Recovery Workouts
Make the Most of Your Rest Days
Recovery, corrective exercise, and conditioning are all very important in improving your overall fitness and performance.
There's just one big problem … People believe they are boring. They don't satisfy the "let's get after it" attitude of many avid gym goers. If our hearts are not pounding out of our chests, we don’t feel the need to puke, or we are not sweating profusely, we feel our training session was not "hard enough" or worth the time.
So we pound away day after day to feed our need for more and ignore a good recovery workout. This leads to plateaus from lack of recovery and proper conditioning; injury from packing performance on top of weaknesses without correcting movement flaws; and getting fed up with our excessive "routine."
If you want to make progress, and stay healthy, you must maximize your recovery workout with proper conditioning and movement pattern work.
So what can you do to achieve both physical and mental challenges and get the recovery workout and movement enhancement you need?
The answer: an off-day conditioning and corrective circuit. Here are the components, followed by a sample workout.
Recovery
As the saying goes, "It is not how hard you train but how well you recover." If you don't recover well, your systems cannot replenish, and you are likely to be in a consistent state of sympathetic arousal (fight or flight), constantly flooding your body with high levels of catabolic hormones. Your musculoskeletal, nervous and immune systems become compromised, placing you at a greater risk for injury, illness and fatigue.
With recovery, you experience the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand). Your body overcompensates from the stresses of training, adapts and grows stronger, gaining strength, power and endurance; if done correctly.
Corrective Exercise
Corrective exercise often becomes more complicated than it needs to be. It only needs to be the first 5 minutes of your warm-up or movement prep.
Really, it comes down to what experts like Gray Cook and Brett Jones say: performance built on top of dysfunction inevitably results in plateaus and risks injury.
We need to identify our dysfunctions and address them. For some, this requires mobility work. For others, stability and activation. Movement needs to be clean, and muscles need to work in a synergistic fashion to make progress.
Here are a few ways you can integrate corrective exercises into an off-day conditioning session to help address a few common movement dysfunctions among athletes.
Conditioning
Conditioning (especially aerobic) provides a base for all your energy systems. Without a solid base of conditioning, your ability to recover slows, and you compromise your capacity to focus.
Too often, we get caught up smashing through high-intensity intervals as our only source of conditioning. And why not? They are engaging and make us feel like we have been run over by a semi in 15 minutes or less. High intense conditioning should only last 6-8 rounds of 30 seconds each. Remember, we are trying to use the muscle built in that particular training session.
Intervals are most effective after you first acquire a base of aerobic conditioning. They are not the best choice for promoting recovery, as they place a high demand on the body. Instead, you should dedicate a day or two to acquiring and using aerobic conditioning (less intense, longer duration). This will help you gain more benefits from your higher intensity training.
Sample Recovery Workout Circuits
A conditioning and corrective circuit is best implemented on off days to get you what you need and give you what you want. It's accomplished by interspersing an intense compound movement with lower-level correctives. Going as fast as possible through the circuit for a set number of rounds lets you condition aerobically.
The best exercises to use for compound movements are variations of strong man lifts/movements (e.g., carry variations, sled pushes/pulls, battle ropes, etc.). They require your body to work as a total unit, but they don't demand a high eccentric load. They spare your musculoskeletal system while promoting blood flow and nutrient transport.
Guidelines
Choose one compound movement and perform it for a set amount of time, then choose a corrective for a set number of repetitions. Repeat for a set amount of time or rounds.
You can vary the compound movements (different rope patterns, Sled Pulls, Single-Arm Carries, etc.) and correctives to best suit your needs.
Do this with one of the following circuits, trying to keep the same pace throughout. Don't smoke yourself out so fast in the beginning that you are unable to keep the pace at the end. The goal is to work toward aerobic capacity. Believe me, after 20 to 30 minutes, you are going to feel finished.
Core Work
Make sure you connect your core. Without proper core function, you compromise everything else. The pelvis becomes misaligned and the spine deviates from neutral.
Side Plank x 3 deep breaths/side**
Battle Ropes x 60 seconds*
Supine Leg March x 10/side
Battle Ropes x 60 seconds*
Birddog x 6/side
Battle Ropes x 60 seconds*
*Perform these from an athletic position with your core braced and hips back. Do not allow your hips or torso to move as you work the ropes. The goal is to feel like a statue as your arms work the ropes.
**Take 3 deep breaths while holding the side plank position before switching to the other side. You should be able to breathe without losing position. If you cannot maintain position, elevate your upper body to a box or bench.
Glute Work
Unless the glutes work properly, hip function and stability are compromised, causing compensations that will likely lead to low-back pain, a strained hamstring or groin and less force production to the ground.
Glute Bridge x 10
Sled Push x 60 seconds
Side Lying Clam x 6/side (hold top position for 2 seconds)
Sled Push x 60 seconds
Wall Glute Iso March x 6/side (hold top position for 2 seconds)
Sled Push x 60 seconds
Shoulder Work
Many times athletes and active individuals have "long neck syndrome," where the shoulder girdle is depressed and downwardly rotated. This dropped position affects proper movement of the shoulder blade and joint, placing irregular stress on the shoulder (and elbow), which is likely to lead to overall instability, impingement, rotator cuff weakness/tears, labral issues and elbow pain. The following circuit is designed to help you achieve proper positioning and movement patterns of shoulder girdle and joint.
Wall Slides x 10*
Farmer's Walk x 60 seconds
Back to Wall Shoulder Flexion x 8
Farmer's Walk x 60 seconds
Prone Ws x 8 (hold top position for 2 seconds)
Farmer's Walk x 60 seconds
*Elevate the scapula (shoulder blade) towards the ear as your elbow passes the level of your shoulder.
Reminder: These are samples and may not be the best suited for each individual.
Reference
Kyle Arsenault, CSCS - The Athletic Way