![\"Post](\"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/postworkoutrecoverydrink-136x150.jpg\")
What Happens During Post Workout Recovery<\/h2>\nMany of us enjoy riding hard: climbing steep grades, pushing huge gears on the flats and trying to put our riding buddies into difficulty at every opportunity. \u00a0But that desire, along with unusually strong work ethic possessed my most cyclists can be a doorway to damnation: overtraining can rear its ugly head. \u00a0The key to preventing overtraining, as well as seeing marked improvement may not be your workouts, but what you do in between them.<\/p>\n
Check out the post recovery tips after the break and learn how to get stronger and faster by resting and recovering harder.
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What Happens During Post Workout Recovery<\/h2>\nTo understand what happens during recovery, perhaps we need to know what happens during exercise first. \u00a0This can be best described by the phrase “training breaks the body down, resting builds it back up.”<\/p>\n
When we exercise the training stress creates a stimulus and recovery overcompensates to prepare your body for further stimulus. \u00a0Your body wants to work less the next time it is called upon to perform an exercise. \u00a0In the case of hard cycling, glycogen stores are depleted, enzymes are depleted, muscle tissue suffers micro-damage, our mental state deteriorates and we may even suffer more notable maladies like saddle sores, joint pains and tendon pulls. \u00a0All these issues can add up over time, and if adequate recovery isn't taken, the accumulated fatigue will eventually cause a decrease in performance as well as other symptoms such as irritability, increased sickness, depression and run down feelings.<\/p>\n
Ideally, cyclists would have an easy day or complete rest day after every hard ride, but generally this neither creates enough training stimulus nor satisfies the mental desire to spend time on the bike. \u00a0In this case, the athlete may need to have back to back hard days followed by a rest day. \u00a0For example, someone training 5 days per week (centered around the weekend) may have the following schedule:<\/p>\n In this case, rest days are more plentiful and break up workouts in such a way that intensity can be higher during each workout. \u00a0Remember that you don't have to stick to this schedule religiously; if you have\u00a0commitments that prevent you from riding on one specific day, maybe you'll sandwich two days together, riding hard for two days and recovering for two days. \u00a0Be careful that your training days don't burn you out before you recover, though.<\/p>\n Now that we have an idea of what a recovery schedule looks like, let's see what it looks like in terms of planning a week of riding:<\/p>\n The easiest way to know if you're recovered is to actually listen to your own body. \u00a0While this takes a while to get really good at, you can easily begin by taking note of how you feel when you get out of bed in the morning. \u00a0Sluggish or heavy feeling legs, stiffness and soreness when climbing stairs and lingering muscle aches are telltale signs that you may need an extra rest day. \u00a0These feelings may persist longer as we age, since recovery seems to be hindered as the body ages; you may not be able to do that three day block without taking two rest days as you get older. \u00a0But even if you feel good and you've got a workout scheduled, you may end up aborting it if you're not properly recovered.<\/p>\n If you go out to ride a hard workout and you just can't seem to produce normal speed and\/or power, or your legs feel achy and tired, you may be better off bagging the workout and just taking an easy spin through the neighborhood. \u00a0There's no sense in struggling through a workout when you clearly should be resting; the biggest benefits from workouts come when the body is refreshed. \u00a0If you insist on a workout with fatigued legs, you'll only eke out mediocre gains while piling on more fatigue.<\/p>\n Finally, there may be occasions where you'll need to take more extended rest. \u00a0You may have an important race coming up or you may just have piled on three or four weeks of heavy training and need some downtime. \u00a0That week may look like this:<\/p>\n![\"Stimulus\/Adaptation](\"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/stimadapt.jpg\" "\\"Stimulus\/Adaptation")
<\/a>Recovery is the process by which the body rebuilds the damage done during hard training and if training stimulus was great enough, the body will build itself up stronger than it was previously. \u00a0During recovery, muscle and liver glycogen is restored, muscular micro-damage is repaired, mental states are refreshed and issues like saddle sores have a chance to heal. \u00a0Physiological changes occur as well, such as an increase in aerobic enzymes, increase in\u00a0mitochondrial\u00a0density (energy producing organelles in muscle tissue), increase in capillary density in muscles, increase in red blood cell and plasma production and muscle hypertrophy. \u00a0With how important these processes are to increased performance, how much recovery is needed to push fitness gains higher during the next workouts?<\/p>\nPost Workout Recovery Planning<\/h2>\n
