I was speaking with a patient recently, and we were discussing the need for recovery days, particularly when you're an athlete training hard. A coach that I follow once said, "Recovery Day IS training." So yes, recovery is a vital piece of the entire training puzzle. But what does it even mean to have a recovery day (or two) a week, and how should we best optimize this recovery?
Let me break it down.
Recovery simply means you're taking it easy -or resting completely- while incorporating intentional behavior that helps your body and mind recuperate from the rigor of your training. For athletes who stick to a regimented training schedule, the recovery days are purposely scheduled days for letting your body rest. They are typically either days of complete rest or a very scaled back version of movement, or what's called "active rest" days. Regardless of how the recovery days look, they are vital to ensuring you keep moving injury-free in the long-term.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the approach to recovery is multifactorial. I'll address the different components here, breaking down how recovery looks both on a day of hard training and also on a rest day, and I'll discuss ways to practically incorporate these techniques into your daily routines.
Components of recovery
Active warm-up: Dynamic stretching, sub-maximal exercise, agility work, and calisthenics are all effective ways to warm up the body.
Nutrition: Nutrient-dense foods, eating a balanced diet, and having appropriate calorie consumption are all a part of proper nutrition.
Hydrotherapy: This means therapy by water, so think immersion into hot or cold pools and/or whirlpools.
Compression garments: Sleeves are often worn on arms or legs during exercise to improve muscle tissue oxygenation and blood flow.
Sleep: The National Institute of Health recommends at least 7 hours of sleep a night for adults.
Hydration: Drink water and replenish electrolytes. The National Academy of Medicine suggests an average of about 13 cups for healthy men and 9 cups for healthy women, respectively. More may be necessary for the person recovering from a workout, particularly if done in hot conditions.
Stretching and mobility: Static or dynamic stretching for the muscles, and mobility work for muscles and joints, which may include foam rolling or assisted stretching with bands.
Massage: Excellent for muscle recovery and depending on the type of massage, either relaxing for the body or therapeutic for muscles with impairment
Hot or cold therapy: Hot packs or heating pads, cold or ice packs,
Recovery the day of a workout
So first, let's discuss what facilitating recovery looks like the day you perform a workout. Regardless of whether you're going out for a light 3 mile run or doing a 90-minute endurance CrossFit workout, or something in between, it's always a good idea to do at least a little warm up first. This preps your body and mind for the exercise ahead. A proper warm up will increase your body temp and loosen muscles, and it can also get joints mobile and ready for the demands of your workout. Ideas for a warm are dynamic stretching, mobility work (think active stretching for joints like your spine, hips, and shoulders, for example), and some sort of sub-maximal effort that mimics the movements or engages the same muscle groups that you'll be working as part of your exercise. A proper warmup is a part of recovery because if you prepare better, your body will have an easier time recovering.
So, you complete your workout for the day. Now what?
It is always a good idea to do some sort of cool down or recovery after your workout. At minimum, I encourage static stretching of the major muscle groups you worked. But depending on the vigor of your workout that day, you can incorporate any of the other components mentioned above as part of recovery.
Here's an example: Say you're someone training for your first half marathon. You get your 8 miles in today for your long training day, and you feel tightness in your lower legs in particular. What are some ideas to help facilitate proper recovery so tight calves don't turn into Achilles tendonitis, for example? Stretching after your run is a must, and perhaps dipping your lower legs into an ice bath for a few minutes (if you have this available to you) is done to reduce any muscle soreness after the run. You're also ramping up your mileage each week, so you make sure you eat a well-balanced, high protein dinner with plenty of calories to replenish what you've consumed that day. You also decide to get yourself some compression sleeves for your legs before your next long run. You also are making sure you get to bed at a good time that night in order to get at least 7 hours of sleep.
Do you see how there are multiple aspects to your body's care? With the guidance of a coach or personal trainer, you can better dial in what to incorporate into your own recovery based on your individual training and body's needs.
Active rest days
Next, let's discuss active rest days. As mentioned above, if you're following a regimented training schedule, active rest days are likely on your schedule. These days are meant to help your body recover from your workouts so that you don't over-train and develop an injury. Activities on active rest days are typically low impact for your joints and low demand for your body both in terms of caloric intake and sheer muscle work. Ideas for activities on an active rest day may include going for a walk, doing yoga, staying active with housework, or stretching. I tend to think of active rest days as you're not totally sedentary, but it's a major switch from the rest of the week's workouts. You're still maintaining good sleep, hydration, and nutrition on these days.
Full recovery days
I would imagine different training coaches have different opinions about full recovery days-- where the athlete literally does nothing. I personally like a day like this every so often. But I also wouldn't encourage them too often simply because movement is so important, even for the average person-- not just the athlete. This is the kind of day where I encourage sleeping in, if that's your thing, taking it super easy, maybe treating yourself to a massage (so still getting a good intentional recovery activity in there) and frankly, not thinking about your workout. It's a true day of rest.
This leads to the point I mentioned above stating that recovery days are to help your body and mind recuperate. While many of the elements mentioned here are for the body, I don't want to undermine how important it is to rest the mind as well. Stepping away from your sport or training, at least one day a week, can give the athlete a renewed sense of enthusiasm when they lace up their shoes again, and it can help reduce mental burn-out. Particularly for our youth athletes, this is paramount. The entire purpose of sport participation -IMHO- is to expose youth to formative, positive habit building for life. Avoiding burn-out will keep kids -and adults!- involved in athletic pursuits, hopefully for life.
Summary
To wrap up, recovery really is an umbrella term that incorporates a lot of different components of taking care of your body and in order to keep it going strong. There's no one recipe for it but different ingredients are needed based on what works best for your body, giving it what it needs to be able to maintain injury-free exercise for the long run.
If you want to know more about your own recovery plan, send me a message and we can see if I can help. Here's to happy exercising-- and to effective recovery!
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