Recovery is a big part of fitness that is often overlooked. In this episode, you will learn the different levels of recovery and some tools that can help optimize recovery to reach your fitness goals. You will also learn the mechanisms involved in muscle soreness and pain.
DOMS & pain
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS): The soreness experienced 24 to 48 hours after engaging in exercise, particularly when performing a new or intense movement.
- Causes of Muscle Soreness. The traditional explanation for DOMS is that it results from micro-tears in the muscle fibres due to strenuous exercise. However, this view is challenged as it doesn’t account for the delayed onset of soreness and the fact that soreness can occur without measurable muscle damage.
- Inflammatory and Immune Response: Studies show that an immune response, involving neutrophils, macrophages, and other factors, can take place after exercise and has a time delay, aligning with the appearance of DOMS. This may be one of the underlying causes of DOMS;
- Fluid Accumulation and Nociceptors: The immune response leads to fluid accumulation in the muscles. This, in turn, triggers the activation of nociceptors (pain receptors) and pressure sensors, leading to the sensation of soreness.
- Much of the delayed onset muscle soreness is likely due to a neural feedback loop rather than actual muscle damage. This means that the perception of soreness might be influenced by neural signals rather than solely the result of muscle tears.
Soreness is not solely attributed to muscle damage but involves a complex interplay of neural responses, inflammation, and immune factors.
Muscle spindles, reduce soreness
- Muscle spindles are little structures in our muscles that can sense when a muscle is being stretched and send signals to the brain about changes in muscle length and position. They play a huge part in Proprioception (how the body perceives the space around it) and help maintain our balance and stability.
- One theory says that pressure on the nerve endings of muscle spindles during exercise might be responsible for the pain signal that leads to soreness.
- The inflammatory signal causing soreness might potentially come from free radicals released during energy production in the mitochondria. This happens especially during high-intensity exercises, like heavy resistance training, which can lead to mechanical tension and cell wall damage, allowing free radicals to escape and trigger inflammation and immune response.
- Low-level movements, like low-impact exercises or light cardio, can be effective in reducing acute soreness by contracting muscles and pumping fluid out of the cells. Massages and vibrations can also help.
Exercise, Homeostasis Hormesis, blood test levels
- Muscle soreness is a result of challenging our muscles, and it’s part of the body’s natural process to return to homeostasis or balance.
- Recovery is the process of adapting to the challenge and reaching a new level of homeostasis to prepare for future demands.
- Hormesis is the phenomenon where a small dose of stress can lead to positive adaptations, but excessive stress can be harmful. Same with exercise.
- Blood chemistry tests in athletes
- The results could be misunderstood by physicians unfamiliar with their intense training routines.
- Blood chemistry analysis in athletes can provide valuable insights into dehydration, sleep quality, nutrition, and supplementation for performance optimization.
- Understanding the difference between health markers and performance markers is crucial when interpreting blood test results.
Different timescales of recovery
- Optimizing vs. Adapting: Understand whether you need to optimize your performance for the present moment or focus on long-term adaptation. The approach to recovery will depend on your training goals and timeline.
- In-season athletes who have upcoming competitions may prioritise acute recovery methods to perform at their best during those events.
- In contrast, off-season athletes have more time for adaptation and can focus on strategies that promote long-term improvements.
- Acute Recovery and Long-Term Adaptation:
- Acute recovery refers to the immediate period following intense exercise, during which various physiological responses are elevated, such as inflammation and oxidative stress. But this is necessary to trigger the body’s adaptive mechanisms to cope with future challenges.
- Be Careful with Anti-Inflammatories: Some recovery methods, like anti-inflammatory drugs or supplements, might provide short-term relief but could block long-term adaptation. Consider their use based on your training phase and goals.
The 4 recovery levels
- Heart rate is an example of adaptation; maximal heart rate doesn’t change much, but resting heart rate can decrease significantly with regular exercise.
Level 1: Acute Overload (Minutes to Days)
- This level of recovery deals with the immediate aftermath of a challenging workout or exercise session. You may experience fatigue, reduced acute performance, and elevated markers of stress and inflammation.
- Recovery strategies during this phase: proper warm-up, cool-down, and post-workout nutrition to minimize acute soreness and fatigue.
