Many people think that the way to get stronger and faster is to put in as many training hours as possible. It’s not enough to just train hard. To make the most progress, you also need to optimize your rest. That’s because it’s not the workouts themselves that strengthen muscles and increase endurance. Instead, the body adapts in response to training, and these adaptations occur during the recovery period between workouts.
It’s no wonder recovery has become the latest obsession among athletes. Everywhere you turn on social media, you’ll see professional athletes and members of the fitness industry talking about their favorite recovery products and rituals. Meanwhile, companies are lining up to sell products and services that promise to help you recover like a champ.
Inflammation is not the enemy.
Many people believe that inflammation is bad, that it should be suppressed or, better yet, prevented. But recent research has turned that notion upside down. A 2013 scientific review concluded that preventing inflammation may inhibit healing. This is because inflammation is an important contributor to the effects of exercise. When you perform a hard workout, you create microscopic damage in your muscles. The inflammatory response is the first step to repairing the damage and strengthening your muscles to be stronger the next time around.
Reduce inflammation with an anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen, for example, and you may be blunting the effects of your workout. Studies show that drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen can inhibit tissue repair and slow the healing of injuries to bones, ligaments, muscles and tendons.
Ice baths are another recovery method that supposedly helps manage inflammation. In reality, a cold bath doesn’t stop inflammation but can delay it, which is why some experts advise athletes to avoid ice baths during the heavy training phases when the goal is to optimize performance.
Almost since the advent of sports drink advertising, we’ve been bombarded with urges to drink. According to this standard advice, by the time you are thirsty, it will be too late. Some companies even sell products that use scientific formulas and special sensors that predict or measure how much you sweat, so you can be sure to recoup every drop of water you sweat. All of these products and messages imply that your the body operates in an unstable state of fluid management that can easily upset the balance. This view of hydration sells a lot of bottled water and sports drinks, but it misrepresents how our bodies manage fluid.
In reality, when it comes to hydration, it’s not how much sweat you excrete or the color of your urine that matters. Rather, what matters most for performance and health is the concentration of salts and other soluble substances in your blood.
Whether you are exercising or at rest, you need an adequate balance of fluids and electrolytes in your blood for optimal cellular function. This balance is tightly regulated by a feedback loop. When you lose salt through sweat, the concentration of salts in the blood drops slightly. This triggers the release of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which directs the kidneys to activate aquaporins, which act like little straws that penetrate the kidneys and pull water back into the blood. When this water is reabsorbed, the plasma salt concentration returns to normal, the brain senses the change and turns off ADH. It’s a finely tuned feedback loop, and you can lose some fluid and salt through sweat before you have a problem. To avoid problems, you don’t need to consume special salts or drink on a schedule. Instead, you just need to pay attention to thirst – your body’s complex signal that it needs water. It really is that simple.
Excessive drinking is far more dangerous than mild dehydration.
Your body is well-adapted to losing fluid through sweat during exercise, and some scientists argue that mild adaptive dehydration may be even better for athletic performance. Although dehydration is often advertised as a major factor in heat stroke, research shows that it is exertion (and heat) that is the main factor in this condition, with dehydration playing only a minor role. A study that examined 20 years of data on heat strokes during military exercises found that only 20% of cases involved dehydration.
On the other hand, excessive alcohol consumption can lead to hyponatremia, or water intoxication, a potentially fatal condition that occurs when the blood becomes dangerously diluted. There is no documented case of death from dehydration during a marathon, but at least five runners have died from hyponatremia they developed during a race, and the condition has befallen soccer players as well.
Your body has two types of stress.
Obviously, you can’t recover optimally while under stress, and for our bodies, physical and emotional stress are equally stressful. A good recovery plan takes both types of stress into account.
One of the most common mistakes is that athletes don’t take into account the stress that their work and busy lives put on their bodies. To fully recover, you don’t just need to take a break from training, but also find ways to reduce other stressors. That’s why some of the most effective recovery methods focus on calming the mind.
By immersing yourself in recovery, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the power of recovery to improve athletic performance as well as quality of life. Mastering recovery skills will help you get more out of your workouts, as well as fill your days with more relaxation.
