix).

 

[mtwarden]

the book is Training for the Uphill Athlete

I don't think anyone would argue that adequate sleep is paramount for anyone- athlete or not (but even more so for an athlete)

in addition to adequate sleep, there are several things that do help with recovery- most have been touched on here

9-10 hours of sleep here daily (save adventure races) with the occasional nap after arduous workouts/races

 

[Poser]

the book is Training for the Uphill Athlete

I don't think anyone would argue that adequate sleep is paramount for anyone- athlete or not (but even more so for an athlete)

in addition to adequate sleep, there are several things that do help with recovery- most have been touched on here

9-10 hours of sleep here daily (save adventure races) with the occasional nap after arduous workouts/races

That’s great on the 9-10 hours of sleep. I need to get back on my sleep discipline after this weekend -I just got back from a multiday scouting trip so I’m a little checked out.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

Tons of sleep and deer meat should do the trick.

 

[Eddiem0nster]

Coming from a meathead, glutamine is your friend 10mg post-workout

 

[grizz19]

Like my BCAA’s post cardio and a good quality protein shake after my lifts. Bananas, protein powder, and some peanut butter are hard to beat.