couldn't find a thread based on recovery. besides proper nutrition (as mentioned by so many sites) and sleep is there any way to speed up recovery? any specific supplements, stretch or a good warm down plays an important part?

my recovery time is awful, kinda need some pointers from the rest

My list of important to do's for recovery. (I train 2x a day, 6 days a week. I think I'd know something about recovery)

1. Massage and trigger point release(very very important)
2. Multivitamins
3. Post workout drink
4. Fish oil
5. Enough proteins
6. Meditation and relaxation techniques

pizza boy thats insane man 2X6days. trigger point release?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_point first time coming across it.
but wow you're intense man pizza boy.

ill try some massage and start some fish oil. see how that does for me thanks!

and good relaxation techniques to advice me on?

How do you know your recovery sucks?

How long is your recovery period? If it's a body part that's aching, the you can always train other body parts...

my energy level is just low. i tend to gym every alternate day . monday wed and fridays. and the weekends off. i feel progressively weaker with each day. however tues and thursday i do some cardio, thats for the energy levels, but its mostly jogging.

the body aches dont go as fast as most people claim they do and it affects the work out as for example bicep is strained it kinda affects the work out.

for legs, lets say i've done some squats on monday. its thursday and its still a little sore.

try put in glutamine..it works for me..pizzaboy, can u tell me what does massage gotta do with recovery?i've done it and yeah, it works, but i can't seem to blend in my head why after massage my body feels beter...but feels good la..d body become ringan a bit..and oh..after the massage session, i'll fart & burp quite a number times..ur view pizzaboy..

ooo..now i know..hmm..in a way ppl with bad breath is also associated with food not being properly digest izzit?hmm..i wonder why..i do eat lots of veggies..and protein, with moderate carbs...

there's this one interesthing part when u mentioned about u guys know how to massage with techniques rite?how do u know if the muscle is actually tight?

in conclusion, those gals at the massage house don't know a thing la about all these stuff u mentioned?should i stop from going there?

Sorry for making the recovery thread into a thread about human biomechanics and science.

As for those massage staff, whether or not they know a thing or not about the stuff I mentioned, is not something I can judge. I just figure that most people get a massage to feel good, and less about it's medicinal qualities. I'm suggesting if you want to feel good, go on going to these shops. But if you want specific work done, get a trained therapist. How do I tell tightness?

Experience. Really it is, experience.

yhis is getting interesting...but hey, are u saying that getting those abs like hollywood actors are actually not really good?so a lil bit of buncit is ok la?

no wonder when u mentioned bout shoes, i read somewhere at stronglifts.com, saying that use flatted shoes doing all the deadlifts is much more better than using these so called comfy shoes..

no worries at all. i think its interesting too. now searching online about the book.

as for today i'm just gonna rest. i like the pointers you've given me. thanks for the reply!!

never knew farting or burping was a sign of improper digestion. always thought it was due to the food you've taken, you know how some of them can cause a huge build up of gas as it moves through the digestive tract.

ok, juz a question, why would anyone want the food that they eat not to be digested?coz u said u'd want ur food to be digested 100%?

so, u r saying having big and thick abs is better for weight lifters la?hmm..but then, i tot abs is all about genetics?or did i get the wrong answer?

hey pizzaboy, u studying medicine or wat?seriously the articles u gave us here is really helpfull..especially on the abs thingy..do powerlifters have abs? ..i tot most of em are huge size...i mean i saw this one russian guy eating fast foods..which obviously makes it impossible for me to get those abs.

*OFF-TOPIC
i will say different build. Pudzian is clearly a mesomorph, very solid joint and structure, while the two models are ectos. Can those two be as solid, tough as Pudzian even they copy the same style of training?


Chow

This post has been edited by bata: Sep 18 2009, 02:45 PM

I'm a business student, doing a research about green computing. Why do I know about all this? It's better than being a medical student. It's about my interest in this topic about nutrition and strength. Actually more on strength. Nutrition isn't so much of my forte. I've a job, and it's my responsibility as a personal trainer to ensure my clients are healthy and achieve their goals safely. Which reminds me....I've got to find more clients!

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Added on September 18, 2009, 2:54 pmNope.

This post has been edited by pizzaboy: Sep 18 2009, 02:54 PM

ic..but looking at ur blog, u're more to a power lifter aite?
hey i notice u mentioned bout u took post workout drinks...u take whey protein or a special PWO drink?

I'm a competitive weightlifter. Powerlifters, are people that compete in powerlifting. I compete in weightlfiting. There's a big difference between these two sports.

Post workout drinks, I take a simple whey + dextrose + creatine + glutamine mix. And then some multivitamins and fish oil. It tastes, horrible.

OOO..sorry ya.. btw, if the taste is so bad why don't u just buy those PWO sold at the shops since the taste is so bad? ...or is it weightlifters have different type of food that you shoudl consume?

and pizza boy, i found this bout dextrose, and i couldn't understand a single thing..mind telling me what's the use of this dextrose..i came across a lot of guys in the forum taking that..how come i couldn't found one in these supplement shops?

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine03/dextrose.htm

Factors That Effect Recovery Rates

Age - Older individuals will need longer recovery periods than their younger counterparts. It is suggested that around 25 years old is when most trainees will need to start to allow for longer recovery periods. Read article on people over 40, click here!

