Restoration is one of the most overlooked aspects of
training, but when implemented properly can have a huge impact on your
recovery, health, and for competitive athletes, longevity in your sport.
There are many forms of restoration and it is important to
note that you do not need to do all of them all the time. Some forms of
restoration include:
- Extra workouts – strength, mobility, flexibility, etc.
- Ice
- Heat
- Cold and hot contrast
- Massage, chiropractic, and other soft tissue therapy
- Low intensity cardiovascular exercise
- Yoga, qigong, meditation, etc.
- Nutrition
Extra workouts are a very simple form of restoration but it
is important not to turn these into max effort sessions. Extra workouts can be
anything from light weight high repetition exercises, various types of sled
pulling with lighter weights, exercises with resistance bands, body-weight
drills, club swinging, or stretching and mobility focused exercise. These
workouts should be short, 10 to 30 minutes, and should be very low intensity.
The goal should be to increase circulation and blood flow without exhausting
the muscles.
Hot and cold therapy can be implemented in a number of ways.
A cold compress can be put on the body, you can use an ice bath or cold shower,
and you can take advantage of a cryotherapy chamber if you have access to a facility
that offers it. For heat a compress may be used, hot tubs or showers can be
used, and you can take advantage of dry heat in a sauna or moist heat in a
steam room if you have access to such facilities. Hot and cold contrast is a
popular method of restoration as well. In contrast methods you generally
alternate between extreme cold and extreme heat in intervals for designated
times. For instance you may do a shower where you stay under extremely cold
water for a period of 30 to 60 seconds followed by extremely hot water for a
period of 30 to 60 seconds finishing with a cold rinse.
Body work is great for restoration as well. Having a good
therapist is a great idea. Massage therapy, Active Release Technique (ART)
therapy, Graston, needling, chiropractic, and other forms of body work are all
regularly used by many of my athletes and clients.
Low intensity cardiovascular exercise is great for
restoration. Swimming and aquatic exercise, walking, hiking, jogging, cycling,
etc. all performed in the appropriate heart rate range (for most people 130 to
150 beats per minute is a good target) for durations of 30-90 minutes can have
a very restorative effect on the body. One of my former coaches used to refer
to this as “massage for your heart and lungs”.
Adopting a practice like yoga, qigong, meditation or even an
internal martial art like Taijiquan is a great way to balance higher intensity
training and sport performance. These all encourage a focus on proper breathing
and awareness and have a profound effect on stress reduction. Exercises like
yoga, qigong and Taiji can be viewed as a form of moving meditation. However
they should not replace your seated meditation practice.
Nutrition is often overlooked as a form of restoration, but
let’s face it garbage in equals garbage out. I don’t want to turn this into a
dissertation on what the best diet is, but I do think it is wise to focus on
getting a lot of unprocessed, whole plant-based foods. Focusing on eating a lot
of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds will give
you all the protein, carbohydrates and fats you need. Unfortunately due to the
overuse of the term “macros” in fitness pop culture, the ever important “micros”
are overlooked and underappreciated. A diet focusing on whole plant foods
provides micronutrients in spades. Eating a ton of plant-based foods will give
you an abundance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytochemicals /
phytonutrients that are essential for good health, energy, and cellular repair.
In addition whole plant-based foods provide a ton of fiber. In addition to good
food, make sure you are drinking plenty of fresh, clean water daily. Waiting
until you are thirsty is poor practice for proper hydration.
Some of these practices should be done on a regular basis. I
feel it is imperative to focus on good nutrition and engage in a meditative practice
daily. Daily movement and activity is essential. Doing extra workouts on “off
days” is much better than doing nothing. A light workout or extra mobility and
flexibility work will help you recover from a heavy workout far better than
sitting on your ass and doing nothing.
Restoration and recovery practices that are more therapeutic
should be used only when needed. I feel that the more you use these methods the
less effective they become. Soft tissue work, chiropractic, contrast therapy,
etc. are all very effective but do not need to be performed daily.
By implementing the appropriate restoration and recovery
methods and exercises into your annual, monthly, weekly and daily programming you
will help to reduce the chance of injury and improve health, longevity and
performance.
Stay strong and healthy!
Scott
