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Recovery techniques for powerlifters and athletics
Matt R Wenning
M.S. Sports Biomechanics Elite powerlifter, strength coach
Many times athletes and coaches worry about how much volume, the
intensity zones, the exercises, and all the other factors that come
along with training at a high level. Much of our reading and
knowledge falls along these lines of expertise, which don’t get me
wrong, is needed for success. But one factor that is often
overlooked is Recovery. Many times, workouts don’t include recovery
and other techniques to help with bringing the body back to
homeostasis and help it adapt to the stimulus (I.E. weights, GPP
etc.). In this article we will go over many simple ideas, and
techniques that will aid you and or your athletes to train year
round with less injury and much more success.
The first tip is to have recovery, and re-prehabilitation built in
to the workout. This makes sure your taking this important factor
into consideration when planning meso or macro cycles, and even
yearly plans. If all that was needed were to lift weights to become
strong and nothing else, everyone and their brothers would be
strong, or much stronger. But many at the high level know that
lifting is a huge factor, but only one piece of the puzzle. The key
to becoming stronger than all, is to think like none. Everyone has
been to normal gyms and seen people struggle with the same weights
for years. Is this partially the Reason? They come in, train there
hearts out, but progress is never obtained.
Recovery in your workout takes special consideration. Things to keep
in mind are genetic weaknesses, technique and form problems, and
general muscle-skeletal health. All these factors will play a vital
role in deciding what prehabilitation will be best suited for your
needs. Me for example, my shoulders have always been very tight. To
combat this, stretching of the various muscle groups is a constant
process (ext rotators, pecs, etc). If I start to back off my
shoulder pre-hab, then aches and pains are just around the corner
especially when squatting with a straight bar. Designing a part of
your program to fix problems before they start.
There are many things that help and aid in recovery, but the most
overlooked is Rest. Rest is the biggest component to recovery. If
you don’t rest enough, your body will never reach its potential in
the cycles or at contest time, on the other side, if you rest too
long, then the body becomes lethargic, and training is also
hampered. For a highly trained athlete, 8 hours of sleep should be
the minimum, along with going to bed at a decent time, and getting
up to eat before 8am. It has been studied that a 2am, growth hormone
is secreted, if asleep, to aid in recovery (why many 3rd shift
workers are always tired even if they sleep 8 hours). Missing this
window of natural GH will hamper long-term performance and health.
Getting ample sleep on a consistent basis will be a component to
your success. Also staying away from alcohol. It dehydrates the
muscle and requires even longer recovery, and increases the chances
of injury.
Another large factor, that especially powerlifters (including
myself) overlook and don’t put enough time into is Nutrition.
Nutrition is what the body uses to repair itself, stay healthy, and
create energy. A few tips are to eat every 2-3 hours to keep the
metabolism high and help to maintain an anabolic state. Another is
to try to choose foods that are low glycemic and create energy for
long periods of time. White Bread, sugars, etc create surges of
energy, but burn and fade fast creating a yo-yo effect to the
metabolism. One other tip with nutrition is don’t overdo the
protein. Remember that the body is not proven to absorb more than
1.5g per KG of bodyweight. This means 600g of protein a day is not
only ridiculous, but is just a waste. Supplements are not really
needed unless you can’t get your hands on wholesome food all the
time. I try to get all I need from food. But sometimes rely on
protein drinks to get my source from a low carb, low fat drink.
Which Quest Nutrition has some great products such as quest plex and
synergy for this purpose.
Fats should come from plant sources, and are vital in the
maintenance of tissue and your health. Animal fats are also needed,
but in much less quantities than most Americans get in an average
day. Carbs are tricky, you need them, but usually most people get
way more than enough. The key is to get your carbohydrate source
from a low glycemic food. IE oatmeal instead of a sugar packed
cereal. Just watching these small things will aid greatly in body
fat percentage and lean muscle gains. There are many athletes that
eat at a less than optimal level and still make gains, but what kind
of gains would they make if this factor were considered? I was told
long ago that nutrition could make a 5% difference in performance.
