Pharmacological recovery agents. Recovery principles: how to quickly recover after physical activity
1. Eat appropriate, high-quality calories. Overtraining, low body fat and a low-energy diet have one common feature: A catabolic environment that interferes with recovery.
2. Sufficient amount of water. For many years, water has been the main additive. Drink at least 40 grams of water for every kilogram of body weight.
3. Every meal should include high-quality proteins and fats. When it comes to carbohydrates, to avoid inflammation, eat nutrient-dense plant-based carbohydrates. That is, give preference to meat, eggs, nuts, saturated fat, olives, avocados, coconuts, and load up on vegetables and berries.
4. Increase your amino acid intake. Each meal should contain at least 10 grams of essential amino acids.
5. After your workout, be sure to drink 20 grams (dry product) of fast-absorbing whey protein. Whey is an excellent source of BCAAs, and it also provides the body with essential amino acids for faster tissue repair.
6. Eat foods high in zinc, such as meat and shellfish (oysters contain the highest amount of zinc). Zinc plays a big role in the recovery process, as it increases glutathione, which accelerates the removal of waste products from tissues after training and stress.
7. Antioxidant-rich fruits such as blueberries, pomegranate, kiwi and pineapple can help reduce inflammation and speed up the recovery process.
8. After training, add concentrated tart cherry juice to water - it reduces muscle pain, speeds up recovery and improves sleep quality.
9. Eliminate alcohol from your diet, except red wine. Alcohol slows down the elimination of waste products from the body and causes oxidative stress. Alcohol also increases aromatase activity, which leads to an imbalance in the hormones estrogen and testosterone, which in turn hinders progress.
10. Actively support estrogen metabolism. Excess estrogen interferes with fat burning and also disrupts the balance of hormones, thereby slowing down recovery.
11. Every meal should contain cruciferous vegetables, as they are rich in antioxidants, fiber, and also contain the substance DIM (diindolemethane), which helps the body metabolize estrogen.
12. Reduce the amount of chemical estrogens entering the body. Chemical estrogen is an artificial hormone that, when entering the body, imitates a natural one. Research data shows a possible link between chemical estrogens and diseases such as cancer, and chemical compound Bisphenol A (BPA) contributes to increased body fat.
13. Choose natural products and avoid estrogenic pesticides and growth hormones because they have a toxic effect on the body, interfering with the elimination of waste products and slowing down recovery.
14. Maintain pH balance to improve liver health. The liver is involved in fat metabolism and in removing waste and toxins from the body. Add citrus fruits to your water and eat egg yolks and cruciferous vegetables - the nutrients in these foods help the liver metabolize fat.
15. Increase your selenium intake. This micronutrient reduces oxidative stress and inhibits the aromatase enzyme (which converts testosterone to estrogen). Fish and shellfish are rich in selenium.
16. To maintain fat metabolism and improve the balance of testosterone and estrogen hormones, take carnitine. The highest levels of carnitine are found in beef and chicken, as well as in small amounts in dairy products.
17. Make sure your body gets enough vitamin D as it supports what it needs for recovery hormonal balance, and also increases the stability of the neuromuscular system. Level of vitamin D in the blood that needs to be maintained all year round, is 40 ng/ml.
18. Replenish omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids from saturated fats, olive oil, fish and meat, rather than from vegetable oils (corn, soybean, canola, peanuts and vegetable oils).
19. To speed up the recovery process, reduce cortisol levels and reduce the inflammatory response, take fish oil after exercise.
20. 2 – 5 grams of vitamin C after exercise helps reduce cortisol.
21. To improve mental performance in the post-workout period, take 400 mg of phosphatidylserine (PS). This substance promotes the metabolism of cortisol and improves brain function.
22. To avoid inflammation, each meal should contain nutrient-rich foods such as dark green leafy vegetables, artichokes, beans, walnuts, pecans, olive oil, dark chocolate, raspberries, and spices, among others. turmeric and cinnamon.
23. In general, avoid high carbohydrates. glycemic index, as they interfere with cortisol metabolism and reduce testosterone levels. The only exception is after a very intense workout, when glycogen stores are depleted.
24. Eliminate sugar from your diet, as it triggers a surge in insulin. Regular consumption of sugar leads to lower testosterone levels compared to cortisol. In addition, foods high in sugar inhibit estrogen metabolism.
25. To boost immunity and speed up recovery, take 10 grams of glutamine several times a day.
26. Finish your workout by stretching on a foam roller - this will help reduce pain in the spine.
27. Get a massage. It helps remove waste products from cells, stimulates nerve receptors in the skin and accelerates recovery.
28. To restore cells and reduce inflammation in muscles after exercise, use topical magnesium supplements.
29. Use topical magnesium supplements to restore muscle fibers. This buffers lactic acid, and when interacting with calcium, which accumulates during intense muscle contractions, promotes faster recovery.
30. To reduce oxidative stress, calm the nervous system and improve sleep, take elemental (pure) magnesium (associated with compounds such as glycinate, orotate, fumarate).
31. Taurine will also help muscle recovery after training. This substance reduces oxidative stress and also acts as a relaxant, supporting sleep and restoring strength.
32. Avoid anti-inflammatory drugs because they have a negative effect on protein synthesis and intestinal activity, increasing inflammation.
33. 3-4 cups of caffeinated coffee before exercise reduces soreness (delayed onset muscle soreness syndrome), muscle pain that occurs after intense physical activity. Drinking coffee before a workout can also restore your strength after a hard workout, so you can train at high intensity more often.
34. Avoid coffee immediately after exercise, as it interferes with the reduction of cortisol levels and slows down recovery.
