Recovery

By Joel Jamieson

Why do we use recovery strategies?

The answer may surprise you…

We should NOT use recovery methods to speed up the recovery process.  Many of the recovery processes are part of the body’s adaptation to training so speeding them up will cause the body to have a decreased response to training.

So why do you want to use recovery methods?
Recovery strategies should be used to prevent overtraining.

To understand how to prevent overtraining, let’s introduce the two stages of adaptation to stress:
-Sympathetic: the short-term reaction to stress
-Parasympathetic: the accumulated or chronic reaction to stress

Depending on which adaptation stage you’re in, you want to use a different recovery method to restore your homeostatic balance.

How can you tell what adaptation stage you’re in?
HRV (heart rate variability) measurements show us where we are in the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
Learn more about HRV

If your HRV score is below your baseline value, you’re in a sympathetic state.  This tells us that you need to use parasympathetic-stimulating recovery strategies to restore balance between the two states.

Parasympathetic-stimulating strategies include: 
-relaxation techniques (meditation, soft tissue therapy, hot water therapy)
-deep water floating
-active recovery
-reduce training intensity

If your HRV score is above your baseline value, you’re in a parasympathetic state.  This tells us that you need to use sympathetic-stimulating recovery strategies to restore balance between the two states.

Sympathetic-stimulating strategies include:
-reduce overall training volume and intensity
-intensive deep tissue therapy
-cryotherapy
-contrast therapy
-sauna
-active recovery