How do you speed up recovery?

freehub

I might get whey protein, I'm not bothered about taste, cheapest option is fine.

wemac

chrisw12 wrote:

wemac wrote:

chrisw12 wrote:

I understand all the tips given but in reality, do any of them, really speed up the recovery process?

A lot of the advice given is sound and based mainly in fact and backed up by research.

It sounds to me like you're basically overtraining - you could always just keep going and wait to see what goes POP first?

The advice on rest days is definately one to heed.

Is it? You seem to think so and I'm not going to get into an argument with you over the scientific merits of recovery drinks, compression clothing and the like. As you correctly state we all need to do our own experimenting.

Please don't be too presumptuous to suggest problems with my training given the scant amount of information I've given in this thread.

Yes, it is. The point is that you've invited people to comment, however your post implies that you've not actually tried any of the suggestions given.

If you had tried ALL of the things suggested and STILL felt the same then your training is quite likely to be why.

That's not being presumptuous - it's perfectly logical.

You can't really blame people for going by the information you post - that's all that's available, 'scant' though it is.

You *could* always provide more info to see if anyone can help you?

chrisw12

Ok, apologies, I replied to the op trying to suggest IME that there was no miracle cure for muscle soreness. My posts seem to have been miss-interpreted as me wanting advice and help. I'd like to clarify that I'm quite happy to be training hard enough to enforce muscle soreness and that I am very happy with how my training is progressing. At this point in time I do not need or want advice, so thanks.

Slow1972

antfly wrote:

That`s mostly carbohydrates,what you want to eat before you ride,afterwards you want protein foods to build your muscles.I can`t really be bothered myself,I just ride for fun.

Freehub, you do need protein, but you also need to get plenty of carbs in too. These shouldnt be limited to pre-ride only. You should ideally get carbs down within 20-30 minutes after riding to replenish the glycogen you will have lost during the ride itself.

That's why if you look at the composition of recovery drinks such as SIS Rego they contain a combination of protein and carbohydrate

Seems to me beans on toast isn't a bad shout, carbs and some protein in that, perhaps some simpler (sugar based) carbs would help though.

antfly

Most people eat some carbs while they are riding,you can tell when your body needs an energy boost but it is only protein foods that will build strength.

vorsprung

I have found from personal experience that after riding

Taking vitamin E helps with muscle soreness. Mind you, according to the studies it is just the feeling of pain that disappears, the micro tears are still at the same level

Recovery after a hard session is aided by taking a good load of carbohydrates immediately afterwards. Protein supplementing didn't seem to make any difference. Neither did using amino acid mix

Stretching is good and pretty simple. 2 minutes of stretching instantly relaxes everything. Only time I had trouble with this was when I was doing yoga. I tried to do a move where you touch your forearms on the floor, which is a great theigh stretch and cramped up in the stomach!

A recovery ride at a very s-l-o-o-o-w s-p-e-e-e-e-d the next day is good

schlepcycling

Girevik wrote:

drumsmasher wrote:

Girevik wrote:

drumsmasher wrote:

Get protein down you throughout the day as well. Your body can only use about 20 g at a time so dont go mad.

'Fraid that is bullshit mate

Well it worked for me and rather than just come out with crap like that.....please explain why...perhaps we can all learn from a master!! :twisted:

20g of protein is nothing, especially PWO. I think most people (who exercise) need around 1g per 1lb of LBM. So a 170lb man will need 170lb of protein, divided between 5 of so meals a day.

Personally post workout (whether that be cycle, weight training or running etc) I think having at least 30-40g would not be a waste. You body needs protein (and carbs) post workout tho repair the muscles. The more you eat the better you will recover, the better you recover the you better perform next workout .

I think you may have got your lbs and gs mixed up a 170lb man wouldn't need 170lb of protein per day!, the calc is between 0.8 and 1 gram of protein per kilo of body weight so a 170lb man (approx 77kgs) would need between 61 and 77 grams of protein per day. If you're exercising heavily you may need to up this to between 1.2g/kg and 1.8g/kg.

robmanic1

Doing a bit of running at the min, training for a half-marathon (yer I know!), bought a running mag the other day as it had some training info in it, read an article about ice baths and the like, it also suggested, if you don't have that volume of ice (who does?), sitting in a shallow bath with cold water would have the same effect. Tried it last night after circuit training and it does seem to work (much to my surprise).

The science behind the theory seems to be that your blood vessels dilate, allowing blood to drain from the muscle, flushing lactic acid out at the same time.