So lets do the math for a novice lifter squatting 500, that would be
525 if eating correctly, and for a 1000-pound squatter, it would be
1050. Pretty good gains in strength in anyone’s book.
Now with this part of the article, you the athlete or coach may or
may not have access to these devices, but I will also include other
more simple ways to increase recovery. One that I use frequently is
the hot/cold contrast tubs. I usually have the hot set around 116
degrees F, and the cold somewhere around 55 degrees F. This
increases blood flow to all muscles, and has been shown in Russian
Literature to increase growth hormone. Some reading I’ve accessed
from Bulgaria, states that they use these between there workouts
throughout the day (6 plus times per day). Doing these on a
consistent basis, will not only aid recovery, but will help you shed
body fat, and increase muscle. They must be on to something, those
guys max like 600 times a year. I try to stay in each for 1.5-3 min
each cycle, so the heat or cold can penetrate deeply. Milder
temperatures will take more time to get deeper. You can also
accomplish a similar effect with showers; just find a place that
doesn’t run out of hot water.
Another good tool is the use of bands in PNF stretching, this
contraction/relaxation stretching, not only helps you to become more
flexible, but also breaks away scar tissue, and fascial binding
around the muscle. This helps aid in recovery, joint health,
propreoception, and performance. We do these on a consistent basis,
remember in an over trained state; you may work on flexibility
without having adverse effects or increasing the over trained state.
This becomes vital on off days, and actually will help you lift
more. If you don’t have bands, ropes will work as well. We usually
stretch for 10-15 sec with a 3-5 sec contraction.
One other technique that is often overlooked is foam rollers and
massage sticks. Foam rollers are a form of self-massage. They help
alleviate trigger points, and re lengthen the muscle, by releasing
it with pressure. This has been very helpful to make gains in my
flexibility and cause soreness to diminish. The only real difference
between the two is that the massage stick is smaller therefore the
PSI could be more depending on how hard you push in a particular
spot, you can do more with foam rollers in my opinion though. These
can be used before and after workouts for nagging body parts, and
help with the warmup.
Cardio is also a form of recovery and preventative maintenance. The
key is to use cardio for weightlifting specific GPP. This is where
sled dragging with lighter weights for good distances, walking with
ankle weights, weighted vests on the chest, and walking in the pool,
and kettlebells really bring up your potential. One of my favorites
is walking in the pool 1000 steps after my leg workouts. This takes
gravity off my body, but makes my abs, hip flexors and small
accessory muscles have to put some work in. This is non-weight
bearing, so the body actually becomes stronger and aid recovery. I
got this trick from Vassili Alexiev. Sled dragging is also a great
tool to build the hips and increase specific weightlifting GPP. I
pull the sled 2x per week with various loads, and instead of doing
that; I sometimes walk with weighted vests and ankle weights to work
upper back, core, and hip flexors. The key is to not over do it at
first, and gradually build up when you’re in shape. Remember the key
to getting stronger is to do more work, but do the right work. This
aids in your short rest interval sets, and helps you stay powerful
when others are fatigued. Being in good shape makes your recovery
quicker, and your strength higher.
Another thing that Westside likes to use is the tempo training for
time for restoration and muscle development. They will pick a light
weight and do as many reps as they can in 2-3minutes. This will
increase growth and help restore muscles, while working on your
lactate threshold and endurance. This is mostly used with small
exercises, never core exercises, and done where strength or mass is
needed (upper back, hamstrings, triceps etc.)
If you have the resources, then massage therapists, acupuncture,
etc. can also be used to your benefit. The Chinese know the
importance of these extra modalities and have been using them for
years in there performance centers. This is why in weightlifting
they have created a monopoly. They have the restorative methods,
along with some of the brightest Russian coaches (superior
restoration with great emphasis on technique and volume= some of the
baddest lifters on the planet).
I hope that these ideas have given you some direction in recovery
and becoming a better lifter or athlete. Remember that what you do
to help you recover is just as important as what you do in the gym.
Matt Wenning
BSUPL
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