My Top 5 Recovery Modalities
In this blog, I’ll be discussing the 5 best recovery modalities known to man. Everyone loves bragging about how hard they train but never do I hear them boasting about their bad-ass recovery sessions. If you’re going to train hard, you need to recover hard, plain and simple. Recovery is equally as important as training because it's when our hard work flourishes into gains.
Also, focusing on recovery will get you back to training sooner, increasing your total training volume over time. Think of a baseball player who throws 100 pitches per session, 3 days per week vs the pitcher who throws 100 pitches, 4 times per week. Pitcher A doesn’t take his recovery seriously, parties till dawn and eats mostly fast food while player B sleeps 8 - 10 hours per night, goes for walks, gets massages and eats mostly whole foods. This earns player B a fourth pitching session per week. Over the course of the year, player B is throwing more pitches. All else equal, who improves more over the course of a year? Player B. The same can be said for strength and physique athletes wanting to be strong and jacked. The strength or physique athlete who puts in higher quality work during their training will put up a bigger total or better physique. Greater training volumes over time drives greater progress over the long haul.
Nowadays, new recovery modalities are exploding onto the market. Massage guns, CBD oil, cryotherapy chambers, vibrating foam rollers, float tanks, IV vitamins and more. These tools may be beneficial, but are they worth the hassle and cost? In my experience, the answer is no. I’ve used modalities such as thera guns, CBD oil, vibrating foam rollers, infrared light panels and other tools and subjectively I’ve noticed little difference to the basics (to come). In our field, it’s common for recovery tools to come and go. Before going out and trying the “latest and greatest” recovery tool, consider using tools such as walking, massage, hot & cold showers, meditation & proper nutrition. In this article, I will be discussing the benefits of these basic yet extremely effective modalities. Expect to see your recovery & performance improve without having to donate an arm and leg.
Walking
Let’s get started with my favourite, walking. Walking makes for a great form of recovery for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s easy (unless you can’t walk - my apologies). The low-intensity nature of walking puts little additional stress on the body while enhancing blood and lymph circulation. With increased circulation comes increased nutrient delivery and waste removal or as Dr. Kelly Starrette likes to say “Getting rid of the garbage and bringing in the groceries”. And who doesn’t like receiving a fresh load of groceries?
Secondly, walking is decompressive in nature. What does weight lifting cause? Compression. Which can lead to aches and pains at the joints, particularly in the shoulders, hips and lower back. As we walk, rotation occurs (imagine the supermodel walk) through the hips and shoulders, leading to a lubrication & decompressive effect on these same structures. The next time you experience some back pain, go for a brisk walk and see how your back feels afterwards. Likely it’ll feel less tight and painful. A mentor of mine used to say, “Motion is Lotion” and walking fits this adage perfectly.
Lastly, the light nature of walking increases the body's rest & digest state which promotes restoration and relaxation. This state also comes with improved digestion and nutrient assimilation while decreasing blood pressure and heart rate. The better we’re able to digest and assimilate our nutrition, the more nutrition our cells will receive to aid the rebuilding process.
There’s no reason why walking shouldn’t be a part of your daily regime. It’s inexpensive, accessible, SUPER cool, and provides a huge recovery return on investment. We observe improvements in blood circulation, joint lubrication and overall recovery. So do it.
Recovery Recommendation: Aim for 3 walks, 10 - 30 mins each, ideally spread throughout the day. Play some tunes, listen to a podcast, invite a friend, walk-race your imaginary friend or enjoy some solitude. For extra recovery points, perform your walk first thing in the morning when the sun's shining.
Massage
Of all the recovery tools discussed today, massage is the most expensive. In my opinion, the cost is worth it. And here’s why. Firstly, massage is great for circulating blood and lymph. As mentioned, improving circulation gets rid of the garbage and brings in the groceries.
Secondly, muscles that feel tight or painful can be remedied through massage. The pressure applied to the muscles influences the signalling between the brain and muscles. This can positively influence perceptions of pain & muscle tone. With decreased pain and muscle tone, comes the potential for greater performance and movement ability.
Thirdly, the physical touch from massage causes the release of feel-good transmitters like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. This puts the body into a more relaxed state, enhancing the bodies’ ability to drive recovery cascades and absorb nutrients, similar to walking.
Two forms of massage exist. Self-massage and massage from a therapist. Each is beneficial for promoting recovery and reducing muscle soreness. Massage therapists typically offer deep tissue and relaxation based massage. A blend of both seems to drive the greatest recovery effect. Too little pressure doesn’t reach the threshold for influencing perceptions of pain and muscle tone, while too much pressure causes additional pain and tightness. Working with your therapist to find a balance between soft and deep tissue massage is best. If you’re falling asleep during the session, the massage might be too light. If you find you're holding your breath frequently or having trouble breathing, then likely it’s too aggressive. You should fall somewhere in between.
