The most underestimated component in athletic success is recovery.
Recovery is a crucial part in the field of sport. Unfortunately, it is often neglected by athletes. Most don't understand the biological and physiological components that take place during the healing process. What happens during recovery is important in maintaining health and longevity.
During physical activity, stress is exerted on skeletal muscle, causing damage (small tears) to myofibrils. Protein will bind to damaged skeletal muscle, initiating a healing
process. The completion of the healing process results in added size (hypertrophy) and strength via additional cross sections in the muscle belly.
METHODS OF RECOVERY
Hydrotherapy - Hydrotherapy is used to treat a wide variety of injuries or ailments and is a popular choice in alternative medicine. Sense this is an athletic based blog I will include only the most popular of hydrotherapy seen in the athletic community. Hot and cold submersion. When a specific threshold is met, the production of lactic acid occurs. Introducing the body to hot or warm water will increase blood flow via vasodilation. Aiding the body by clearing lactic acid and other waste.
Cold is the exact opposite. Submersing the athlete in cold water will vasoconstrict vessels and capillaries but decreases swelling within joints.
Deprivation Tank - Sensory deprivation is a delebarate act of removing external stimuli. The concept of float tank therapy is based on the theory that 90% of the brains normal workload is estimated to be caused by the effects of environmental stimulation. We are constantly bombarded with background noises, distractions, lights, annoying sounds and even gravity. When entering a float tank the body is removed from most external stimuli. Allowing a sense of mindfulness. The science behind why deprivation tanks work is complicated.
Upon completion of a float session, you will have stimulated your vagus never. Your vagus nerve interfaces with your parasympathetic (rest and digest) and sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system . If an athlete can control and understand vagal tone, one can
likely recover quicker. Parasympathetic stimulation of vagal tone can mean reduced heart rate, reduction in blood pressure, vasodilation (more blood flow), etc. Athletes can track vagal tone flocculations via wearables such as the Whoop Band, ECG chest strap, or other wearables. If an athlete has an abnormal elevated heart rate during the recovery phase (sympathetic), rest and recover. If an athlete has a low resting heart rate (parasympathetic), that may indicate the athlete has acclimated to stressors and is ready for activity induced stress.
I want to share my clinical experience with float tank therapy. In spring 2017 I was selected to be apart of a study conducted by Wright-Patersson Air Force Base. Pre and post float measures were taken. Measures included sympathetic and parasympathetic response recoded by Omega wave chest strap and cortisol levels via blood draw. Although, this picture was taken at the start of my clinical trail, a noticeable reduction in parasympathetic tone, tension, CNS readiness, and overall cortisol levels decreased.
Sleep- Sleep could easily cover an entire post so I will briefly explain why sleep is important for athletes. Many of the worlds greatest athletes claim sleep is key to success. The brain and the central nervous system play the most significant role in athletic performance. Every movement is controlled by impulses. For elite level athlete, the CNS controls every aspect of performance from basic motor skills to complex firing patterns. Lack of sleep will impair and ultimately delay visual and auditory reaction time. Lack of sleep over the course of a week can be devastating. In fact, 4-5 hours of sleep for 4 days is a total of 24 hours of sleep lost
(equivalent to being legally impaired.) The correct amount of sleep (8-10 hours) is important for overall brain health, skeletal system health, heart health, immune system, weight control, liver and sexual health.
Low Intensity Steady State Cardio- Believe it or not, theres science behind Mark Bell's famous "10 minute walks." Implementing low intensity cardiovascular work will allow more blood to circulate delivering important nutrients to vital areas. Routine walks will help the left ventricle to increase stroke volume ( the amount of blood pumped from the left ventricle, per beat). Increases in stroke volume simply means more oxygen and nutrients get delivered to crucial organs.
*KNOWLEDGE BOMB* When you completed a heavy squat work out, remember to keep the muscle pump going in order to help clear lactic acid and other "toxic waste" from your blood stream. To keep muscle pump consider maintaining a relative high HR 50-70% for 10-15 minutes.
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