recovery and repair

paul.k

just thought i would catch your thoughts on post ride recovery tactics with regards to
rest days
stretching
diet
supplimentation/ protien powders ,creatine ,amino acids ect
touchy subject but has been notorious in cycling ,steroids
sleep amount
and any other religious beliefs and rituals that make you a better cyclist .

Murr X

paul.k wrote:

just thought i would catch your thoughts on post ride recovery tactics with regards to
rest days
stretching
diet
supplimentation/ protien powders ,creatine ,amino acids ect
touchy subject but has been notorious in cycling ,steroids
sleep amount
and any other religious beliefs and rituals that make you a better cyclist .

TBH it is going to take some time to recover after strenous exercise regardless of what you may do. Some swear by fancy methods much of which is due to the placebo effect but thankfully as you become a better cyclist recovery times will decrease. There is a heck of a lot to this particular topic and it is impossible to get to the bottom of everything in one lifetime.


I'm sure that you have heard to eat a high glycemic meal immediately after a hard training session. This is indeed a good piece of advice to follow as it will help replenish glycogen in the muscles and greatly raise levels of the most anabolic hormone in the body - insulin, which is very useful at an appropriate time like this when the body needs it the most.

Protein requirement is of secondary importance during this period so you may enjoy an egg white for instance but don't eat too much of it, also aim to eliminate all fats including oils in the hours following training.

Stretching can help you feel better and loosen up the legs a bit - so by all means do it, but it won't do a thing to help you recover any quicker.

Do get as much deep and refreshing sleep as you can which is unfortunately easier said than done for many. If you can easily get good sleep then count yourself one of the lucky ones lol!


Murr X

andrewgturnbull

rest days - listen to your body and take a break when you need
stretching - is good for you in general, just make sure you're warmed up
diet - plenty of fresh fruit and veg avoid processed meats, drink water
supplimentation/ protien powders ,creatine ,amino acids ect - not necessary
touchy subject but has been notorious in cycling ,steroids - not advised
sleep amount - as much as you can
and any other religious beliefs and rituals that make you a better cyclist - tolerance

Bronzie

Murr X wrote:

also aim to eliminate all fats including oils in the hours following training.

Interesting - why is this beneficial?

Scrumple

Its not. Eating a balanced diet means fat is essential.

codswallop. Just eat in moderation, in the right balance. You need to eat, though, or your body will look for energy elswhere...

If you eat right, the rest is redundant. It only helps if you are lazy and can't be bothered to eat good food. As for steriods etc... fine if you want quick gains, but stupid and pointless if you value your health.

Sleep - afternoon power naps good!

shockedsoshocked

Murr X wrote:

Protein requirement is of secondary importance during this period so you may enjoy an egg white for instance but don't eat too much of it, also aim to eliminate all fats including oils in the hours following training.

Yes, deny your body the things it needs to repair damaged muscle tissues. Excellent advice.

LikeUStoleIt

^----like shockedsoshocked says.

it's well accepted within the sports nutrition field that within about 30 minutes of exercise, especially a hard or particularly long session, you need to be getting protein back on board so that muscle repair can start.

there are lots of protein-rich recovery drinks out there which can be used for this, but chocolate milk seems to work well for me, and it's much tastier than the others!

Murr X

Bronzie wrote:

Murr X wrote:

also aim to eliminate all fats including oils in the hours following training.

Interesting - why is this beneficial?

Hi "Bronzie", see below.

Scrumple wrote:

Its not. Eating a balanced diet means fat is essential.

codswallop. Just eat in moderation, in the right balance. You need to eat, though, or your body will look for energy elswhere...

If you eat right, the rest is redundant. It only helps if you are lazy and can't be bothered to eat good food. As for steriods etc... fine if you want quick gains, but stupid and pointless if you value your health.

Sleep - afternoon power naps good!

I have never said that fat is not essential, it is. It is however absolutely not necessary to consume fat immediately post training, it will not only offer no benefit at this time but will slow absorption of the necessary carbs and effectively lower the GI of the meal. You do not want to be consuming fat when insulin levels are high anyway unless you are trying to gain weight (gain fat) which is not ideal for health and other reasons.

It is VERY important to realize that what constitutes a "healthy" meal depends on when you are training. There is no sense at all eating a classic post workout meal with high GI carbs at basically any time other that post training. Doing so would cause insulin levels to rise greatly and depending on the particular individual this will mean that fat will be stored where you don't want it rather than glycogen in the muscles which is what you are after.

What and when you eat should depend on when you are training!

Also PWO insulin has other recovery benefits besides just glycogen storage due to its nature as a highly anabolic hormone - its great for recovery and repair when times are appropriate (post workout) and great for packing on pounds of fat when not apporpriate (times other than PWO, worst time pre bedtime).

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Murr X wrote:

Protein requirement is of secondary importance during this period so you may enjoy an egg white for instance but don't eat too much of it, also aim to eliminate all fats including oils in the hours following training.

Yes, deny your body the things it needs to repair damaged muscle tissues. Excellent advice.

LOL! "ShockedSoSocked ", please read what I have said properly and if you don't agree then maybe you may wish to contribute with your own expertise?

All cyclists (and all athletes) should really at least know the basics on sports nutrition as the knowledge doesn't hurt and does make a difference.

