I wanted to get everyones ideas on recovery. What have you found to help you out, especially if you train every day, or even twice a day and work full time + as well... that's the situation I'm in. Whether it be diet, active recovery, massage, etc, I'd like to hear some feedback.
My contribution is monitoring your body. I've noticed that pulling back when I feel a little run down helps, but there is a fine line between optimal and starting to overtrain, so that's what I'm looking to figure out.
C
Not very sophisticated but when i'm feeling run down, sore joints/muscles etc. from training too much i just take a day off training, have some dinner, have a long soak in a hot bath, do some light stretching then go to bed early and get a good nights sleep....Works for me.
cool Fresh... ya I'm not necessarily looking for state of the art, just feedback on what others do, and in maximizing your downtime.
C
Usually when I feel sore or worn out, it takes a couple days for me to get back again and when I do, I feel like I like lost everything and have to start my training over again. Or feel like Im not training enough. I would like to know some good recoveries too.
I try to take a short nap every day, even 15 or 20 minutes
seems to help recovery a lot.
I also take glutamine twice a day, and take lots of
antioxidants--vitamins A, C, and E.
If I'm training really hard, I'll take my heart rate first thing in the
morning, just after waking up and before getting out of bed. If
it is elevated by more than 5 bpm or so, then I know I'm
getting overtrained and I'll take it easy until it goes back to
normal.
How exactly do you check your heart rate? I know you dont just count ever beat for a min cause my would be well over 80 and I know it's more like around 40.
I do the following, I put my legs up against the wall and keep them elevated, after a hard squat day this feels great. I picked up a small bicycle wheel with the pedals and while watching t.v. do a low intensity pedal session. Try glutamine works great for me.
Also have someone give you a deep tissue massage aka Rolfing.
"I know you dont just count ever beat for a min cause my
would be well over 80 and I know it's more like around 40. "
Uhhh...yeah, just count how many beats in one minute. Or
count for 15 seconds and multiply by four.
If your resting HR really is around 40 that is almost freakishly
low.
I think sauna, bath, massage, stretching etc can be helpful and relaxing but the most important factors are proper nutrition/ hydration and sleep. If I can sleep for like 10-12 hours without being woke up once, I feel my body can turn almost any overtraining, cold or injury around. When it comes to nutrition, I think we should focus less on "perfect" and more on "good enough". I don't think special small substances in the food is going to make much difference, I feel that as long as I take in enough water, carbs, fat and protein, the nutriton is good enough to recover.
40 is really low. Mine is somewhere in the neighborhood of 60. In the 50's you're doing pretty darn good.
Rovery = having the building blocks to recover, and the time to recover in. How do we do this?
Building blocks: Food/vitamins. More nutrients = more building blocks = better recovery. This is why you eat so much when bulking.
Recovery time: Sleep is best. Making sure you get enough is important. Otherwise, making sure you do as little as possible the rest of the time when you are training hard will help. Park close, and be lazy.
Improving delivery:
1. Ice when swelling. Taking a cold bath/using ice to reduce swelling immediately following a workout could speed up delivery of nutrients.
2. Heat when not swelling. After the initial swelling of the workout subsides, use heat to increase circulation. This means, hot showers, baths, hottubs, saunas, steam rooms, etc.
3. Massage. Improves circulation, and thus helps repair damage. Do you yourself if you have no one else ;)
4. Stretching. Also improves circulation.
5. Recovery workouts. Lifting lightly, doing concentric actions, and otherwise increasing blood flow generally, and to the affected area will help.
-doug-
Lifting lightly, doing concentric actionsPhew, glad I read that a second time... first time my eyes thought they saw "do concentration curls" or something.
great feedback ppl, thanks
Chad, email me, will you? bjjconditioning@yahoo.com
-doug-
You guys think 40 is really that low? I was told before that 45 is actually an athletic heart. I don't know where exactly mine is now cuase I havent checked it or asked when I went to the doctors. But I know for a long time my heart was sitting at 40-50 and I was "healthy". I havent gotten really sick once with my thyroid to where I should have been dead from what the doctors said and my heart rate was at 28bpm. It was like this for a couple years actually. I know that's not normal though.I'll have to check mine at rest and see where it is now.
Double post
I bought a tempurpedic mattress a while ago. Since then I've never slept better or more soundly. I've had recurring insomnia and back pain for years, since getting the mattress the back pain is less (not gone, but significantly less), I have less bouts with insomnia, and I feel like my sleep is of higher quality.
I also try to practice qigong/meditation for a few minutes a day, it relaxes me as much as a massage.
Then there's flax oil, whey, and lots of water.
I just checked mine doing the count for 15 seconds and X by 4. My hbpm at rest is 56.
Ice: especially after deadlifts
Ibuprofen: 12 a day sometimes but never more
Rest: I often need some type of sleep aid to sleep on a regular basis
Finding a balance between structure and flexibility.
56 sounds a little more appropriate.
-doug-
good post, vermonter