Recovery

Recovery

 

Sleep/Nutrition/Hydration

 

 

 

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare”

 

  

            Workouts & practice isn’t the only time you need to be training hard. To optimize performance and to stay healthy you need to be “training” just as hard at recovery as you are at conditioning, strength training, and working on the skills of your sport. It may sound silly but most college athletes need to learn a lesson from pro-athletes and start working harder at resting. You plan your day around workouts & practice, your coaches plan your practices for you, and you must also diligently plan your recovery. Improvement or adaptation to your specific goal workouts only happens during recovery.

 

The 2 biggest keys to recovery

 

1. Sleep:

Your body does not make changes or adaptations during a workout; your body only makes organic changes during sleep. You may have a great workout during the day but if you do not get enough sleep that night any gains you set your body up for will be lost. The workout ends up netting no gains in strength or fitness. The military has performed studies where they take 2 groups of guys test, train, and then retest. One group gets normal sleep the other group experiences sleep deprivation. The sleep-deprived group makes no improvements on the fitness tests despite doing the same workouts as the other group. The workouts are worthless without recovery.

Many professional and Olympic athletes understand this and many of them sleep 10+ hours a night. Paula Radcliffe one of the world’s best marathoners gets 14 hours of sleep a night during hard training cycles. I saw a Kevin Garnett interview where he said he gave up going out with his friends at night to make sure he gets to bed by 10pm because he wants to be the best basketball player in the world and could not give 100% every night without lots of sleep. Some of the top Olympic weightlifting teams in the world require their athletes to sleep 12 hours a night and to take a 2-hour nap during the day. (Athletes gain human growth hormone (HGH) during sleep!)

8 hours should be a minimum for you at night and try to take naps (30+min) during the day!

 

Important sleep facts!!!

Testosterone levels and growth hormone levels elevate during sleep. This is part of the bodies physical repair system. These hormones assist in recovery and strength & fitness gains.

These hormones release after being asleep for about 30 minutes. The hormone levels elevate every time you go thru a certain phase of your sleep cycle. The longer you sleep, the more cycles you go thru, the more of these recovery promoting hormones pumping thru your body. 30+minute naps are a big bonus because now instead of getting this hormone advantage 1x a day a nap makes it 2x in a day!! (Did you get your HGH today?)

Get to bed early!!

I’m not going to get into the science but basically in most people “physical recovery” happens during sleep between 10pm and 2am. “Mental recovery” occurs between 2am and 6am. So if you get to bed late you may wake up and “feel” good but your body isn’t really recovered. This is why some people think that they can get by on little sleep. Their mind is rejuvenated, they feel good, but the truth is people who continually go on 4-6 hours sleep… their average lifespan is 5-10 years shorter than normal. It catches up to you as well as effects your physical workouts & your ability to make improvements.

 

1. Nutrition:

If you fail to put the right kinds of fuel into your body eventually you will break down. To practice “good” nutrition that will help you recover, improve performance, and save off disease follow the following…

“Eat meat & vegetables, nuts & seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intakes to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.” Greg Glassman

 

Following these 7 simple rules will also have you on your way to “good” nutrition.

1.      Eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight every day.

2.      Take a multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement each day

3.      Take a fat supplement each day (fish oil, Udo’s choice, Total EFA)

4.        Eat a recovery meal/snack within 30 minutes of working out (chocolate milk is perfect)

5.      Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. (More like a gallon for larger guys in heavy training) Water should be your beverage 90%+ of the time.

6.      Avoid products containing enriched flour and or sugar. Avoid fried foods, avoid carbonated beverages, and avoid most fast foods.

7.      Shop & eat from the following list of foods:

Oatmeal (the real kind not instant), Fruit (not fruit juice), vegetables, berries, liver, wheat germ, fish oils, brewers yeast, yogurt, kefir, sunflower seeds, kelp, milk, salmon & other cold water fish, avocado, almonds, beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, macadamia nuts, olive oil, cottage cheese, water.

 

Following the outline above or Coach Dan John’s “base camp diet” listed next is a great start. Once you have been following these guidelines diligently for at least 3 months and you want a more advanced nutritional plan to build on the good habits you have developed and add accuracy & precision to your diet as to optimize performance then come see coach Everett.

 

DAN JOHN’S “BASE CAMP NUTRITION” http://danjohn.org/coach.html

      There are literally thousands of books about nutrition and none of them seem to agree about anything. For most athletes they “know” what to eat, then choose to eat something fun. So let’s just focus on the simple, basic steps that most people will agree with concerning diet issues and engage our brains in a bit of thinking about long term success in sports.

1.      With the novice I always talk about the basics of good nutrition. Eliminate soft drinks (start pushing water as the main beverage from the beginning), candy and crap foods, and really emphasize the importance of breakfast.