Thanks

Murr X

Murr X

LikeUStoleIt wrote:

^----like shockedsoshocked says.

it's well accepted within the sports nutrition field that within about 30 minutes of exercise, especially a hard or particularly long session, you need to be getting protein back on board so that muscle repair can start.

there are lots of protein-rich recovery drinks out there which can be used for this, but chocolate milk seems to work well for me, and it's much tastier than the others!

For endurance athletes carbohydrates are much more important to consume PWO than protein. Now I never said that PWO protein was a bad idea but it is of secondary importance to carbohydrates and particularly high GI carbs.

I do not have the time or desire to get into it now but there has been at least one study that has shown carbs + protein PWO to be no more beneficial than carbs alone. I am not going to try to dig anything up now unfortunately.

Murr X

robrauy

This makes for interesting reading:-

http://www.cptips.com/recvry.htm

SBezza

There are other studies that show, a ration of 3:1 or 4:1 carbs, and protein is better for recovery than just carbs alone, who do you believe.

Eat a proper balanced diet, and you won't go wrong. Cut out as much processed food as possible, and get plenty of fruit and veg in your diet.

I use For Goodness Shakes as a recovery drink, the 3:1 ratio, and a little fat. Seems to work OK for me. I also use whey protein as well, though is more for weight management than anything else.

With regards to sleep, I try and get at least 8 hours each night, doesn't always work out, but I certainly get at least 7 hours. Your body does most of it's recovery during sleep IIRC.

LikeUStoleIt

nice article from robrauy.

was that study funded by the milk marketing board?

shockedsoshocked

Murr X wrote:

LikeUStoleIt wrote:

^----like shockedsoshocked says.

it's well accepted within the sports nutrition field that within about 30 minutes of exercise, especially a hard or particularly long session, you need to be getting protein back on board so that muscle repair can start.

there are lots of protein-rich recovery drinks out there which can be used for this, but chocolate milk seems to work well for me, and it's much tastier than the others!

For endurance athletes carbohydrates are much more important to consume PWO than protein. Now I never said that PWO protein was a bad idea but it is of secondary importance to carbohydrates and particularly high GI carbs.

I do not have the time or desire to get into it now but there has been at least one study that has shown carbs + protein PWO to be no more beneficial than carbs alone. I am not going to try to dig anything up now unfortunately.

Murr X

They are both equally important. You have a very small window post exercise to give your body what it needs, and pretty much anything you take in during that time will be used by your body. That's why people use recovery drinks (with protein as well as carbs) because they are absorbed quick and quite easy to get down you even after a hard session.

It's also been suggested that a CHO-Pro mixture enhances post-exercise glycogen recovery.

But here's come journals anyway. Google scholar is your friend:

http://bjsportmed.com/content/40/11/900.full

http://oakbrooksc.com/Docs/stager_chocmilk_study.pdf

http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstr ... ed.14.aspx

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/a ... /93/4/1337

Bronzie

LikeUStoleIt wrote:

nice article from robrauy.

was that study funded by the milk marketing board?

Or Coca-Cola

Anonymous

I use a whey protein powder in milk as a recovery drink post exercise, works really well and my fitness has gone through the roof. I train quite a bit so muscle repair/recovery is really important. A good balanced diet, weight watchers points system is a good way to chart what you are putting in. You don't need to go full on with the weight watchers, my mrs has a calculator and index of points which is good as a guide.

I also just recovered from a bout of food poisoning, another excellent way of losing weight :shock:

robrauy

I've given up on rego as it seemed to be playing havoc with my digestive system.

My current favourite is glass of milk, a banana, 2 teaspoons of green and blacks drinking chocolate, a squirt of honey and a slug of camp coffee all in the blender..

I wonder if I'm really losing out on any recovery time by not using the rego...

Bronzie

Murr X wrote:

I'm sure that you have heard to eat a high glycemic meal immediately after a hard training session.

What constitutes a high GI meal? I'd normally go for pasta but a bit of Googling indicates pasta, porridge and rice are low GI foods :?

LikeUStoleIt

bronzie- high GI foods have a high content of simple sugars which are rapidly absorbed and directed to your depleted muscle glycogen stores.

things like chocolate milk and robrauy's milk/honey/drinking chocolate are ideal high GI post-ride foods. lots of easily-accessible sugar there for your body to hoover up.

low GI foods like pasta and porridge are (generally) made up of more complex carbohydrates and so are more slowly digested and absorbed, so don't provide you with an instant post-ride calorie hit, more of a slow-burn over a few hours.

i generally only use the high GI type of recovery food after really long rides or after tough interval sessions. i find that i recover fine after moderate/base-type sessions just fine without anything special.

ut_och_cykla

Whether a meal is high GI or not is affected by what else there is in it - fats and proteins in teh digestive system slow down the breakdown of sugars.
GI is a measure of the insulin response a food triggers.
High Gi would be jam sarnie no butter and a glass of squash or fruit juice = high glucose levesl in blood = high insulin - quickly.

Low GI would be al dente pasta with a turkey and tomato sauce.
given that I'm not sure (but dont know) how high GI a full fat milk choc drink would be - suspect lower than one imagines. I think a milky drink, a low fat sarnie and a fruit could be considered a good recovery meal on the whole - plenty of carbs, protein and antioxidants etc. SAve the jam sarnies for when you're riding perhaps?