By Everyday Strategies (Overview)
- Sleep – 7-9 hours
- Naps – 15-20 minutes per day
- Meditation – 20-30 minutes
- Foam Rolling – 10-15 minutes per day
- Stretching – 10-30 minutes on recovery days
- Active Recovery (unless in parasympathetic overtraining) – 30-45 minutes on recovery days
- Food quality and quantity
Active Recovery / Aerobic Development
Active recovery / aerobic development is beneficial to every client no matter how strength and/or power oriented their goals or sport may be. All recovery processes are aerobic in nature so having a more well developed aerobic system (to a point) will always help speed recovery and thus the adaptation process.
Low intensity methods such as mobility circuits and low intensity aerobic work help develop the aerobic system and “clears out” the muscles via increased blood flow and metabolic processes. Active recovery sessions are also a great opportunity to address movement issues and to practice diaphragmatic breathing.
- 30-45 minutes of active recovery work on “off” days provides a significant recovery stimulus
- Never take a complete day off, always move (at least go for a walk)
Sleep
Sleep may be the most overlooked way of improving recovery rate. A full 7-9 hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep goes a long way towards speeding up recovery. Adequate sleep not only helps with physical (muscular) recovery but CNS (Central Nervous System) recovery, which is ultimately much more important in regards to strength and power output.
Meditation (Breathing)
I have mentioned the importance of diaphragmatic (aka bell breathing) throughout this article. I consider meditation a combination of proper breathing with positive mental thoughts. Another way of looking at this is simply training mindfulness – the ability to be present in the moment. This can range from anything from visualization to prayer or really whatever you want as long as it combines those two ideas. I recommend spending 5 or 10 minutes “meditating” before bed or anytime where you feel overly stressed. You will immediately feel more relaxed and have a better mental outlook.
Food Quality
Food quality is as important as food quantity. Eating the proper foods (macronutrients) from high quality sources is far more important that simply “getting enough calories”.
- Organic whenever possible
- High quality supplements only
- Eat veggies to help keep you and your digestive system healthy and digesting food properly
- Take in EFA’s (essential fatty acids)
Food Quantity
Once you have the food quality under control adequate amounts of food are needed to optimize your body’s recovery capacity. Here are some general guidelines to help
- At least .75 times your bodyweight in protein daily
- Proper post-workout nutrition for your goals
- Proper carbs depending on your goals
Hydration
Hydration is extremely important for a variety of reasons including being essential for proper function of nearly every process in your body. Everyone should be drinking at least 2 liters (64 ounces) per day regardless of size. Individuals who weigh over 200 pounds, those of you with more muscle, and those who exercise more than 60-90 minutes should consider drinking closer to 3-4 liters per day.
Stretching
Stretching can help you get into a more relaxed or parasympathetic state that helps aid in recovery. Not only that but it often elicits a positive psychological response, helping you feel more relaxed. Focusing on deep, diaphragmatic breathing during stretching helps increase the effectiveness of the stretch as well.
Soft Tissue Work (Foam Rolling)
General soft tissue work such as foam rolling (I’ll talk about massage, A.R.T., structural integration and rolfing in part 2) all help facilitate recovery via a variety of pathways. General soft tissue work (at an intensity you can breathe through) typically creates a parasympathetic response (rest and recovery) and can help with local recovery via increased blood flow and decreased neural tension.
Wrap Up
If you are struggling with results but are putting in the work in the gym something is missing. Being honest about what is going on outside the gym will help you take advantage of the hard work you have already put in. Often it is the simple things that hold us back from our goals.
If you have already implemented these behaviors continue on to specific recovery methods, where we will cover more specific modalities for recovery.
