Whether you are an elite athlete or a fitness enthusiast who trains regularly, RECOVERY needs to be an integral part of your training program. It is during REST, that the body is allowed to adapt to the stress of training and energy stores can be topped up and damaged tissues repaired.
In fact, not allowing the body to recover can hinder your progress and sometimes even set you back. Most trainers and coaches will insist that recovery is part of their training program and some would even argue that this is even more important than the training itself.
“Coaches have known this forever -– ordering track stars, quarterbacks, cyclists and basketball players to take a serious break after every season, to let the mind and body recover. More recently, exercise physiologists have identified potential markers of the cumulative fatigue caused by long-term training -– spikes in enzymes, for example, associated with inflammation and muscle damage. Jump back into working out too soon, before you shed all that built-up fatigue, and you virtually guarantee substandard performance later.” Daniel Duane for Men’s Journal.
What Happens During Rest?
Exercise causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown, the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid and electrolyte loss. Electrolytes lost in high concentrations through sweat include sodium and chloride, while electrolytes lost in low concentrations include potassium, magnesium and calcium.
When you allow you body to recover, you allow stores to be replenished and tissue repair to occur. If you don’t allow yourself to rest, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise and symptoms of over-training can occur. Over-training symptoms include a feeling of general weakness, fatigue, acute soreness, depression, hyper-sensitivity, decreased sports performance, and increased risk of injury, among others.
Jessica Retallack, one of Platinum Boxing Club’s top athletes, having an ice bath after training.
There are two types of Recovery.
Short-term or active recovery, and Long-term recovery.
Short-term recovery usually occurs in the hours and days after an intense training program. This is sometimes called active recovery as it can involve low intensity activity immediately following an intense training session. The general theory is that low-intensity activity such as yoga, walking, a light jog, shadow boxing or swimming assists blood circulation which, in turn, helps remove lactic acid from the muscles.
Short-term recovery also includes stretching, rehydration, proper nutrition, massage therapy and getting enough sleep.
An ice-bath (as pictured) will immediately reduce swelling while flushing lactic acid out of your body and is a recovery technique used by many athletes.
Long-term recovery refers to recovery periods that are built into a seasonal training schedule and may include days or weeks incorporated into an annual athletic program. Coaches will include crosstraining, modify workouts types, and make changes in intensity, time, distance, and other training variables. This will enable the body to absorb and integrate all the vigorous training it has endured and maximise fitness gains. The secret to optimal performance is Rest and Recovery.
“A decline in performance should lead to a search for its cause and to a focus on the quality of your recovery. Remember, often doing less is more powerful than training more.”
― Rountree Sage, The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery: Rest, Relax, and Restore for Peak Performance
The important thing for everyone to remember is that time to recover can actually make you fitter and stronger. You will reduce your risk of injury, you will have greater mental toughness, there will be less chance of burnout, you will be able to train more consistently and at higher intensity when you do and, you will be able to reach peak performance when required. No person, athlete or otherwise can be in perfect shape all year round.