Recovery strategies to reduce injury risk and improve performance
“Adequate recovery will lead to growth; inadequate recovery will lead to fatigue and potential injury. It is that simple”
The purpose of training is to expose your body to stressors, we then expect the systems of the body to go through a period of adaptation, with the result that they will cope better with that same stress the next time. From there we add greater stress, the body adapts, and so we repeat this process leading to growth and you will become stronger or faster, whatever your training objective.
There are many blogs, trainers, Instagram videos that focus on the stressor (training session) but the adaptation block is notoriously forgotten. Without it you cannot adapt, lack of adaptation won’t enable the body systems to cope with a higher stress the next time you train, meaning you cannot grow.
Some of the symptoms of fatigue or over-training are:
Decreased performance over 7–10 day period
Increased resting heart rate and/or blood pressure
Decreased body weight
Reduced appetite or loss of appetite and possibly some nausea
Disturbed sleep patterns and inability to attain restful sleep
Muscle soreness and general irritability
Reduced motivation/adherence
Training stressors will result in glucose depletion from muscle stores, micro-tearing of muscle, collagen degradation in tendon(2), blood chemical imbalance and dehydration. Some of these factors are being constantly corrected even whilst you’re exercising, some return to baseline hours after activity, others can take days. Allowing the muscular, circulatory, respiratory, immune, metabolic, and nervous systems to recover and regenerate before undertaking strenuous activity again will optimise your next training session.
Hopefully you have grasped that recovery is pretty important, often described as ‘where the magic happens’, but how can we make sure we are optimally recovered for each session both in the short and long-term.
Well, thankfully the body does a pretty good job of this on it’s own. Provided you give it the right tools this impressive (well I think so!) process will happen.
Let’s look at 6 points to consider to optimise recovery:
1. Built in recovery weeks
- Does your training plan have recovery weeks built into the program?
- Is it specific to you and your life factoring in things like your menstrual cycle, work pressures, kids holidays? Be flexible but plan it in.
2. Rest
- Day to day downtime, both physically and mentally
- Something you enjoy away from work & training
3. Active Recovery
- Light, low-level activity like a walk with friends, an easy swim or a yoga flow or a massage
4. Sleep
- Research commonly acknowledges that 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night is recommended for healthy adults but athletes need 9 to 10 hours of total sleep to reach their full potential. (1)
- If you do not feel refreshed within 30mins of waking try improving your sleep quantity and quality but focusing on your sleep hygiene. Like:
- avoiding food, work, caffeine & bluescreen use close to bedtime
- maintaining hydration levels throughout the day.
5. Nutrition
- Do you follow a balanced diet with your standard macros for your body weight?
- Post training session fuel should kick off the recovery process by containing a carb/protein/fluid & electrolytes mix. Something like a smoothie, or muesli with yoghurt and berries.
6. Prioritise effective recovery strategies first.
- For gaining that extra few percent on your recovery try:
Massage
Ice bath or cold-water immersion (be mindful of this, the reported benefits are often a reduction in pain, NOT a physiological improvement. CWI has been shown to hinder recovery
Compression leggings
Listen to your body, everyone recovers differently, and mental recovery is just as important. If it feels good to you, doesn’t cause you added undue stress (particularly time or financial) then keep doing it.
(2) Langberg H, Skovgaard D, Asp S, et al. Time pattern of exercise-induced changes in type I collagen turnover after prolonged endurance exercise in humans, Calcif Tissue Int, 2000, vol. 67 (pg. 41-4)