35. Don't skip your warm-up. For 10-15 minutes, warm up the muscles you are going to work on. Warm-up activates the central nervous system, prepares muscles for further work and reduces soreness.
36. To reduce muscle soreness in the days after a hard workout, work at moderate intensity, choosing only concentric exercises.
37. Immediately after training, it is useful to listen to pleasant music - it calms the autonomic nervous system and accelerates the elimination of lactic acid.
38. Meditate. This lowers cortisol levels and reduces the post-workout stress response. In addition, research shows that meditation helps increase levels of testosterone, growth hormone and dehydroepiandrosterone.
39. Sleep! In fact, the body needs more than 10 hours of sleep! Athletes who get plenty of sleep recover better and faster, thereby improving their strength, speed and accuracy.
40. Sleep according to your own rhythms, whether you are a night owl or a morning person. Following your chronotype improves the functioning of the central nervous system and the regeneration of muscle tissue, and also restores the balance of cortisol and testosterone.
Success and achievements in any sport depend on three components - nutrition, training and recovery. And if you will find a lot of information about nutrition and training in any magazine dedicated to fitness, then they usually talk about recovery more than succinctly. “Be sure to recover in order to avoid” - that’s all the “expert” recommendations.
But how exactly to recover? What are the criteria for quality restoration? How does recovery after training affect athletic performance? Can it be accelerated or made more effective? You will find answers to these questions in our article.
General information
Before we talk about how to speed up recovery after training, let's find out what recovery is from a physiological point of view. Any workout for the body is stressful. It can be compared to drinking a bottle of vodka, piercing the liver during a fight, or other serious injury. The only difference is that in the above examples one organ suffers, but severely. After training, damage is distributed among all organs and systems.
Recovery, or “supercompensation,” is the body’s response to the stress received. From a survival point of view, the body strives to adapt to the stress received in order to make it less stressful. Due to limited resources, processes do not always go as expected.
There are two types of recovery mechanisms:
- Adaptive. This is an ideal case when a person gets enough rest, eats a lot and is not nervous. Due to such restoration, his characteristics improve, adipose tissue disappears, muscles and strength indicators grow.
- Optimization. It occurs when the body tries to adapt to the resulting stress using only internal resources. In other words, you will become stronger in one area and weaker in another. For example, with intense drying, the body learns to use fat tissue more efficiently, but in order to survive, it also strives to reduce the amount of muscle. You will become stronger, but weaker and smaller.
How long does it take for muscles to recover?
It's easiest to repeat the popular belief that muscles recover on average within 48 hours from the moment of training. But this is fundamentally incorrect and looks like the average temperature in the ward. The time it takes for muscles to recover after training depends on many factors, including individual ones. Some of them can be influenced, others are beyond our control.
Let's list these factors:
- Load intensity. Obviously, if you do light workouts, your muscles can recover within an hour, since they are not under serious stress. The reverse is also true: if you have surpassed yourself and set a record in competitions, then you can avoid lifting weights for a week, or better yet, two.
- Availability of sufficient quantity. Nutrition is an integral component for recovery. It determines whether recovery will follow an adaptive path or an optimization path.
- Hormonal background. It is usually associated with levels of the hormone testosterone, which is used as a doping agent to speed up and increase the intensity of protein production in the body. In fact, muscle recovery after training is influenced by growth hormone, peptide hormones, thyroid hormones, etc.
- Speed . It determines how quickly your body will begin the process of regeneration after stress. The faster the metabolism, the faster the body can cope with the load.
- Somatotype. This is where the main division into endo-ecto- and mesomorphs came from. How the body and muscles react to stress, what fibers are involved, and how the body copes with stress depends on a person’s somatotype.
- General condition of the body. If you are in a depressed mood or have recently overcome an illness, then it will take you an order of magnitude longer to restore your body between workouts.
How much time does the body need?
How to quickly recover after training in the absence of serious stress in the form of overtraining, artificial dehydration.
The body needs at least two days to fully recover between heavy workouts. This is due to the fact that during training the body must reconfigure its systems to cope with heavy load:
- Increase hormone levels.
- Optimize resources for recovery processes.
- Improve the functioning of neuromuscular synapses.
- Compensate for calorie deficit.
- Improve the functioning of the heart muscle.
- Eliminate the consequences of an adrenaline surge.
Interesting fact: any work with weights ranging from 70 to 90% of a one-time maximal maximum forces our body to produce hormones of the adrenaline group. This is partly why people find it easier to lift lighter weights for more reps. The “striptease” lifting training program is based on this principle, in which a person first works with maximum weight, and after each approach reduces the weight load by 5-10%.
Recovery rates
Indicators of body recovery after training are a large set biochemical processes and characteristics that cannot be determined independently without a medical examination. But some basic indicators can be determined independently.
- Pulse and pressure. After exercising at normal intensity for 120 minutes, your heart rate should drop to at least 75 beats per minute (or below the aerobic zone). If your heart rate after training is within a wide range, this indicates overtraining or chronic fatigue.
- Dream. If the training is done correctly, you should not have problems sleeping. As a rule, problems begin with chronic disruption of the training process. The only exception is if you did your workout less than 2 hours before going to bed.
- Well-being. If you overtrain or under-recover, you will feel worse and worse with each workout.
- Progress. Possible only with full recovery. The only exception is a strength plateau.