Level 2: Functional Overreaching(Days to a Week)
- Functional overreaching occurs when you push your body beyond its current capabilities, leading to temporary performance decrements.
- During this phase, you may feel fatigued, experience some muscle soreness, and notice a decline in your exercise performance.
- The recovery period for functional overreaching is slightly longer, usually lasting several days up to a week.
- Athletes and individuals intentionally use functional overreaching to provoke adaptations and enhance performance.
Level 3: Non-Functional Overreaching (Weeks)
- Non-functional overreaching occurs when you continue to push your body beyond its ability to recover, leading to prolonged performance decrements and negative effects on overall well-being.
- In this stage, you may experience persistent fatigue, poor exercise performance, mood disturbances, and other signs of overtraining.
- The recovery period for non-functional overreaching can extend to several weeks
- It’s essential to recognize and address non-functional overreaching promptly to prevent long-term negative consequences.
- Recovery strategies: significant reductions in training volume and intensity, increased focus on rest and recovery practices, and consulting with a healthcare professional if necessary.
Level 4: Overtraining (Months)
- Overtraining is a severe and relatively rare condition characterized by long-lasting and profound performance decrements and mental and physical exhaustion.
- True overtraining may take months to recover from fully, and in some cases, it can result in chronic health issues.
- Overtraining can result from prolonged periods of excessive training load, inadequate recovery, and high levels of chronic stress.
- Pay attention to training volume, intensity, warm-up, and fueling strategies to avoid acute overload issues.
Overreaching and Overtraining:
- Functional overreaching: intentionally pushing the body beyond its current limits in training to stimulate adaptation and performance improvements.
- Overtraining: is often used as a colloquial term, but it doesn’t have a clinical diagnosis. Instead, it’s a state where the athlete has pushed too far and no longer experiences positive adaptations.
- Recovery is not just about physical aspects like muscle soreness or fatigue; it involves the interplay of various factors such as nutrition, hydration, sleep, and mental well-being.
- Effects of Overreaching and Overtraining
- Performance decrements: Impact on strength, power, and speed.
- Sleep disturbances: Connection between elevated nocturnal epinephrine and reduced REM sleep.
- Hormonal dysregulation: Changes in adrenal and endocrine responses, leading to cortisol imbalance.
- Emotional state disruption: Mood changes, reduced motivation, and adherence issues.
- Non-functional overreaching prevention:
- To prevent Overreaching you should monitor and track training load and performance by setting limits and restrictions on volume and intensity.
- You can monitor:
- Performance Metrics: strength, power, speed and endurance. If these metrics consistently decline, it could indicate overreaching. Ex: if takes you longer to perform your usual runs or cannot lift as heavy as you used to, these may be a sign of overtraining.
- Physiological Markers:
Especially resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and other biological markers. Unusual changes in these values may be signs of accumulated stress and overreaching - Resting heart rate is not perfect to measure stress levels. It elevates with big stressors but isn’t sensitive to smaller ones.
- HRV is better at measuring your parasympathetic state. The higher the value the less stressed you are.
To better monitor HRV:
- Track for 4-6 weeks to understand the trend and monitor the % deviation for the norm.
- If it’s lower than the norm for 3+ days and you’re not in the adaptation phase, you may be overtraining. If you are in the adaptation phase keep a close eye on the number and add another performance test to see if it’s reduced.
- Other biological markers:
- SHBG levels: Indication of overtraining when free testosterone is bound.
- Cortisol to DHEA ratio: Measures adrenal health and stress load. (should be around 0.09)
- Testosterone to cortisol ratio: Reflects hormonal balance and stress responses.
- CO2 tolerance test: how long can you hold your breath after an exhilaration. The longer the duration is the more recovered you are. Andy and Andrew have already detailed it here.
- Symptomology: pay attention to physical and psychological symptoms: fatigue, irritability, sleep disturbances and lack of motivation.
- Interpreting Markers: Look for consistency and duration of performance decrement and other markers to determine the severity of overreaching. Short-term fluctuations may not be a major concern, but prolonged and significant drops in performance might require attention.
Tools for recovery
Immediate Post-Workout Recovery:
- Kickstart the recovery process immediately after the workout to maximize results.