Experience - More experienced trainees will need less recovery time than new trainees will.

Fiber Type Trained - Fast twitch muscle fibers will fatigue faster than slow twitch muscle fibers.

Energy System Used - Training sessions that tax the aerobic pathway of muscular energetics (oxidative pathway) will need longer recovery periods than sessions that tax the anaerobic pathways (ATP/CP and glycolitic pathways).

Psychological Factors - Never underestimate the power of the mind. Work, finances, personal relationships and basic everyday life can all cause stress. If left unchecked stress can have very powerful physical manifestations - headaches, insomnia and an increase in catabolic hormones such as cortisol, just to name a few.

Replenishment of Nutrients - The availability of key micro- and macronutrients in a trainee's diet will have a large impact on recovery.

Efficiency of Waste Removal - The faster your body can rid itself of the metabolic wastes generated by training the faster you will recover.

This is just a partial list, but one that covers the majority of common factors that effect recovery. Looking over the list, we can see that you have the ability to manipulate a few of these factors, some to a greater degree than others will. For example, there isn't much you can do about your age, but you can take steps to ensure adequate nutrition.

Recovery From Exercise

Exercise recovery can be split into two categories:

1. Recovery between sets
2. Recovery between training sessions.

Recovery for both depend on the energy system used the intensity of the session and the training goal. Training sessions focusing on hypertrophy, for example, will use shorter rest intervals, both between sets and training days, than a training session that focuses on absolute strength levels.

Recovery between sets is dependent on the replenishment of ATP/CP, commonly referred to as phosphagen. Your body replenishes phosphagen by using the aerobic energy system to metabolize carbohydrates, fats and possibly lactic acid into energy producing ATP/CP. Exercise duration dictates how much phosphagen is depleted - for activities that last 30 seconds, 50% is depleted, 60 seconds depletes 75%, and 90 seconds depletes close to 90%.

Your body replenishes phosphagen rather quickly, however, with 50% to 70% being restored within the first 20-30 seconds after cessation of an activity (like a set) and the remainder within 3 minutes. Adequate rest between sets is a key part of a quality training session. Cut your rest too short and you'll be left without enough ATP/CP to optimally fuel your next set, leading to a decreased training response.

Maximizing recovery between training sessions requires a multi-dimensional approach. While we'll touch on a few of these methods in a minute, now is a good time to point out that glycogen replenishment is an extremely important thing to consider when planning recovery from a training session. Glycogen is used up during exercise and takes much longer to replenish than phosphagen does, ranging from 24 hours for after intermittent activity (like performing sets in the gym) to 48 hours for prolonged activities (like a long, continual run). The first 2 hours after exercise are very critical for glycogen replacement.

During this time your body has the ability to very rapidly restore muscle glycogen, which is why a post-workout shake high in protein and carbs is so strongly advocated in most strength training circles. Miss this window of opportunity and your recover is greatly retarded. Only a diet that is relatively high in carbohydrates can ensure full glycogen replenishment, making a ketogenic diet and other low carb diets a bad choice from a recovery standpoint.

Therapeutic Modalities

Today the fitness professional and enthusiast has access to a dizzying array of methods and options to help speed and maximize recovery between training sessions, but random application of these tools (often referred to as "therapeutic modalities") can cause more harm than good. One modality can not be used exclusively to help with all aspects of recovery, making it necessary to be familiar with a variety of methods and their most effective applications. Here are some of the more common methods and their applications:

Passive Rest - This refers to rest as most of us think about it. Hard training individuals will need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep a night and most would benefit from an additional short nap (30 minutes) during the day as well. Many things can effect sleeping habits and those who do not get adequate sleep on a very consistent basis will compromise their recovery. Sorry folks, there's just no getting around the need for sleep in order to maximize your fitness potential.

Active "Rest" - Don't let the word rest fool you here, this actually refers to using light activity to hasten recovery, most notably your cool-down period. By taking 10-20 minutes after working out to do some light aerobic activity and stretch you help to boost your recovery immediately. Consider this - 10 minutes of light jogging (no more than 60% of estimated max heart rate) will help remove around 60% of the lactic acid built up in your muscles, another 10 minutes will clear out an additional 25%.

If you don't cool-down, it can take up to 4 hours to completely clear the lactic acid and other metabolic wastes from the muscle tissue. Stretching helps as well to "wring" the metabolic wastes from the muscle tissue in addition to helping to restore the muscles to their normal length.

Besides your warm-up, active rest also refers to light workouts between heavy ones and periods of less structured training in a periodized program. Light activity will speed recovery faster than complete rest alone.

Nutrition - While not usually considered therapeutic, nutrition plays a huge role in the speed and completeness of recovery. Your body needs raw materials to repair and restore bodily systems stressed by training and without adequate nutrition those materials will not be available. Vitamins, minerals, water, protein, carbs and fats must all be present in proper amounts in order for the body to fully recover from training. A deficiency in even one key nutrient could slow this process down greatly, if not grind it to a complete halt. Proper nutrition can not be stressed enough when talking about the overall success of a fitness program and most trainees' frustration about their lack of progress can be traced back to this recovery factor.

This post has been edited by darklight79: Sep 18 2009, 03:47 PM