Techniques to Accelerate Recovery
Do I need to take anything to recover after a workout? With a competent approach using rapid recovery techniques, you will not need supportive pharmacology and sports nutrition products. Just look at the table with ways to speed up recovery.
| Method/technique/factor | Effect on the body | Effect on muscles |
| Emotional relief | Emotional relief implies active endorphin stimulation. This type of emotional relief allows you to stimulate the production of pleasure hormones: and. This, in turn, will reduce the impact of stress on the body's recovery abilities. | Under the influence of endorphins, muscles relax faster, which allows blood to circulate freely in damaged areas, accelerating physical regeneration. |
| Complete rest | Complete rest is an ideal restorative method, which, due to the modern rhythm of life, is not available to everyone. With complete rest, the body, as during sleep, optimizes all resources for a speedy recovery. | With complete rest, the recovery processes in the body will take place somewhat faster, but the intensity of super recovery, which makes the athlete stronger and more resilient, will be significantly lower. |
| Massage is a great endorphin stimulant. In addition, the effect on the lymph nodes and nerve points can significantly improve the body's recovery from stress. | Physical impact stimulates blood flow to damaged areas to accelerate recovery processes in muscle tissue. | |
| Increasing protein in the diet | An increase in calories and protein in particular is a kind of stress for the body, so it is important to select nutrients that will not overload the gastric system. An excess of protein allows you to quickly stabilize the functioning of most systems in the body. | All muscle tissue consists of (which are part of protein). The more amino acids available for muscle building, the faster and better they will recover. |
| Thermal effect | Similar to massage. | Similar to massage. |
| Increasing the amount of sleep | Sleep is an integral part of rest and recovery, as it allows you to reboot all systems and direct free resources to a speedy recovery from stress. | During sleep, the main and... If there is not enough sleep, catabolism will prevail over anabolism. |
Additional incentive
So, it is impossible to radically speed up the recovery process, but faster recovery after training can be achieved through the use of sports nutrition products:
- (tribulus, etc.). They increase the natural production of male hormones, which increases the synthesis of building proteins. Allows you to reduce recovery time between workouts by 20-25%.
- . At correct use accelerate tissue regeneration. It is important to give a full 24 hours of rest when using nitrogen donors, since the nervous and hormonal systems may simply not have time to recover in such a short period.
- Adaptogens. Depending on their class, they can affect both tissue regeneration and the general condition of the central nervous system.
- Vitamin and mineral complexes. Supporting the body with essential microelements speeds up the body’s recovery.
Which of these should you drink after training for recovery? First of all, vitamins and minerals. Testosterone nitrogen donors and stimulants are taken in a course, usually in the morning. And adaptogens - only in accordance with the instructions.
How do you know that recovery has taken place?
You can determine that recovery after a hard workout has been successful by one simple sign. This is an emotional state. With the right training regimen, you will want to get more physical activity after some time. You will feel more alert and energetic. In addition, determine how recovery went after the previous strength training, you can use weights on a barbell. If you can easily lift weights that seemed too heavy for you in the last workout, then your recovery has been successful.
To correctly predict your progress and avoid overdoing your training, keep a training diary, which will help you determine how well you have recovered from your last workouts.
Results
From a medical point of view, professional competitive CrossFit does not allow athletes to progress and recover normally after training. But don’t forget that athletes often scale the loads to suit themselves. And even if they train 2 times a day, they do the most difficult training no more than 2 times a week.
At the same time, CrossFit stars use the entire arsenal of sports nutrition and supporting pharmacology. This forces the body to recover faster and better.
Remember simple rules, if you want to fully feel and develop in CrossFit:
- Keep a training diary.
- Eat right.
- Always focus on how you feel: if you think that you are not ready to perform a particular WOD today, let your coach know.
- Use sports nutrition for recovery.
And remember, recovery is related not only to muscles, but also to other systems of the body. Don't take risks and give your body more time to rest - this will allow you to progress much faster.
Greetings, dear ladies and gentlemen! Starting this Friday, we are conducting our story within the framework of a series called “Muscle Inside”. And the first (after New Year's holidays) A topic to consider is how long muscles recover after training and how.
After reading, you will learn what happens to the muscles before/after training, when you should go to your next workout, and much more.
So, if everything is assembled, let's begin.
Muscles and training: how one affects the other
This is the fifth post in the “Muscle Inside” series, in which we study the “internal mechanics” of muscles and the processes that influence their growth and volumetric development. All this information will allow you to take a more thoughtful approach to your training, nutrition and recovery issues. We already understand what it is, today we will find out how and how long muscles recover after training. Let's start, as usual, from afar - with theory and then smoothly move into practice. Go!
Note:
All further narration on the topic of how long muscles recover after training and how will be divided into subchapters.
What happens to muscles during exercise?
Question: why do you go to the rocking chair? Answer: swing. The question and answer are familiar to all of us, but it does not reflect the real state of affairs, i.e. what actually happens to muscles. In the gym, during the process of strength work, the athlete only creates the prerequisites for changing his physique and muscle growth, the latter occurring exclusively at the stage of recovery after the gym. Therefore, to say that you go to the gym to swing (from the point of view of processes occurring inside the muscles) incorrect, you go to the gym to create stress for the body/muscles.
When you practice intense exercise, muscle fibers are damaged, and microtrauma activates the body's self-healing mechanisms. As a result, specific cells called satellite cells fuse together with the damaged muscle fibers to repair them. Some of these cells mature and form new myofibrils, which are components of muscle fibers, so once they attach to existing fibers, they trigger hypertrophy - the growth of muscle diameter.
Whenever muscle fibers are damaged during exercise, satellite cells must initiate a cascade of events that promote muscle repair and growth.
Several hormones, mainly growth factors, are needed to support the strengthening of new muscle fibers as well as to facilitate the recovery process.
Insulin also plays a role in muscle recovery as it enhances protein synthesis and facilitates the entry of glucose into muscle cells. Glucose is then stored as glycogen, which is used as fuel for all cells, including satellite cells. Growth hormone and testosterone also promote muscle hypertrophy, and the availability of amino acids that come from dietary protein greatly influences muscle recovery.
