by Mitchell Kochonda
The concept of recovery is widely known to athletes in all sports. As Ian wrote in Get buffed 1 (1999) “training plus recovery equals the training effect”.
Recovery methods come in many forms including, but not limited to, rest days and weeks, time, massage, stretching, heat, cold, water, salt water, electronic modalities, food, supplementation, escapism, the natural environment, recreation, etc to expedite the various systems in our bodies, including, but not limited to, nervous, metabolic, immune, hormonal, etc and all are of great value to the athlete.
But let’s put this in perspective, as there is no point recovering exceptionally well to an average or poor starting point! Let me explain…
Last week during a tele-conference seminar the question was asked in relation to supplements enhancing recovery. I replied the said supplements would have a very positive effect on recovery from training. But I asked the group the question “what’s more important, supplements after training to replace what’s been used or nutritional supplements consistently everyday to have the body in a permanently higher starting point – from a nervous, metabolic, immune and hormonal perspective - at all times?”
To put it another way, if you eat six times a day (one of these meals being a post training/competition meal) is there more value for your performance in an optimal recovery meal (16.6% of daily eating) okay nutrition the remainder of the day, or optimal daily nutrition for five meals a day (83.3% of daily eating)? I don’t care what you’re consuming post training/competition (high GI, low GI, protein, no protein, whatever) until we address the bigger picture! The Pareto principle at work again!
You can ask yourself the same question in all area’s of training. Let’s look at flexibility. “Is it better to train and compete with optimal tissue length everyday, or only train and compete with less than optimal tissue length - thus missing the injury prevention and performance enhancement benefits! - but spending time after training/competition to get back to an average state after the event?”
The trend of enhanced focus on post training/competition recovery (both physical, manual and nutritional) over the past decade is definitely a trend to support, but the value in heightening the bodies starting point in many areas is poorly exploited and misunderstood, and therefore is a huge opportunity for the committed athlete to take their training and performance to another level with the right guidance!
Mitchell Kochonda
KING Coach
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