2.      Although it may sound complicated I would then move to discussing foods that don’t “agree” with the athlete. Here is a simple list.

a.       If you ask the Lung association, who has a history with battling allergies, they will answer you simply: “peanut, fish, egg, milk, wheat, and soy cause the most food allergies.”

b.      Dr. Elson Haas note in an interview with “Mind and Muscle Power” that the least allergic foods are: rice, pears, lamb, kale, salmon (and other deep sea fish like halibut & sole) trout, turkey, rabbit, sweet potatoes and honey.” He goes on to recommend cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, apricots, beets, squashes, olives, olive oil, cranberries, herbal teas, and tapioca.”

I have always used acne as an indicator that one of my teenage athletes is struggling with a particular food issue and as a sign of overtraining.

3.      You may also want to slowly encourage your athletes to use food as a supplement. Recently at a workshop, one of the presenters gave a list of foods for muscle building

The best of the best list: eggs, almonds, salmon, yogurt, beef, olive oil, water.

Next of the best list: Oatmeal, blueberries, apples

I had great success on the playing field when increasing the amount my athletes consume of these foods. Once I see an athlete carrying a baggie full of almonds and a couple of hard-boiled eggs, I know I’m coaching a state champ.

4.      Finally, real supplements. I choose a few for my athletes, but I only discuss them long after they swear off soft drinks, candy, and all the rest, and only after they convince me that they always have 2 full meals and a snack before an afternoon training session. I like 3: Fish oil tablets, a magnesium tablet, and a potassium tablet. So you may ask “When do we start the real stuff?” Like what? Creatine? Don’t waste a nickel on any supplements until you exhaust the basic steps noted above… cut out the crap, eliminate troublesome foods, and eat the “superfoods” You may never need anything else!!

5.      Finally, “organize your eating” would be my next recommendation. I like the following diet “outlines” a suggested eating list. A few years ago I had a young female thrower ask me about losing weight. I tried to convince her that she was fine (I wanted to tell her that statistically you look the best you will ever look before your first diet…it’s all downhill after that, but I shut up) so I offered her a very generic diet where you eat:

 

Breakfast: eggs, oatmeal, apple

Snack: protein shake

Lunch: chicken breasts, salad, apple

Snack: cheese, apple

Dinner: meat, salad

 

The serving sizes wee normal (whatever that means for you) and we had the calories around 1500 a day. She looked at it and said: “I could never eat that much!” Yet her diet at the times… including 2 sodas and 2 candy bars a day…had her eating more calories a day than this modest proposal!

Oh and why all the apples? I work with students and people that work in offices. You can’t beat the apple for convenience and nutrition. You don’t have to open, peel, or prepare…shine & eat!

 

WATER

 

      Athletes often neglect water replacement. Just because you are not thirsty does not mean you are not dehydrated.  Fluid loss is more rapid than most athletes realize and must be replaced AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!  For competition it is wise to be completely hydrated the day before an event as well as immediately before, during, and after. One pint of water lost in the body = one pound of body weight lost.  As much as a 2% water loss in the body can result in a 19% decrease in performance. Drink water throughout the day. You should drink 15-20 glasses each day. As the weather gets warmer, or if you are taking creatine, you will have to drink even more water to stay hydrated.

 

Sources of Good Fats

 

                        Cold water fish: salmon, sardine and trout

                              Flaxseed oil

                              Extra virgin olive oil

                              Soybean oil

Canola oil

                              Sunflower seeds

                              Almonds, most other nuts & seeds

                              Avocado

 

Note: Do not cook with these oils, as they become “bad” fats when exposed to high heat.  Instead, use them on salads.  The fish must of course be cooked, but in this case, most of the fat will preserve its “good” qualities.

 

Sources of Bad Fats

                  Any fried foods: fried chicken or fish, French fries, onion rings…

                  Butter, margarine

                  Chips, dips

                  Dessert foods: cakes, cookies, chocolate

                  Any food containing hydrogenated oils (read the label!)

 

 

 

SUPER FOODS SHOPPING LIST

 

Liver, Wheat germ, Fish Oils, Brewers yeast, Yogurt, Kefir, Sunflower seeds, Kelp, Milk, Salmon, Beef, Chicken, Halibut, Turkey, Eggs, Almonds, Macadamia nuts, Olive Oil, Water, Cottage cheese, Oatmeal, Fruits & vegetables w/bright colors.

 

PUTTING ALL TOGETHER AND QUANTIFYING RECOVERY:

Start with the basics I want to lean on Coach Dan John again and I want you to start utilizing his “recovery the next generation program”

 

Recently at a workshop, Dr. Lonnie Lowry noted that we need to learn to “quantify” recovery. Simply, we need a daily reminder…a daily checklist…to make sure we are balance in our fitness goals. Since this workshop I have been having my athletes use this simple ten-point scale:

Nutrition: 2 points for a good breakfast, one point for 2 snacks, one point for 2 additional meals…for a total of 4 points. (Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner is a 4 point day.) I think “good” choices… the superfoods…are they key, but I will accept just about anything from an athlete that is just learning that success is more than just dinner and soft drinks each day.