Adequate protein intake provides sufficient amounts of readily available amino acids within the body, and these nutrients are necessary for satellite cells to initiate reactions that allow them to repair damaged tissue. Lack of amino acids (as a result of a protein-poor diet) will slow down the muscle recovery process because satellite cells cannot multiply effectively and therefore cannot begin to repair damaged tissue immediately after exercise.
Now let's look inside the damaged tissue and take a closer look at the process of its restoration.
Damaged tissue: stages of recovery
During the recovery process, one can distinguish 4 stage:
- stopping bleeding;
- filling the gap/breakdown;
- reduction of rupture/breakdown;
- return of original fabric type.
Let's go through each point in a little more detail.
Stage No. 1. Stop bleeding
Trauma is always a violation of the structure, the usual “way of life” of the tissue. Immediately after soft tissue is “injured” by fluid (blood, lymph and other fluids) in our body flow from damaged tissue. Once an injury occurs, our body begins/attempts to repair the fault and compensate for the damage caused. The body quickly creates thin membranes around the injury (wound) to stop bleeding. This is the beginning of the healing process.
Stage No. 2. Filling the gap/breakdown
When an injury occurs, there is a gap between the two sides of the wound. It may initially be filled with body fluids, but later fills with new tissue. However, new muscles, skin, and tendons do not grow instantly. These special tissues require nerves and blood circulation to grow and function properly. In the case of a wound injury, the body first fills the gap with a special type of tissue (type 1 , general fabric). Once type 1 tissue “falls into place,” new capillaries, veins, and nerves form around it.
Stage No. 3. Reduce rupture/breakdown
At the third stage the fabric №1 replaced by fabric №2 . With access to proper nutrients from the regular blood supply, this second type of tissue is much stronger. It connects tightly to the ends of your wound and over time acts as a “tightening” muscle, holding the edges of the wound together. Thus, the area of the wounded area becomes much smaller.
Stage No. 4. Return of original fabric type
After the wound has reached minimum sizes, our body replaces tissue type 2 its original type. Only now does new skin, ligament, tendon, muscle or cartilage develop. And only after this the wound is considered completely healed.
We have described the tissue repair cycle so that you have an idea of the processes occurring inside the damaged tissue. In general, muscle tissue exhibits a similar healing mechanism. However, the healing time for microtraumas and restoration of muscles to their original (pre-injury) state is much faster. In addition, muscles have the property of supercompensation. This is when their parameters are restored to their original state. + 1 "(positive increment).
The process of maximizing muscle growth, which is the second name of supercompensation, in view of the ability to catch your body at the point of maximum readiness for the next step/muscle mass development, is described in the figure.
If an athlete individually and only for himself calculates when to (after training a specific muscle group) should show up in the hall next time, i.e. falls into the “window of opportunity”, he will qualitatively/quantitatively improve his volumetric indicators.
Glucose during strength work. What's happening to her?
During physical activity, glucose, the main fuel component of recharge, is actively taken from all body systems and sent to the muscles. During the period of strength work, your brain is depleted of glucose and its cognitive functions are greatly weakened. This can manifest itself in different ways: from some darkening in the eyes, blurring of the environment, to the inability to quickly make one or another mental decision.
In any case, as soon as you start working in the gym and loading the target muscle group, glucose begins to intensively flow into the working region. This feeding process allows you to pump up your muscles for some time, but the increase in their volumetric characteristics (growth of muscle mass)– exclusively a matter of post-workout muscle recovery.
Thus, you can spend hours in the gym, but you will get the result, manifested in the form of a positive change in your figure, if you have the knowledge of how to remove muscles from a catabolic (decay) state.
Biological processes involved in recovery
Recovery affects the following processes:
- restoration of torn muscle fibers. The latter heal stronger than before (before their destruction) and the muscle increases its strength potential;
- fluid recovery. During exercise, the body sweats, causing fluid loss. When you properly hydrate your body before, during and after exercise, you maintain adequate fluid levels. These fluids are important for delivery nutrients to vital organs and muscles through the bloodstream;
- protein synthesis (the process of replacing destroyed proteins). Muscle protein synthesis in humans increases by 50% four hours after intense resistance training (data from the National Institute of Health, USA 2015 ) . Protein synthesis is what bulks up your muscles, giving them the ability to handle greater stress. Muscle growth this is nothing more than the excess of the rate of protein synthesis over the rate of its breakdown.
These are the three most important elements of recovery, the condition of which (after training) Every trainee in the gym should follow this. Improving muscle recovery comes down to increased protein synthesis and decreased protein breakdown, resulting in net protein gain.
We will talk about strategies for improving muscle recovery in the practical part of the article, but for now we will answer the question...
More or less: how long should you train in the gym? Research results
Some people train for two hours five times a week, others prefer 60 -minute workouts of the “Monday-Wednesday-Friday” type. So, after all, for more obvious results, should you spend more or less time in the gym?
When we constantly spend physical exercise on a set schedule without sufficient recovery time, our somatic function will not gradually increase, but will decrease. This means that training cannot (undesirably) be adjusted to a specific day schedule, for example, Mon/Wed/Friday, because the recovery process for this period (workouts every other day) It's not over yet. And even if an athlete feels that he is ready to “tear and throw,” this does not mean that his muscles are of the same opinion.
Numerous studies conducted in the field of muscle recovery agree that the rest period between two strength training sessions should be between 36 before 72 hours ( 2-3 day). The researchers calculated that after 36-72 hours, the athlete is more likely to fall into the “window of opportunity” (supercompensation phenomenon), rather than his rest will be less/more than the specified period.
