Want to build muscle, burn fat or improve your performance? You
bust your butt day in and day out at the gym, but are your results worthy of
your efforts? You are investing your valuable time and energy into your
training, but is this investment really paying off? Once you are training hard
and smart, the next step is to work on your recovery. The faster and better you
can recover the faster progress be and the less time it will take you to get to
your goals. To accelerate your recovery and thus your training gains, you need
to learn how to turn on your body’s recovery switch.
 |
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
2 Pathways
Your autonomic nervous system has two branches – sympathetic
and parasympathetic. The sympathetic is your fight or flight path. This is what
you use to get amped up for a big game or when you hit the gym to crush some
weights. It can also save your life in an emergency.
Your parasympathetic system is your rest-and-recover system.
This is the system that brings you back down from warp speed. It helps your
body rest, digest, recover and rebuild. It stops your body from producing muscle-wasting
hormones like cortisol and gets your secreting hormones to burn fat, build
muscle and perform at your best.
The problem
While most people have no problem getting amped up, few are
able to effectively switch back to parasympathetic dominance after a game or
training session. As a result your training and competition just amplifies the
stress you already have in your busy life. You stay in sympathetic dominance
long after the game or training session ends and you rob yourself of the
opportunity to effectively recover.
To enhance your recovery, you want to get back into
parasympathetic dominance as quickly as possible and stay there as much as
possible. Here are some fast, easy ways to flip the recovery switch.
How flip on your recovery switch
Breathing
I know you have been breathing your whole life, but chances
are you have been doing it wrong. Slow, deep breaths from your diaphragm are
one of the fastest ways to shift back into parasympathetic dominance. Shallow
rabid chest-breaths will keep you in fight or flight mode.
Related: Breathe your way to a better body
A great breathing drill I learned from the FMS folks is
crocodile breathing. Simply lie on your stomach using your hands as a pillow
for your forehead. Practice taking slow deep breaths with your diaphragm. Sniff
air in through your nose and into your belly. Feel your stomach expand out to
the sides and push into the floor as you inhale. Try to keep your chest and
shoulders relaxed. See this video for more details.
If you have a foam roller, try lying length-wise on the
roller. This is a great position to practice diaphragmatic breathing. See this
video for more details.
Note: both of these drills
are also great for improving posture, mobilizing your t-spine and improving
your overall functional movement.
Eating
Ever passed out after thanksgiving dinner? It was not the
tryptophan in the turkey that did that. Eating is a great way to put your in
parasympathetic dominance. After a big game or a hard training session, get
some food in right away.
I usually recommend some protein powder (e.g. whey) with
some fast-acting carb (e.g. banana, raisins). Then, ideally follow this up 1-2
hours later with a big meal that is high in carbs, moderate in protein and
lower in fat (e.g. chicken breasts, rice & veggies).
Note: be careful not to over-do it. Base the amount of food
you eat (especially your carbohydrate intake) on what you did, how hard and how
long you went and how lean you are. Don’t turn recovery meals into sabotage
binges.
Related: How to Personalize Your Carb Intake
Laughing
Laughter is an amazing way to melt stress out of your body
and get you back to parasympathetic dominance. If you can hang out with people
you like and have a good laugh do it – it is amazing for recovery. Finding some
good comedy on YouTube is a another good option.
Foam Rolling – the right way
In a perfect world we would all get massages after big games
and hard training sessions and at night before bed. If you have access to or
can afford professional massage services – take full advantage. However for most
of us, this remains a luxury. This is where you turn to foam rollers.
While foam rolling is nothing new, we are finally building
up some research data to know what it actually does for you. One particular
benefit the research has discovered is it is great for helping you get into
parasympathetic dominance.
The problem for most people is that don’t foam roll properly.
They make it way too painful and they hold their breath. Both of these things
make you sympathetic dominant. Most people also do fast, useless strokes. To
make rolling effective you need to do the following:
- Breathe slowly and with your diaphragm while you roll
- If you come to a particularly tender spot, exhale as you move through it
- Don’t make it painful. It should feel like it is doing something, but if it is painful, push more of your weight off the roller and/or use a softer roller
- Go slow
If you need to some flexibility work, a perfect time to do
it is right after some rolling.
Powering off
While cell phones do countless amazing things, they also add
a lot of stress to your life. Also communication such as texting and tweeting
add urgency to your life which can flick your recovery switch off. Make sure
you get time away from your beloved phone eat day – especially when you need to
wind down after a big game or training session.
How about you? Are there other techniques you have found
helpful to switch your recovery switch? I invite you to leave your comments and
questions below or on my Facebook Page.
No comments:
Post a Comment