Monday, January 8, 2018
How I use Active Recovery workouts
How I use Active Recovery workouts
Can light exercise speed up your recovery?
Anecdotally, Ive found that light cardio seems to help myself, and my clients, recover from workouts.
I generally train people using a High/Low system - train hard, or train lightly. No medium days - either its strenuous or its easy.* Days off fall into the "easy" days. So does this kind of cardio.
What I have people do is do anywhere from 10-30 minutes of light movement. Enough to get the heart rate up to 120-130, but not higher. Enough to get a little bit of a sweat going, and enough to feel some light effort. But nothing strenuous enough that its hard to speak, youre huffing and puffing to get air, or your muscles feel significant exertion. At most, you want to be working at around 40% of your maximum resistance, reps, weight, time, etc.
What I typically use:
- light cardio. Any machine or just going out for a walk or a light jog. Go for a bike ride. Stop and smell the roses.
- yoga, especially in a low-intensity class. No "hot yoga" or strenuous work - just moving.
- movement practice (martial arts kata, tai chi, mobility drills)
- light bodyweight exercises (for the already very in shape), done at a slow pace with lots of rest.
- pushing a sled with 20-40% of the usual resistance you use.
The goal is to get more blood flow to the muscles, work very lightly in a full range of motion, and keep moving.
You arent trying to get stronger, push yourself, or burn fat. If you cant help doing that, its better to just take the day off. This isnt high-frequency training, its active recovery.
Ive found this seems to reduce DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), over the long haul improve your movement and work capacity, and speed up your recovery. Clients complain less of stiffness. Also, it has the benefit of allowing you to make exercise and movement a daily habit, not just something you do hard a few times a week.
If you tend to be stiff and tired and sore after workouts, try this approach on the day after. It might work for you, too.
* If someone isnt up to a "high" or "hard" workout, Ill drop down the intensity and volume. In that case, it might be a "medium" workout. But Ill precede it and follow it with a light workout day.