Conclusion: most appropriate for training schemes (split, whole body) train not every other day, but 2 or 3 .
Muscle work & recovery, myths
Now we will debunk the most popular myths regarding muscles.
No. 1. Muscle pain is an indicator of training effectiveness
Soreness is not directly related to hypertrophy and is not an indicator of volumetric progress. The soreness is caused by sensitivity to micro-tears in the muscle connective tissue, but it also depends on how sensitive your nociceptors are. (pain receptors) in the muscles.
If you are able to get severe pain after each workout, then there is a high probability that you either do not train often enough, or do not eat or sleep enough. In any case, you are not doing enough of any of the above.
Conclusion: muscle pain is not 100% a guarantee of quality training and progress, this is just a reaction to the load on the muscle’s pain receptors. Increase the frequency of your workouts, revise your diet to increase it, and the soreness will go away.
No. 2. Days of rest from stress require complete inactivity
It is believed that “no edge” is the best thing to do on the day after training. This is wrong. Research shows that light cardio or light training does not help negative influence on the body's ability to recover. On the contrary, such activity can help speed up recovery and reduce soreness by increasing blood/nutrient circulation to the area/targeted muscle group.
Conclusion: After strength training for a specific group or the whole body, you can use “active” rest in the following days. Stretching and water cardio are of particular value.
No. 3. 48 hours rest
This myth says that only after 48 hours, you can go back to the gym to train, otherwise there is a high probability of “catching” overtraining.
Progressing in weight, reps or intensity is not a never-ending process. At some point in time you will hit the ceiling. Increasing the frequency of your workouts per week is one way to progress. You may need 48 and more hours for recovery, this figure depends on many factors.
Conclusion: don’t wait on purpose 48 hours, you may need more or less rest time. Everything is individual.
No. 4. Split workouts are more effective than full body/top-bottom workouts
Recent Study (T-nation resource, 2016 ) showed that those athletes who trained 3 times per week for the whole body showed a higher hypertrophic response compared to three times per week split athletes. The top-down group also showed better mass gain results than their split counterparts. In addition, the researchers note that in the "full body" and "top-bottom" variations, athletes received more symmetrical body proportions and more expressive/voluminous legs (V 3 in a day split, the leg muscles receive only 1/3 attention).
Conclusion: split training is not the best effective method maintaining muscle mass and building a symmetrical body.
Actually, we have analyzed the whole theory and now we will analyze some practical points.
How to improve muscle recovery?
Eat more, sleep more, take sports nutrition - although these are true tips for improving recovery, they have already set the teeth on edge, and therefore are not of interest to be covered in our article. We'll go the logical route (let's go together, are you flying to Leningrad? :)) and get acquainted with the same techniques.
No. 1. No pain - no progress!
Knowing when to stop and tell yourself “that’s enough” is the most important logical technique when working on muscles. Often beginners lack the experience to understand the difference between useful pain (pumping muscles with blood and nutrients, burning sensation) and pain that causes real harm to the body.
In pursuit of quick results, some people's workouts may take longer. 1,5-2 hours, but in this situation the athlete will most likely drive himself (if he studies in this mode on some regular basis) in condition . Women have enough 2 weeks of such prolonged intensive work and, even despite his increased endurance (compared to men), they will burn out.
Overtraining sharply reduces the body's ability to recover; it inhibits all its anabolic manifestations.
Conclusion: training should be of high quality, but without the “tongue on shoulder” condition afterwards.
No. 2. Stretching
Stretch for Vaska the cat!
Many people believe that muscle stretching is pampering and exclusively for women. In fact, stretching is an important part of effective muscle building and recovery process. A stretched muscle is a more flexible muscle, allowing you to perform exercises in the greatest possible range of motion.
After training, stretching is especially important, because a lot of tension has accumulated in the muscles during work, and stretching effectively helps to “release” it.
Conclusion: do a general warm-up 5-7 minutes before training and a full stretch cycle (on 10-15 minutes) all worked muscle groups - after.
No. 3. Myofascial training
Self-massage that provides muscle-fascial relaxation. Aimed at restoring the natural geometry and tone of both individual muscles and the muscle corset as a whole. Most often, the main tool in it is a special roller with knots/spikes that allow deep penetration into muscle trigger points. The point of training with a roller is to perform special exercises - sliding the body along it.
Conclusion: After strength work in the gym or at home, resort to myofascial training to relax your muscles.
Note:
Kuznetsov's applicator - a surface with spines, is, in a somewhat simplified version, a type of myofascial release.
No. 4. Hydration
It is mandatory to drink during training, we talked about this in the article [. However, hydrating yourself (both inside and outside) after training is a very important procedure that allows you to absorb nutrients faster and more efficiently and quickly deliver amino acids to damaged structures (inflamed muscle tissue).
Conclusion: After training, you need to drink not only water, but, first of all, water.
No. 5. Change of familiar environment
You have finished your workout, and your muscles/body are waiting for what you offer them next. Going into the shower, getting dressed and going home is a standard option that will not help your muscles recover more effectively. However, if you change your usual environment, for example, go to 10 minutes in the sauna, and then plunge into the cool pool, you will shock your muscles in a good way, and they will begin to work out their recovery resource faster and better.
These techniques will help you “tune” your muscles for faster and better recovery.
Actually, we’re done with the content, let’s move on to...
Afterword
Understanding your body better in order to be able to use it more effectively is the main goal of the “Muscle Inside” cycle. And I would like to hope that he copes with it perfectly. For example, today we found out how long muscles recover after training and how, as well as what methods can help with this.
Next time we’ll do something else :), we’re waiting...