- Individuals who can get back down to baseline heart rate quickly after endurance training are likely to see greater improvements in performance.
- Lactate accumulation is not the primary reason for post-workout soreness.
- Slow-paced music: Listen to slow-paced music after the workout as fast-paced music may slow down recovery.
- Breathing exercises: such as box breathing (5-second inhale, 5-second hold, 5-second exhale, 5-second hold) for 3-10 minutes) have been shown to reduce resting heart rate and increase heart rate variability, leading to a reduction in overall stress.
- Compression Gear:
- Compression garments, such as tight-fitting leggings and long-sleeve shirts, can be worn both during and after a workout. Compression boots or garments that use pneumatic devices to pump air and massage the muscles can be effective in enhancing recovery by moving fluid in and out of tissues and increasing blood flow and capillarization.
- Compression garments, such as tight-fitting leggings and long-sleeve shirts, can be worn both during and after a workout. Compression boots or garments that use pneumatic devices to pump air and massage the muscles can be effective in enhancing recovery by moving fluid in and out of tissues and increasing blood flow and capillarization.
- Cold Water Immersion:
- Cold water immersion, specifically in moderately cold water (around 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least 15 minutes or sub 40 degrees for about 5 minutes, is effective in reducing muscle soreness.
- Note that cold water can blunt the inflammatory response necessary for hypertrophy.
- Cold Showers vs. Cold Immersion: Cold showers may not be as effective for recovery from muscle soreness as cold immersion because the water cannot cover enough muscle surface area.
- In cold water, having the water move or using jets can be more effective as it breaks up the thermal layer around the body, making the exposure more intense.
- Hot Baths:
- Hot baths can also aid in recovery, and contrast therapy, alternating between hot and cold treatments, is another option to experiment with.
- For males looking to conceive, sauna, hot tub, and jacuzzi use can severely limit the number of motile sperm, impacting sperm health for up to 60 days following exposure. Ice packs on the groin area are suggested to mitigate this effect.
- Contrast therapy: (alternating heat and cold)
You can do Dr. Soberg’s suggested protocol of approximately 57 minutes per week of uncomfortable but safe heat (e.g., sauna) and 11 minutes per week of cold exposure. These values are not set in stone and can be adjusted based on individual preferences and tolerances.
Prevention
Prevent Overreaching from happening in the first place as discussed in the previous section
Supplements
- Some supplements that lower cortisol levels are: Ashwagandha and Rhodiola Rosacea
- It’s important to note that you still want your cortisol levels to be high in the morning but low at the end of the day
- Rhodiola Rosacea reduces the threshold of how hard your feel like you’re working. It may be beneficial for strength gain but may hinder endurance adaptation
- It’s important to not engage in cortisol modulation without knowing your levels. Since cortisol fluctuates during the day, it’s important to take many measurement points to assess if you’re levels are actually high.
How to boost your motivation to workout
- Convincing yourself to just start by doing some yoga or jumping jack can be helpful to get your body motivated to do the workout
- Breathing techniques: having longer inhalation and shorter exhalation can shift your state to “readiness” mode
- Upbeat music, motivational quotes or inspirational people you look up to
- Remember your “why”. Why are you doing this in the first place?
- Relying so much on external motivators will have a diminishing effect. The novelty of these stimulants wears off and no longer has the same effect on our dopaminergic system.
Mirrors or no mirrors during exercise
- The use of mirrors depends primarily on your training goals
- If you’re training for hypertrophy, observing yourself in the mirror and flexing your muscle may help motivate you to do more.
- During sets, it’s better not to look at yourself in the mirror, since your attention will be split between the feeling of the movement (introspection) and how you look doing the movement (exteroception). We want more introspection to make sure we’re activating the muscles we want to work.
- Mirrors may hinder movement learning especially for explosivity and strength but they are useful occasionally to help you assess your form. But it’s better to record yourself doing the movement and adjusting it later on since the movement happens so fast to make any adjustments anyway.
If you made it until now and you are eager to learn more, check out the other episodes from the series:
- Episode 1: How to assess levels of fitness. Check it out
- Episode 2: How to increase strength and muscle mass. Check it out
- Episode 3: Improve endurance and fat loss. Check it out
- Episode 4: Optimize your training program for fitness & longevity. Check it out
