Active Recovery

In my last post, I talked about the importance of rest and the large role it plays in our recovery. If you haven’t yet read the article I suggest you do by clicking here.

If you did read my last post then you’ll know there are two types of recovery, passive and active. And today I’m going to talk about a few different types of active recovery that you can use to help keep yourself at peak performance as well help prevent injury and reduce stress.

Just like your strength days are planned out in your training program, so are your active recovery days.  If you wait for enjoy recovery days until you start to feel pain or discomfort in your muscles or notice the effects of overtraining it’s too late.

If you search the internet you will find a list of different ways you can recover. From special garments to withstanding subzero temperatures in a cryo chamber. But which of these measures actually work? And which are actually practical?

Some recovery modalities haven’t been around long enough or had the in-depth research to know for sure if they actually work. So today I’ll be talking about the ones that have been proven to work and that are convenient for you to do.

The active recovery modalities I’m going to cover are:

• Cryotherapy
• Hot/Cold contrast
• Self-Myofascial release
• Aerobic flushing

Cryotherapy

There are more and more facilities opening up that provide this type of service. If you’re not familiar with cryotherapy in the form of a cryo chamber, it’s basically a little pod or small room that you go into with just shoes, tight shorts, mitts, toque, and face mask on and the temperature can reach as low as minus 114 degrees Celsius. I have actually used one before and maybe due to the fact that I’m a hockey player and have spent most of my life in a hockey rink, I actually didn’t find it that cold.

Literature does support the effectiveness of a cryo chamber for recovery purposes. Although this service is becoming more accessible, it can be quite expensive. There is a high risk associated with using such cold temperatures. If the athlete isn’t 100% dry when entering a cryo chamber there is a high probability of frostbite. So is the risk worth the reward? So what is your next best option?

Hot/Cold contrast

You can perform hot/cold plunges by going from an ice bath to a hot tub (or hot shower) and back again. This type of recovery modality has also been proven to work when trying to recover the body. The effectiveness of ice baths and hot/cold plunges varies based on the type of sport you play and what type of exercise you’re trying to recover from (weight bearing or non-weight bearing). And like any stimulus, if we constantly expose our body to it we will soon adapt and it will lose its effectiveness. So if you’re always taking ice baths after your training the body will adapt and the cold water will no longer have the same recovery benefit. ONLY after an extremely intense training session is it recommended you take an ice bath or perform hot/cold plunges. The water temperature should be between 10-15 degrees Celsius and you should stay in no longer than 10-15 minutes.

Though this modality has been proven to work it should come with a disclaimer. Research does not yield consistent results across the board.  Each study’s water temperature varied slightly. Some studies looked at athletes submerged up to their neck, while other studies only had them submerged to their waist. Due to these differing variables, it’s hard to draw a clear conclusion whether ice baths work or not.

Self-Myofascial Release (foam rolling)

This type of recovery modality has been proven to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). A study was conducted testing the effectiveness of foam rolling following high volume training. The subjects completed 10 sets of 10 repetitions at 60% of their 1 rep max back squat. After completion the subjects who foam rolled for 20 minutes immediately after and then again 24 and 48 hours post workout had significantly reduced quadriceps DOMS compared to those who didn’t partake in foam rolling.

This method is not only proven to effective but is also the easiest for you to start implementing into your training routine. Foam rollers are relatively inexpensive and can be found at any fitness shop.

Aerobic Flushing

I’m sure you’ve seen a post game interview of a hockey player and he’s riding the bike. This post game ride helps flush that lactic acid from his muscles so he’ll recover for his next game. To the left is a video of Wade Redden doing just that. While this will help speed up the clearance rate of the lactic acid, you should know that the lactic acid will also clear on its own after a few hours without doing anything. Here is a great article debunking myths about lactic acid.

For me, aerobic flushing is like ice baths, use it right after extremely hard training sessions as it does serve a purpose speeding up the recovery process.

The takeaway

The effectiveness of each of the active recovery modalities I talked about is athlete dependent. There is also a big psychological component when it comes to these types of things. Everyone is different. In the ice bath studies I reviewed, some athletes swear the method worked and they felt 100x better after, while other athletes didn’t report improvements in recovery. Since research has proven that these forms of active recovery do work at some level, you need to try them to see which ones actually work for you.

As a general rule, the more intense your training session is the longer recovery period you’ll need. Keep in mind, beginners’ need more recovery time than experienced lifters because beginner’s bodies haven’t adapted to the stresses of training yet.