PS: What schedule do you go to the gym on - MON/WED/FRIDAY? Why is this so?
PPS: did the project help? Then leave a link to it in your social network status - plus 100 points towards karma guaranteed :)
With respect and gratitude, Dmitry Protasov.
Experienced athletes know that post-workout recovery is as important to muscle growth as the activity itself. In its absence, it will not be possible to ensure proper results. It is important to know how long it takes for muscles to recover and how you can speed up this process.
Recovery after strength training is essential. Active muscle growth occurs during this period, so it is important to pay attention to this stage. Regular training to the limit will not bring any effect if the muscles do not get the opportunity to rest.
During the training process, micro-tears of muscle fibers occur, which stretch and tear. After this, the body, considering this phenomenon unacceptable, will try to restore and heal them. This process is known as compensation. If, after exercise, you give yourself good rest and the supply of nutrients, the stage of supercompensation will begin. During this period, the muscles will become rougher and increase in volume to prevent ruptures and injuries in the future. Due to this, muscle mass increases. Hence the importance of recovery.
How long does it take for muscles to recover?
On average, all muscle groups require 36-72 hours to recover. Accordingly, there is no point in training them more often than once every 2-3 days. It is worth considering that the larger the muscle in volume, the more time it needs to rest.
Aerobic training (cardio) requires significant energy expenditure, but does not cause damage to a large number of muscle fibers. After them, muscle glycogen is predominantly restored. On average it takes 1-3 days to recover. Strength training, in addition to energy consumption, provokes muscle microtrauma, so it takes more time to recover from it.
The muscle recovery process is divided into four phases, presented in the table.
Fast recovery | Continues for 30 minutes after activity. In a state of stress, the body uses up the remaining reserves of substances to return to a normal state. At this time, he needs glucose for rapid recovery. Also needed minerals Therefore, it is recommended to drink still mineral water. |
Slow recovery | Once the body has restored the balance of nutrients and minerals, it will begin to repair the affected cells and tissues. During this period, protein synthesis is activated, and a sufficient amount of it should be supplied with food. |
Super compensation | The most important recovery period, which begins 2-3 days after training. The most powerful supercompensation will be after a grueling workout to failure with maximum weights. The body will try in advance to ensure maximum muscle fiber growth. The next training should be carried out at this stage. |
Delayed recovery | It occurs after supercompensation if the next workout is missed. Therefore, it is important to stick to your study schedule. By skipping one workout, you can significantly slow down the process. During this period, the body will begin to restore its usual state, which is typical without exercise. |
Thus, the answer to the question of how long it takes for muscles to recover will vary from person to person, but on average this time is 72 hours.
Standard methods of muscle recovery
During the period when the muscles are recovering, there is no need to train. Another important point is getting enough sleep, especially if. It plays a big role for absolutely everyone, but if a person puts a lot of stress on the body, then its importance is even greater. It is during sleep that muscles actively grow and increase in volume.
You need to sleep at least 8 hours without breaks. The right conditions are important. To get a good night's sleep, you need complete darkness and silence, as well as a comfortable pillow and a suitable mattress.
Proper nutrition is important. Immediately after exercise, the body needs to be given a sufficient amount of proteins and carbohydrates. This will help offset their costs. Drink whey protein after exercise to help support your muscles.
1-1.5 hours after training you need to eat a hearty meal. The meal must include all the necessary components.
In addition to proteins and carbohydrates, an athlete’s body needs fats. Their best sources are fatty fish and vegetable oils, especially flaxseed.
Eat vegetables. Due to the presence of fiber and coarse fibers, they help improve digestion.
If you feel hungry but it's not time to eat yet, you can eat a banana or a handful of dried fruits.
You need to drink enough fluids both during and after exercise. Pay attention to the color of your urine, especially in the morning. If it is clear, it means you are drinking enough. If it is more yellow or orange, then the amount of liquid needs to be increased.
How to speed up muscle recovery
Various medications can help you recover quickly after exercise. Sports nutrition, when consumed correctly, helps increase endurance. Accelerate recovery and improve exercise results. The following additives serve this purpose:
BCAAs are amino acids that prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue after activity and improve the synthesis of anabolic hormones. They are taken before or immediately after training.
Creatine. Helps increase the amount of phosphocreatine, which increases the supply of ATP, which is the initial phase of recovery. This substance is taken immediately after training and washed down big amount liquids.
Glutamine. 60% of this amino acid is contained in the muscles, but during active exercise it is used up extremely quickly, and a deficiency appears. The intake additionally promotes the synthesis of growth hormone, which has a beneficial effect on anabolism and muscle recovery. Sports nutrition can be taken after activity or at night.
Sports nutrition should be taken either before or after exercise. It is not recommended to do this during activity.
Vitamins and minerals are important in recovery. A sufficient amount of them should be supplied with food. But active training provokes a decrease in the absorption of some components, so you can take them additionally. The following compounds are useful vitamins:
Vitamin A. This component is useful for vision, but in addition it takes part in muscle synthesis. Because of this, they grow more actively. Vitamin A also affects testosterone, which plays an important role in muscle growth.
Vitamin C. In addition to its antioxidant effect, it can eliminate post-workout pain. The vitamin has an effect at the cellular level, preventing oxidation processes.
Vitamin D. Acts similar to vitamin A. It also has benefits for the skeletal system.
B vitamins. They take part in protein metabolism and the formation of cells required for muscle restoration.
Zinc. Structural element proteins and enzymes that are needed for tissue growth and repair. If it is deficient, muscles cannot grow, since the mineral affects the synthesis of anabolic hormones.
There are special medications that help with muscle recovery. They have a complex composition, so it is recommended to drink them only after consulting a specialist. They are most often used by professional athletes.