Now to self-massage, aka the poor man's massage. If you’re proficient, similar benefits can be derived as a conventional massage minus the physical touch benefits (no touching yourself doesn’t count). The only downside is that it requires time to become proficient and some inexpensive massage tools. You’ll need a basic foam roller, a lacrosse ball and a softer lacrosse ball for extra sensitive areas. Once you have these tools, it’s a matter of learning to use these tools effectively. “Becoming A Supple Leopard” is a great place to start or Youtube “How to Foam Roll” and lots will come up. Whatever you do, don’t spend 500$ on a fancy foam roller. They may provide a slight benefit to basic rollers but aren’t worth the cost. Instead, put that money towards a good massage therapist or nutritious foods.
Recovery Recommendation: If visiting a massage therapist, book a 60 - 90 min session. Ask the therapist to focus on common areas of tightness such as the hips, shoulders, pecs and upper back. Ensure that you ask for a blend of soft and deep tissue massage. Stay well hydrated before and after your session.
For self-massage, spend 20 - 40 mins on the areas described above. Pick areas that you find are particularly sore or tight. Playing some relaxing music such as some 432 Hz meditation music from youtube can be great for promoting relaxation.
Hot/Cold
The concept of hot & cold therapy has been around for a long time. Nowadays it’s being discussed more frequently as new research is demonstrating its efficacy on health and performance. Hot & cold therapy comes in several forms. Hot/cold showers, sauna & ice baths, jacuzzis & ice baths and everything in between.
I’ll be focusing specifically on hot & cold showers because they’re easily accessible and inexpensive. Many protocols exist, but generally one spends anywhere from 30 - 90 seconds in one temperature before alternating to its opposite. This is normally done anywhere between 4 to 20 minutes.
When we expose our bodies to temperature fluctuations, several responses occur. Firstly, with the heat our blood vessels expand, resulting in greater blood flow to the muscles. While with extreme cold, our vessels constrict and push blood towards our organs. A flushing like effect occurs in the muscles, leading to a reduction in inflammation and muscle soreness.
Secondly, an upregulation in heat/cold shock proteins occurs when temperatures are either extremely hot or cold. These special proteins carry several benefits. Heat shock proteins aid recovery by directing the appropriate amino acids to damaged muscle cells & accelerating muscle repair. Additionally, they are involved in protein folding, preventing proteins from becoming dysfunctional.
Cold heat shock proteins have similar effects. Mainly, they increase our stress tolerance by acting as antioxidants. There is also a decrease in inflammation and subsequently increased muscle repair. Lastly, in extreme cases of frequent cold exposure, our white fat tissue converts into brown fat. Brown fat is denser in mitochondria (energy-producing cells) making it more metabolically active than typical white fat. As performance athletes, we can purposefully upregulate these proteins to accelerate the recovery of hard training while increasing the performance of our next session.
Training Day Recommendation: Wait a full 6 hours post-training before taking your hot/cold shower. Perform 1 - 2 sessions per day of 30 - 60 sec of hot, followed by 30 - 60 sec of cold. Perform for 4 - 10 sets.
Non-Training Day Recommendation: Perform 1 - 3 sessions per day of 30 - 60 sec of hot, followed by 30 - 60 sec of cold. Perform for 4 - 10 sets.
Meditation
Meditation is great in so many ways and it’s something that I encourage everyone to do. It’s a great recovery tool because deep breathing puts your body into more of a parasympathetic state, also known as the rest and digest state. When we’re in this state, we can better assimilate the foods that we eat and overall our body is focused on restorative processes. Notice how when you’re stressed about something it becomes difficult to eat or food sits in your stomach for longer than normal? Ideally, you want to be calm and relaxed so that digestion becomes a priority for the body. Performing deep breathing before or after a meal can play a significant role in helping digestion when you’re feeling stressed.
With frequent practice of meditation, one will develop better control over their emotions by being more aware and in tune with their thoughts & feelings. With greater control, there will be less emotional swings throughout the day which in turn may create a higher state of relaxation. And where does that lead? Bingo - Better overall recovery.
Lastly, meditation has been shown to decrease cortisol levels, which is commonly elevated from hard training and other life stressors. Cortisol is good because it allows us to train harder for longer by increasing blood sugar levels. But this is not something you want chronically elevated. When cortisol is chronically elevated the body remains in a state of fight or flight. Subsequently, recovery takes a back seat. Also, when cortisol is chronically high, testosterone & other sex hormones become low. We want to avoid this because testosterone is very important for building muscle, driving libido, gaining strength, improving feelings of well being and more.
