recovery-is-the-key-to-athletic-excellence

Recovery is the difference between first and second place. Anabolic steroids allow athletes to recover more promptly than they would have without drugs. Steroids do not actually make anyone stronger. Recovery from second to second, minute to minute, hour to hour, and day to day is the crucial difference among athletes. Endurance is important but Dr. Cooper was imprudent. Strength athletes make similar mistakes. Balance is more than static and dynamic drilling. Balance is intramural. Recovery is essential. Recovery is the retrieval of the baseline level and stress applied to that baseline level so as to raise performances. The blue line is baseline. If the initial stressor (5) is more of a stress the initial recovery number (-3) may be a (-4 or -5) and the timeline is extended. Training takes longer the higher the stress.

					5
				4		4														4
			3				3												3		3
		2						2										2				2
	1								1								1						1
0										0						0								0
											-1				-1
												-2		-2
													-3

            There are three major energy pathways as we have discussed. ATP/CP, glycolytic (g), and oxidative (o) are the three pathways. These are the basis for our recovery efforts. Dr. Cooper spent some time on this helix but evaded 2/3 of the calculation. He built his house from the roof down. Strength athletes have been told “avoid oxidative work it compromises peak strength”. We do not want to do a heavy squat workout the day before a marathon any more than we want to run 10 miles the day before a powerlifting meet. Both are imprudent.

            ATP/CP athletes need endurance work to recover from heavy workouts. The time in the training zone is relative. Forty-five minutes of constant state numbers will compromise my motor unit recruitment pattern. Interval training was invented for ATP/CP athletes. They are leaner, more muscular, than oxidative athletes. Many confuse lean and skinny. In an old fashioned way lean and skinny are synonymous. LBM is lean body mass also known as muscle and bone (a technical term for the lawyers reading this). Massage, nutrient rich whole foods, vitamin/mineral balance, and animal protein rich foods fuel recovery for these athletes. Timing is also important. Soviet weightlifters are arguably the best trained athletes in history. They did not spend efforts above 90% of their 1 RM carelessly. They spent more economically than most believe. Recovery was the impetus which fashioned this training model. Gold medals were the harvest.

            Glycolytic athletes need higher reps to keep the muscles fueled. Eight to twelve repetition sets will keep the metabolism high. These athletes need more carbohydrates in addition to all the need of the ATP/CP athletes. These athletes are notorious for the copious amounts of protein they consume. Five hundred grams (500 g) of protein per day is one thing. Renal failure is the same thing. No one can consume this amount of protein consistently and remain healthy. I know one person who died from renal failure and I am only 46 years young. He was using anabolic steroids also. This certainly contributed to his demise. Ergogenic aids were not the sole architect of his renal difficulties. Excessive protein consumption was a participant in this fatal game.  

            Oxidative athletes have been bamboozled. They need more protein and strength training than bodybuilders. Recovery for an endurance athlete is dependent on their absolute strength. They need more time stretching simply because they spend more minutes training their events. Twenty percent of training time is dedicated to stretching for everyone.

            Here is the breakdown of any cycle in training:

·         Recovery

·         General warm up

·         Specific warm up

·         Skill work

·         Strength work

·         Muscle work (hypertrophy)

·         Endurance work

·         Mobility work (flexibility)

·         Cool down

·         Recovery

After a training session with workloads above 90% tracks lead to a recovery session. Recovery is a living thing just like the training plans. Sometimes we recover quickly. Sometimes we do not. If we are measuring the proper factors we see the culprit/benefactor of our situation. Actively measure five things and watch their role develop regarding training. This is training not exercising. We now have 40-45 measurements to make each day. If you are in a high volume month, six months out from the biggest competition of the year, you may have 90 measurements to make daily. It is training. Work is the driving force of training. This is why strength is so very important. More strength equals more work.

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