Aerobitin. One of the most famous recovery drugs after physical activity. Includes a strong complex of antioxidants aimed at combating body oxidation and free radicals. Has a pronounced biosynthetic effect.
Secretaryrog-1. The drug has a special formula that promotes the synthesis of growth hormones. It also has an immunoprotective effect.
Antilactate. The medication helps reduce pain after training. The result is achieved due to the increased consumption of air by tissues, due to which lactic acid is excreted. The composition contains organic acids.
To make your workouts effective and painless, and for your muscles to recover faster, consider the following recommendations:
Don't overdo the tempo. If it's time to train intensely, you need to give yourself enough time to recover.
At the end of the session, do some stretching that will serve as a cool-down. This will make it possible to eliminate excess lactic acid from the muscles and normalize the pulse. As a result, you will recover faster and muscle elasticity will increase. 5-10 minutes will be enough, but the exercises must be done efficiently.
A contrast shower gives good results. Use hot water first, then cold, not the other way around. This helps improve blood circulation.
If you feel severe muscle pain after exercise, it may be helpful to take a cold bath. Massage with an ice cube and other procedures with a cooling effect give good results. Muscles, under the influence of cold temperatures, expand and contract sharply and rhythmically. In view of this, toxins are removed from them more quickly.
Massage is beneficial for muscles, especially in the evening.
Simple manipulations increase the ability of muscles to absorb valuable components, accelerate and activate their transport to muscle tissue.
Helpful leisure. You should not forget about activity during rest periods. It is useful to walk, swim in the pool, visit the bathhouse or sauna.
Muscle recovery is no less important than the training itself. Various medications can help speed it up, but it is important not to overuse them. Please note that the main criterion for whether the muscles have recovered sufficiently is the desire to exercise. Don't put too much stress on yourself, as this will have the opposite effect.
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Full recovery after training is a factor no less important for achieving the desired result than the training itself. Without understanding the basics of the process, it is impossible to progress. Neither proper nutrition nor vitamins will help. sports nutrition, not even drugs. This article is about how to recover properly and steadily improve your physical performance.
Theoretical foundations of recovery
The human body is a complex self-healing and self-sustaining system. In a state of rest, all subsystems are at a point of equilibrium - processes proceed at a normal pace for a particular organism.
Going beyond a stable state provokes the body to turn to reserves. As a result of active physical activity and recovery, a person’s adaptive capabilities increase.
Serious sports results are unattainable without powerful training. The recovery phase must be adequate to the load. The body must “understand” that it cannot survive without adapting to new realities. But he also needs the opportunity to find the strength to adapt to stress - an increase in indicators occurs precisely during this period. One without the other makes no sense.
There are 4 main recovery phases:
- Fast recovery after training. Starts immediately after completing your workout and lasts about 30 minutes. At this time, the body is in “panic” and strives to make up for losses as quickly as possible. It is very important to restore the balance of nutrients.
- Slow motion. Once metabolic balance is achieved, the body begins to heal damaged tissues and cells. In this phase, protein, amino acid and enzyme synthesis is activated, the water-electrolyte balance returns to normal, the digestive system actively absorbs substances that serve building material for muscles.
- Supercompensation. The phase that occurs 2-3 days after heavy exercise. The duration of the period is up to 5 days. Super recovery resembles a slow phase, but the difference lies in the fact that during this time there is growth physical indicators. The next training must be carried out before the body leaves the stage of supercompensation, otherwise the training will turn into marking time.
- Deferred. If you skip training, you can achieve good recovery, but without increasing athletic performance. This stage occurs if the previous one is delayed.
How long does it take for muscles to recover?
The indicated duration of the third phase of recovery after a hard workout is in some sense arbitrary. Training to complete muscle failure may require more time to compensate for losses. Bodybuilding theorists and practitioners (for example, M. Mentzer), using the examples of their students, demonstrate the need for longer rest to achieve serious results.
Recovery abilities are individual and, in addition, depend on the presence or absence of pharmaceutical support. Personal parameters can only be determined experimentally.
The table shows the average muscle recovery time after training.
Recovery rates
It's not just the muscles that are restored. It is important to know about the recovery rates of the body after training in general and the time required to bring biochemical processes back to normal.
Recovery rates:
- increase in results - only with complete completion of recovery processes;
- well-being - with a lack of recovery, the athlete may feel unwell, the desire to train may disappear, and there is a decline in volitional indicators;
- sleep – by recovering correctly, the athlete has the right to count on healthy and productive sleep; otherwise, a constant feeling of drowsiness (especially in the first half of the day) and problems falling asleep are in order;
- pulse – normal – 75 beats/min a couple of hours after training; at a higher heart rate, you need to think about either overtraining or deeper problems (for example, with the heart).
The following table shows the time it takes for the body to complete restorative biochemical processes after active physical exercise.
Recovery techniques after fatigue
There are different ways to recover. It’s better to do it comprehensively, using various techniques. The greater the load on the body and the factors that negatively affect the ability to recover, the more attention needs to be paid to rehabilitation aspects. About half of sports success depends on how competent recovery after training is. If the results are not encouraging, you need to look for the reason not only in the imperfection of the training approach, but also in problems relating to the opposite phase. Next, we’ll talk about how to reduce rehabilitation time and improve athletic performance.
Active recovery
Lactic acid will leave the muscles faster if you help it with moderate aerobic exercise. A 10-minute jog helps speed up the removal of breakdown products - during this time about 60% of the acid is removed. The next 10 minutes of easy running equates to approximately 25% more lactic acid being removed. Conclusion - aerobic exercise is beneficial after heavy training. A 20-minute run will help significantly increase the rate of elimination of unwanted substances from the muscles.
