Exercise and rest - getting the balance right

Peddle Up!

As a fully certified NSC "athlete", I'm well aware of the need to rest between bouts of exercise (cycling, but also circuit training, gym stuff, long distance walking). But I feel I rarely get it right and wind up feeling low in energy and with aching muscles. I guess I'm pushing things too hard sometimes so my questions are - how should you space exercise and rest intervals? I guess this will be age related too, so how does that factor in? Would recovery drinks really help?


[NSC = no spring chicken ]

Garz

Recovery nutrition would certainly help otherwise nobody would be buying it after so many years of availability.

If your a NSC then you have to accept that recovery times normally take a bit longer, for me if I went hardcore in the gym these days the DOMS would last a day longer than it would have done back in my late teens.

Whilst some berate HRM, if used correctly you could highlight if your body is not quite up to an intense day on the bike and take it easy or just completely rest. It is not an exact science though and as some have mentioned on here, there is nothing better than going by feel on the day as the old adage 'no pain no gain' to improve.

ShutUpLegs

1 week off every 6

SBezza

We are all different and no one work/rest interval will work for all. If you are feeling tired, or more tired than usual take a break. I sometimes have one rest day in a week, sometimes 2, it all depends on my training plan and races I have.

I can sometimes do 4 hard days in a row without a break, other times the 4th day would be impossible depending on how hard the previous days have been, and how I have recovered.

Alot of the time you will be training with sore muscles and low energy, but if you feel you can't do a particular session, then just can it and rest. Recovery nutrition is more than just a recovery drink, though they do help if taken within the first 30 mins of the finish of exercise.

cyco2

Quality training rides need quality rest.

cyco2

Having had another look at your request I think you're a bit bonkers. I had a friend like you and we called him "Mad Ron" so we knew which Ron we were talking about. He couldn't be asked to moderate his exercise and would approach every task like a bull at a gate. He would scare his wife silly with his extended day rides. Now he's gone on the big extended tour.

Peddle Up!

cyco2 wrote:

Having had another look at your request I think you're a bit bonkers. I had a friend like you and we called him "Mad Ron" so we knew which Ron we were talking about. He couldn't be asked to moderate his exercise and would approach every task like a bull at a gate. He would scary his wife silly with his extended day rides. Now he's gone on the big extended tour.

Well I'm happy to own up to being a "bit bonkers" but I'm not exercise, exercise exercise, just trying to get the balance right. After all, as a great cyclist once said, "If you want to be a strong rider you have to do strong things."

cyco2

Right then here's what you could try. Keep off doing any exercise for a couple of days because you have allowed acid to build up and you may need some time to repair some hard worked muscles. Take some aspirin as an anti inflammatory medicine to help the process and/or get some massage. You are probably going well in to your energy reserves during an extended exercise, so always use an energy drink and /or bar during it. For economy I use glucose and a Mars bar 1 hour before I finish. That way the recovery has started as I get home. So, all I need to do is have a nice drink. Sad Fact. You need all the help you can get as you get older because energy transfer/levels diminish, muscles weaken and so you have to get wise even if you do like to get a little bonkers at times.

colsoop

The day after a hard ride you should just rest. Avoid doing anything strenuous. If you want to do your walking do it a couple of days after a hard ride, this should give you time to recover.

How much recovery time you need is for you to answer, if the legs are feeling stiff or muscles are sore then do something light.

Some advise having a slow paced recovery ride the next day but im not sure that would work for you as the temptation to push seems to be quite high in your case, so you wouldn't get any benefit.

If you go to the gym the next day how about a soak in the swimming pool or a stretching session, again just low intensity work.

Give your muscles a chance to repair the damage.

The low energy and sore muscles are a clue to overdoing it so ease up.

Your not suddenly going to lose fitness overnight

jgsi

colsoop wrote:

The day after a hard ride you should just rest. Avoid doing anything strenuous. If you want to do your walking do it a couple of days after a hard ride, this should give you time to recover.k:

Thats a bit black and white aint it?
It is not the same for everyone as you go on to say tho'

I raced last night.
I have just finished sawing up logs for a few hours building my eden project.... tonight I am going hard on intervals on the turbo for 10/20s.
I go on how good or how rotten I feel...
mind you keeping things low key 36 hours before an event and plenty of nosh and drinks is paying dividends as regards race performance at the mo
and performance is the true indicator as to whether you are getting things right.