It was a most unpleasant experience however, and afterwards my old fella took on the appearance of a small rodent.

dennisn

Forget all this crap of recovery drinks, protein bars, recovery rides, stretching, and the like. They all have their place(a low one).
Have you noticed that very few have even mentioned rest. You can eat a million recovery bars, drink dozens of foul tasting shakes. and stretch till the cows come home,
but none of it will do anywhere near the amount of good that REST will. Sorry if that's
not an answer you wanted to hear. If you want to buy your way to quicker recovery
then steroids is a good option, but not much else. Rest is never high on peoples lists and
it's probably the main reason(or lack of) athletes fail to improve.

mclarent

on that note, I'd refer everyone to Alex's blog as posted on 1st page.

andrewgturnbull

dennisn wrote:

Forget all this crap of recovery drinks, protein bars, recovery rides, stretching, and the like. They all have their place(a low one).
Have you noticed that very few have even mentioned rest. You can eat a million recovery bars, drink dozens of foul tasting shakes. and stretch till the cows come home,
but none of it will do anywhere near the amount of good that REST will. Sorry if that's
not an answer you wanted to hear. If you want to buy your way to quicker recovery
then steroids is a good option, but not much else. Rest is never high on peoples lists and
it's probably the main reason(or lack of) athletes fail to improve.

Correct. I call it Vitamin Z!

gettricky

All pretty much covered above.

I do Kung Fu on Tuesdays (today) three hours of hardcore stretching and abuse to the legs and after a 6 hour ride through two trails back to back in Brechfa I am still aching a bit, but not realy as much as Monday morning. Because of a good diet and recovery shakes.

It is good pain though, its growing pains. As I'm sure you know. Every time you push your body through excessive particularly high impact stuff like this, you damage it, ripping muscle and tendon fibers. As these fibers heal they create scar tissue which is bulkier and stronger (weight trainers perfect example). Your muscles need lots of quality protein to meant the damaged tissue and recover. Eating high protein foods after training is key.

So a good died is essential, sure shakes etc help, but not at the cost of trying to get it the old fasion way. Good quality food, meats and veg. if possible avoid processed / mass farmed crap because it barely has any nutrition in it. A proper balanced died is so, so important in sports. After my ride on Sunday I had M&S salad with egg and salmon with some cold chicken. Then a shake when I got home.

I normally have bio yoghurt (plain) with fruit (berries/blueberries) you can and banana etc too, some Whey and also Linseed (flaxseed), which is full of omega and essential oils and a real super food. You can't taste it with the above. But you need to blend it good. Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI

One note of caution though. My Kung Fu instructor told us not to use Whey protein or any of those types of things. Whilst they work, they're full of processed baddies. Plus growith inhancer type things. This is good for muscle growth, but here is the rub. If you have any cancers or tumours, which you might, it'll also help that along too.

I use it now, but plan to stop in a few years, long term use not advised.

antfly

vorsprung wrote:

I have found from personal experience that after riding

Taking vitamin E helps with muscle soreness. Mind you, according to the studies it is just the feeling of pain that disappears, the micro tears are still at the same level

Recovery after a hard session is aided by taking a good load of carbohydrates immediately afterwards. Protein supplementing didn't seem to make any difference. Neither did using amino acid mix

Stretching is good and pretty simple. 2 minutes of stretching instantly relaxes everything. Only time I had trouble with this was when I was doing yoga. I tried to do a move where you touch your forearms on the floor, which is a great theigh stretch and cramped up in the stomach!

A recovery ride at a very s-l-o-o-o-w s-p-e-e-e-e-d the next day is good

This is just anecdotal.Good science isn`t based on anecdotes.

Edwin

I don't think there's any science in this thread, let alone good science. I'm just wondering what kind of processed 'baddies' or growith inhancer (sic) type things your Kung Fu instructor thinks are in 100% pure whey powder?
The only thing I can think of is artificial growth hormones given to cattle, which may end up in dairy products. I thought these were now banned in the EU but if you're really worried I'm sure you can get organic whey protein.

Also 'flaxseed is full of essential oils' - aren't essential oils used in aromatherapy?

Then, and this is the best bit: "If you have any cancers or tumours, which you might, it'll also help that along too"

WTF! If I've got cancer, then firstly I'd like to know about it, and secondly I don't think I'll be training enough to bother with recovery drinks!
Sorry to pick your post apart, but honestly, this is drivel.