Complete rest or passive rest
A fundamental need of the human body and the athlete in particular. Intense training forces athletes to sleep at least 8-10 hours a day. This time includes 1-2 short phases of daytime sleep. By stealing his sleep, an athlete deprives himself of hope of unlocking his physical potential.
Quality is no less important than quantity. Certain aspects must be followed, including:
- Compliance with the regime. You need to get up and go to bed at the same time.
- Continuity of sleep. You can’t sleep in fits and starts – 3 “sets” of 3 hours each is by no means equal to 9 hours of continuous sleep.
- Maintain a short interval between training and sleep. The body needs at least 30-40 minutes to prepare for sleep.
- Comfort. The process should not cause inconvenience even on a subconscious level. It is recommended to sleep on an orthopedic bed in a room with optimal temperature and other conditions.
Massage
(and one of its options is restorative) - required condition training of professional athletes. The effect of working with soft tissues is achieved through mechanical and sensory stimulation.
The mechanical effect is expressed in:
- reducing swelling of muscle tissue;
- relieving muscle fatigue;
- improving lymph and blood circulation;
- relieving muscle spasms;
- saturation of tissues with oxygen;
- accelerating the elimination of metabolic products from tissues.
The sensory effect is relatively little studied. “Massage” recovery after strength training helps reduce pain. This is achieved through a gradual increase in sensory influx to the central nervous system. In order to achieve a similar result, the damaged (actively participating in the training process) muscle groups need to be massaged slowly and gently.
Light stimulation of the skin promotes short-term capillary expansion. More intense exposure leads to a long-lasting effect.
Restorative massage is performed 10-15 minutes after completion of the workout. This is one of the differences between this type of mechanical tissue stimulation and others. The interval can be increased, but it is not recommended to delay it too much.
Average duration session – 15-20 minutes. An hour after the procedure, it is advisable to repeat it, but in a reduced form - no more than 5 minutes. First of all, the “working” muscles are massaged. If the training involves a load on the whole body, all muscle groups are “treated”. But at the same time, a little more attention is paid to large muscles that require more recovery time.
Heat and cold therapy
The massage is perfectly complemented by thermotherapy - sauna with steam bath, steam baths, hot wrap. Thermal procedures prepare the body well for mechanical stimulation.
If a bathhouse with a sauna is not always available, then it is not at all necessary to deprive yourself of the wrap. Although the procedure has a beneficial effect primarily on the skin, there is also a significant overall effect. If you act on the body for 20-30 minutes, blood will begin to circulate in the muscles much more actively. But sometimes the heating of the skin is excessive, while useful heat does not have time to reach the soft tissues. Therefore, wrapping is best considered as a means to relax athletes and quickly increase body surface temperature.
How can I speed up recovery after training? Low temperature also useful. Cold therapy helps reduce muscle swelling and has an overall positive physical effect. Therapy may include:
- cold wrap – 10-15 minutes;
- ice baths – 5-10 minutes;
- rubbing muscles with ice.
The most powerful effect of ice is achieved during the procedure performed immediately after completion of training.
Diet and nutritional supplements
Nutrition is the most important factor determining the adaptive capabilities of the body. It is important to understand how and what to take to recover after a workout. General rule nutrition implies that the intake of nutrients should be approximately equal to their consumption. When gaining mass, they start from greater “income”; during fat loss, from greater energy losses.
Diet is extremely important. In addition to the main building components - proteins, the body urgently needs carbohydrates. If the supply of the latter is insufficient, recovery is much slower.
Great importance also has a frequency of meals. The classic scheme of three meals a day is less effective than the model that implies a more fractional diet. Meals should be at least four times a day. Recommended meal ratio (% of daily intake):
- breakfast – 20-25;
- second breakfast – 15-20;
- lunch – 30-35;
- dinner – 20-25.
At the same time, the interval between approaches to the table is a maximum of 4 hours, and between extreme approaches is no more than 12 hours. Immediately before training, you should not fill your stomach. After training, it is advisable to abstain from poorly digestible food - at this time, gastric juice is not enough to effectively break it down.
A balanced diet is not enough for athletes who regularly train intensively. Vitamins and mineral supplements cannot be ignored. In most cases, we can talk about a lack of the entire vitamin complex. The only exception is vitamin A, which can be fully obtained from regular food.
The amount of supplements depends on the training phase. Stages of lower intensity are not as demanding on the supply of minerals and vitamins as periods of powerful preparation for competitions.
It is imperative to satisfy the body's need for fluid. During training, athletes need to compensate for the lack of water by drinking small sips. You need to remember that drinking a lot and often after training for recovery is no less important than following a healthy diet.
Psychological recovery
The intensity of training is determined by both physical and psychological well-being. Overtraining inevitably entails a drop in motivation. And this is necessarily followed by problems with volitional qualities. The brain loses the ability to concentrate - the body does not receive enough load.
But it is not enough to rest as much as you need. Problems outside of sports have a similar effect on the body. Therefore, it is extremely important to learn to resist emotional discomfort. The first assistant in this is regular relaxation. Meditation and physical relaxation will help you respond adequately to circumstances and avoid negative psychological outbursts.
How do you know that your muscles have recovered?
Lack of muscle pain, high motivation, a surge of strength - signs that it’s time to go back to the gym. But you can’t always trust obvious “signs.” Most important sign– a combination of these factors with regular progress. The absence of the latter may also indicate an illiterate approach to training. But if you know that everything is in order with the training scheme, and there is no end to the stagnation, you need to think hard.
Training requires constant self-analysis. This is the only way to get a relatively complete picture of the training and individual characteristics.