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Note in this case the athlete has 3 hard days in a row over the weekend and starting the week with rest days mid-week. \u00a0Bear in mind that with three back to back to back days, training intensity may not be as high as the athlete would like, but volume will trump intensity in this case. \u00a0A more typical scenario may be the 4 day per week cyclist, who's schedule may look like this:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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<\/p>\nNow it's easy to see how recovery days and workout days can be shuffled around to fit schedules. \u00a0A couple of things to note: recovery rides (or active recovery) are great ways to satisfy the mental need to exercise while still allowing the body to perform necessary “recovering.” \u00a0In fact, some studies show that active recovery may be more beneficial than passive recovery in helping the body to heal. \u00a0Also noteworthy is the variability of Sunday's effort: depending on the difficulty of Saturday's training, the Sunday workout may be easier in order to ensure the body is able to recover adequately before the next scheduled workout.\u00a0But the biggest question is, even though the schedule is bing followed, how do we know if we have recovered enough?<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHow Much Post Workout Recovery Is Enough?<\/h2>\n
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So now that you have an idea of how to plan your recovery, you can also help your body along the recovery path with a couple of easy nutritional boost as well.<\/div>\nPost Workout Recovery Supplements<\/h2>\n
Aside from planning\u00a0post workout recovery into your training (in much the same way you'd schedule an actual workout), you can help boost your body's recovery processes with a few simple supplemental stacks. \u00a0I've used these (and continue to use them) in my day to day training in order to help my body recover faster and ensure my workouts as of the highest possible quality. \u00a0Check these out and give them a shot: you may be pleasantly surprised.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B00E7GV6GA” locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]BCAA[\/easyazon_link] 4g, <\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B00E7TMONG” locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]Glutamine[\/easyazon_link] 6g, <\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B00AYIM9Y8″ locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]Vitamin C[\/easyazon_link] 1 g, <\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B003KD8B14″ locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]protein[\/easyazon_link] 30g: \u00a0This stack is one of the best stacks available for boosting recovery after a long, hard workout or race. \u00a0To break it down, BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids) are easily shuttled into the cell to assist in rebuilding following intense exercise, and it prevents muscle catabolism post workout. \u00a0Protein is an essential macronutrient and building block of muscle tissue, which will help to rebuild damage to the muscles. \u00a0Glutamine is used by the muscles to buffer acidic buildup in tissues during high-intensity exercise and is easily depleted, but more importantly it helps to buffer the lasting effect of increased cortisol (and prevents catabolic muscle breakdown.) \u00a0Vitamin C also helps to buffer cortisol and prevent muscle breakdown. \u00a0So you can see, this combination is designed to really help the body rebuild after a long intense workout.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B00GK618M2″ locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]D-ribose[\/easyazon_link] 1 g, <\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B00E9M4XEE” locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]creatine monohydrate[\/easyazon_link] 5g, <\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t[easyazon_link identifier=”B00EYDJTS8″ locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]Citrulline Malate[\/easyazon_link] 4g: \u00a0This is the ULTIMATE recovery stack. \u00a0D-ribose is part of the background of the ATP molecule (the main energy currency of your body) and the creatine phosphate (active ingredients in creatine monohydrate) are another part of the ATP molecule. \u00a0By providing both\u00a0substrates, your body can more quickly and directly restore energy balance in muscle cells after a hard training session. \u00a0Citrulline Malate is also a great substance for reducing post workout soreness along with providing substrates for the citric acid cycle<\/a>, which will help you to execute your next workout more efficiently.<\/div>\n