So Many Options
With so much social media and the ease at which targeted advertising can can get to our eyes, chances are that you Googled foam rollers once and now you are seeing an endless flow of mobility and recovery options. Before you go out and buy weekly cryo sessions, CBD oils, and rollers that you store in the freezer, let’s check in on where you are at as an athlete and how to prioritize all this gear that is available.
Stress: What’s Happening From Training
When you train in the gym you are causing your body stress. Exercise is the good type of stress (hormetic stress). By exposing your body to stressors you increase your ability to withstand stress in the future. However, too little produces no change, and too much can have a damaging effect. Stress is cumulative, meaning that working out, lack of sleep, and stress at work all get rolled up into your bodies ability to recover. Stress from your workout taxes not only your muscular system, but the metabolic and central nervous systems as well. On average it takes about three days to return back to baseline after a workout. As an athlete you are training to improve your baseline, so you need to be spending time on recovery to increase your fitness.
Baseline: Do These Few Right
You have to handle the basics first. The basics will carry you 80% of the way towards awesome recovery. Don’t bother with the vibrating foam roller if you are off with one of the recovery “tools” below.
Sleep: You’re saying “yeah duh”, but as coaches we see athletes all the time that are burning both ends of the candle and it’s hurting their ability to recover properly. Sleep is the single most powerful recovery tool you can give your body. Shoot for 7-8 hours a night. If you want to get deep into the data there are some great wearable devices out like BioStrap and WHOOP (discount) that monitor sleep and recovery based on heart rate and heart rate variability.
Nutrition: You have to fuel your body for the activity level you are asking from it. Eat whole foods and cut out the garbage. If you are getting fast food multiple times a week, don’t worry about what type of protein shake you should have after your workout.
A VERY basic calculation for maintenance calories is to take your bodyweight (lbs) and multiply by 14 to get the rough amount of calories you should be consuming per day. You could then do a 40% carbohydrate / 30% protein / 30% fat split of your daily calories to get a simple macro outline. Nutrition is different for everyone, calories and macros need to be adjusted to your goals and for what works for you as an individual. If you are having a hard time seeing the results you want talk to a coach (schedule a call).
Active Recovery: There is a difference between being sore and being injured and needing to take it easy on training. Want an easy way to tell? Grab the affected muscle and massage it. Does it feel good or painful? If it feels good you may be too sore to train but you can still get into the gym for an active recovery day. Get some light cardio in and maybe some light lifting. The additional blood flow will help you recover faster.
The Rest:
Take a look at your training volume and dedicate your time to what is going to give you the best return. There is some grey area here. Maybe you would rather have a massage then hit a float tank. However don’t buy a machine to squeeze your legs if you aren’t spending 5 minutes after your workout to stretch. Cover your baseline first and then get more detailed if you like.