Recovery Recommendation: Lay on the floor with your stomach towards the ceiling. Elevate your legs so that the calves are resting on a chair or other object. Lay a pillow behind your head to align your spine and let your arms fall to your sides palm up. Begin your breathing practice by breathing in through the nose (3-4 second count), briefly pausing, and with pursed lips (like you’re blowing out a birthday candle) exhaling through the mouth. Aim to expand your ribcage front to back, side to side while also getting air into the chest and upper back. Think a full 360 degrees of expansion.
Playing some relaxing music such as some 432 Hz meditation music from youtube can be great for enhancing your meditation session.
Perform 1-3 times a day, 3-5 minutes at a time.
Nutrition
Choosing the right food on recovery days is so important for getting back to the gym sooner. In my experience people put great emphasis on training day nutrition but less focus on recovery days. I believe this occurs because they believe that less nutrition is required on off days. I disagree with this idea and believe calories should be kept the same or elevated higher than training days. Keep in mind, recovery occurs when you’re not in the gym, so skimping on calories during the non-training day doesn’t make sense.
It’s common for coaches to recommend lower calories and carbohydrates on recovery days. I understand that this has a purpose but not in the case of building strength & muscle. In my opinion, it's best to keep calorie & carbohydrate intake the same as training days or slightly above. This is mostly because like I’ve said before, this is when the recovery happens. If anything, it would serve an individual best to decrease overall calories on a training day as their bodies are not in an optimal state to assimilate and digest those calories because of stress that accompanies hard training.
I like to keep carbohydrates high on recovery days because of the accompanying insulin response. Nowadays insulin is accused of causing everything bad. In the context of a calorie surplus, unhealthy body fat levels and lack of exercise, excessive insulin can be problematic. But in the case of a lean and healthy athlete, there’s nothing inherently wrong with elevated insulin levels. Insulin drives protein and carbohydrates into cells, and our cells need these substrates for recovery. Also, insulin causes the liver to produce more insulin-like binding proteins, which acts as a vehicle that insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF) bind to. The binding of insulin and IGF creates a reservoir of insulin and IGF that can later be used. With insufficient insulin-like binding proteins, insulin and IGF get recycled and wasted. Wasted IGF is a crime, as it’s important for the growth of muscle, ligament, tendon, bone and every other tissue in the body.
Secondly, let's cover food quality. Recovery days aren't the time to stuff yourself with low nutrient-dense, processed foods. Processed foods typically contain greater amounts of vegetable oils and trans fat which increase inflammation. Our bodies require chock-full, nutrient-dense foods to support our adaptations from hard training. This means getting inadequate vegetables, fruits, lean protein and starchy carbohydrates. In terms of fruit and vegetable selection, pick a variety of colours to get a spectrum of nutrients. Some examples include bell peppers, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, sweet potato, white potato, rice and many more. As far as proteins go, choose leaner cuts of red meat as they are more nutrient-dense compared to other proteins like chicken and egg whites. Red meat is high in zinc, iron and b vitamins. Some examples include beef, bison, elk and pork. Also, consider getting in some eggs with the yolk and fish like salmon or sardines. Picking nutrient-dense foods over processed foods is important in recovery because the processes involved in muscle and strength building depends on vitamins and minerals. Without them, these processes won’t function at full capacity.
Picking foods that digest well is also important. If you’re finding that you’re constantly bloated or gassy following a meal, it’s likely that the food you’re eating isn’t agreeing with your digestive tract. If digestion is poor, it’ll be difficult to absorb and assimilate food leading to suboptimal recovery. If you’re having this problem, try removing the food that you think is the culprit. When pushing calories high, consider using betaine hydrochloric and a digestive enzyme to give the digestive system some support.
Food Recovery Recommendations: Do not decrease your carbohydrate or caloric intake on non-training days. Keep them at the same level as training days to enhance recovery. Pick whole, nutrient foods that your body digests and tolerates well. When pushing calories high, consider using digestive aids such as betaine hydrochloric and a digestive enzyme.
In summary, these are My Top 5 Recommendations for enhancing recovery and reducing soreness between workouts. These aren’t the sexiest of recommendations, however, they’re the fundamentals in which one should master before adding inexpensive, no better, recovery tools. If you consistently incorporate some of the tools discussed in this article, you’ll be ahead of the competition in terms of recovery and more importantly, be able to train more frequently. By being able to put in higher quality work, rates of progress will be higher. To recap my top 5:
Get your walks in 1 - 3 per day, 10 to 30 mins each to drive blood flow.
Achieve a super relaxed state by getting massages or performing your own.
Decrease inflammation, decrease soreness and speed up recovery by performing hot/cold contrast showers.
Increase your state of rest and digest and improve your stress resilience by meditating.
Try to always maintain a wide variety of whole foods in your diet while keeping calories and carbohydrates high to ensure your body has the nutrients it needs to repair and support upcoming performances.
If you have any feedback, questions or comments about what I’ve discussed in this article, I can be directly reached at matthew@endurehp.com