Sleep: 8 hours is 2 points, more is 3, and less is one or none

Relationships: Things were good today: 1 point, fights, stress, breakups…none, or maybe even negative points.

Alone time: If the athlete had some time during the day to collect their thoughts and relax without any time or work or school issues… you get 1 point. You need to figure 15 minutes at least…but that is not on the Internet, phone, or a car, either! Prayer & meditation are good examples of alone time.

Play time: If the athlete found some time in his or her day to simply laugh and enjoy themselves in the company of others…not with the TV on nor a phone nor the internet…you get 1 point. Table conversation is best followed by old-fashioned games.

 

Tally this up each day. You should strive for “tens” across the board. If you increase your training load from walking to full-time Olympic lifting, you need to really look at these 5 areas. Lowry also recommended comparing and contrasting your training profile to your recovery profile.

            For an athlete doing 1 thing you could have a chart from 1 to 10. Even if you do nothing be sure to consider it a 3 or 4-point day (out of 10). An exhausting workout would be a ten and you can gradually get a feel for workouts from a “four” to a “ten”.

            Athletes doing 2 things, for example sports training and general conditioning, you should break each workout into 5-point clusters. Although you may have a sports workout of an easy nature, tactical preparation or game planning, an exhausting workout, perhaps some of crossfit.com’s workout of the days would tally up to an eight or nine day. Practice might be easy but your conditioning was very hard.

So for a single sport athlete…an Olympic lifter…a day’s breakdown may look like this…

Nutrition:        4         made my snacks the night before

Sleep:               2         Watched some TV up by 6am

Relationships:1          Nice talk with an old friend today

Alone time:     0          never a moment to myself

Play:                1          whipped everybody in stratego

Recovery total: 8

Workout level: 9        another day of nailing big cleans after max front squats…sore!!

 

This athlete is in a recovery “deficit”, with a 9 workout but only an eight

Recovery. Maybe not a big deal, but if you do this for 3 days or longer,

You might find those nagging injuries and other issues showing up. Some

argue that it may take up to 2 months to fully deal with overtraining!

Maybe a little foresight early might save some issues later.

 

For the athlete who has an athletic practice and a conditioning practice (or

Whatever you may call it) the workouts are tallied together:

Nutrition:        2            no time for breakfast today, made up for it all day

Sleep:              3           slept in…still a little tired

Relationships  0            really tired of my significant others family

Alone time:     0            not really

Play:                1           does watching TV count?

Recovery total: 6

Practice:            4         not the toughest ever but I was off my game

Workout:          5          crossfit wod just about killed me

   This athlete is in trouble. A minus 3 deficit is obviously going to take

It’s toll and soon!

Maybe this exact formula won’t work for you, but try and quantify

Recovery and I can guarantee you will feel better and enjoy athletic

success much faster.

 

 Stealing Coach John’s idea I developed a recovery system based on a 20

point scale. It’s a little more detailed checklist of things to do to promote

recovery. If you’re interested in following this checklist I have weekly log

sheets available for you. The premise is the same as Dan John’s…here is

the system:

 

Active recovery: 4 points possible

1 point for icing, cold whirlpool, sauna, or massage

1 point for stretching on your own

1point for Alone time (prayer, meditation, reading)

1 point for your resting heart rate and that rate being stable or lowering week to week

 

Nutrition: 8 pts possible

                        2pts for breakfast

                        1 point for eating a good carb/protein combo within 30 min of working out

                        1 point for eating your bodyweight in grams of protein today

                        1 point for taking your vitamins

                        1 point for a fat supplement (olive oil, fish oil tablets, ect)

                        1 point for no foods with white flour and or sugar

1 point for no fast food today.

 

Hydration: 3 points possible

3 points for greater than 64 ounces of water consumed today

2 points for about 64 ounces

0 points for less than 64 ounces

 

Relationships: 1 point possible

1 point for a good day w/friends, family, and or significant other

Negative points for fights & big stress

 

Sleep 4 points possible

3 points for greater than 8 hours sleep

2 points for about 8 hours sleep

1 or 0 for less than 8 hours

1 point for a nap

 

There you have it… Recovery the forgotten aspect of training. As you choose your lifestyle keep this quote in mind…”You cannot blindly set goals without expanding the rest of your life to accommodate those goals. What are you willing to become highly skilled at?”

 

 

Special thanks to Dan John, Chris Maund, Frank Greally, Greg Glassman, EJ Andrews and Irv Ray. All of whom I borrowed information and or straight plagiarized in putting this packet together.  Josh Everett 2005