Peddle Up!

OK. I've been trying a few things and here's the story so far. A good stretch after a ride helps reduce the tired legs feeling, but today's experiment was an eye-opener.

After I finished an hour's ride (ending with a "nice little hill"), I made myself a Rego Recovery shake and gulped it down. It may be placebo, wishful thinking, or just a good day, but my legs felt as good as new after an hour or so, with no aches and normal flexability. I'll repeat things, of course, and maybe do a ride without a recovery drink but on my very, very limited experience this stuff seems to work.

SBezza

colsoop wrote:

The day after a hard ride you should just rest. Avoid doing anything strenuous. If you want to do your walking do it a couple of days after a hard ride, this should give you time to recover.

Thats a bit of crap advice TBH, I have just done 3 hard days in a row, if I took a day off every session I did, then I would hardly train.

colsoop

SBezza wrote:

Thats a bit of crap advice TBH, I have just done 3 hard days in a row, if I took a day off every session I did, then I would hardly train.

But that is YOU

Read the op's thread again, he states he is a NSC athelete (no spring chicken athlete)he also feels low on energy and sore, symptoms of overdoing it, so what he is doing at the moment isn't working for him.

Read mine again too as i go on to say that everybody is different so although i say rest after a hard session(which incidently i do hence posting it) some will only need a good nights sleep while others will need longer

SBezza

Most people would be able to do more than a single day of hard training without issues, it is finding the right combination of work & rest, and you stated that after every hard session you SHOULD take a rest, which I said is rubbish. You need to overload the body to get better, and I doubt one day of hard training (and I mean hard), will overload the body too much. I felt pretty low on energy after 3 hard days, but that is to be expected, that is the purpose of training.

I am no spring chicken if I am honest, but at an amateur level age has little effect. If the OP is tired then he needs a rest, but it is more than just having an easy day, you need to have decent nutrition, minimise other life stresses etc.

The OP has to work out what works for him, and as I stated above there is no one work/rest interval that works for all, and suggesting such is a pointless thing to do. If you are tired and can't complete training sessions take a rest, otherwise you have to accept multiple days of training will mean you get more tired as the days progress.

Rest is very important, but I would think most people can get by on a couple of rest days a week without over doing it.

ste_

SBezza wrote:

I have just done 3 hard days in a row, if I took a day off every session I did, then I would hardly train.

Have to agree with this. I used to make sure I took rest days and was cautious if I felt my energy levels were low.

I also found I wasn't really improving and if at all, was only getting fitter slowly. I decided to take lots of MTFU and train through when I felt tired and so far it's paying dividends. I think we're generally as a race too soft nowadays. I do a desk job and like most of the population could easily be a lazy lard arse. Days gone by we'd have been toiling at manual tasks every single day and just got on with it.

AidanR

I find it most helpful to think over overtraining not as training too much, but recovering too little. As other posters have mentioned, there is plenty that can be done to boost recovery without actually cutting down on the amount of training. Things that spring to mind include:

Proper warm-downs and post-exercise stretching
Adequate, appropriate and well-timed nutrition
Adequate hydration
More and better quality sleep

I would also disagree with the need to rest "completely" and avoiding moving around. Active recovery is a very useful tool, and though you don't want to spend a rest day moving frantically around if you can help it, within reason you'll be better off going for a walk or a light recovery ride than lounging on the sofa all day.

outcastjack

I know next to nothing about cycling but I imagine there is a fair amount of overlap between rowing and cycling training, our coach makes us eat imediately after training, and having talked to a friend who does sports science it appears that you are supposed to get some carbs (and to a lesser extent protein) down within 45 minutes of finishing execise.

always make sure you are properly hydrated, most people are not. your pee should be clear or pale straw colour.

Edit: as with the guy above i am a huge fan of active recovery, it is the only way i have found of stopping aching after weights