If you are looking to reduce post-workout soreness, heal faster, and increase your rate of results then you may want to consider active recovery.
What is active recovery?
While most people are familiar with passive recovery (PR) which simply involves resting your muscles with little to no activity in between exercise bouts, not everyone is familiar with active recovery. Active recovery (AR) involves some form of sub maximal exercise, such as low-intensity cardio, to promote muscle repair between exercise sessions. Active recovery may be done in the cool down portion of a workout or anytime post-workout before the next session. Before we can understand exactly how active recovery works, it may help to understand what happens to muscular tissue as a result of intense exercise.
Micro-tears and soreness
When we engage in intense exercise, especially those involving a heavy resistance, we create micro-tears in muscular tissue. These micro-tears may sound harmful, but in truth they act as catalysts in the anabolic process of rebuilding and strengthening muscles. Micro-tears, however, can cause inflammation and a build up of toxins which altogether cause those aching feelings of soreness we are all so familiar with. The faster we reduce inflammation, flush out toxins, and get nutrients to our muscular tissue, the faster our muscles can heal and thus reduce soreness.
Many people measure the efficiency of their workouts based on post-workout soreness. While soreness is a typical reaction to a new and challenging workout, severe and debilitating soreness may be a sign of overtraining or injury. If it is determined that an injury has occurred it may be best to consult with your physician prior to engaging in any form of activity, but otherwise active recovery may help.
How active recovery works
When our muscles are sore they may become inflamed, stiff, and saturated with toxins. One of the biggest benefits of active recovery is its ability to increase blood circulation to the muscles. Some sub maximal form of exercise such as light aerobics or very light weight lifting, may help to achieve this. The increased blood flow provides the muscles with fresh oxygen and vital nutrients while also flushing out harmful toxins. This form of recovery may help speed up results by increasing the rate at which muscles repair and rebuild. Passive recovery, on the other hand, does not increase blood circulation to muscular tissue and may actually aid in stiffness.
How-to perform active recovery
After an intense bout of exercise, remember to cool down. The cool down phase of a workout is actually a form of active recovery. Engage in some low-intensity cardio for at least 5-10 minutes after your workout and slowly lower the intensity over time to bring your heart rate down. This could include walking on the treadmill, using the elliptical, or even light cycling. You may also perform any form of light aerobics on the day following your intense exercise session--approximately 30 minutes worth--to stimulate blood flow.
Another way to perform active recovery is through performing a few light weight, high repetition resistance training exercises. Pick a weight that is light enough to perform 20-25 repetitions with, without significant challenge. If the weight is too heavy, it may only cause more micro-tears and trauma to the muscular tissue. Remember, the goal is to increase blood flow to the muscles, not to challenge them. In addition, since the eccentric phase of the exercise (lengthening phase of the muscle being contracted) results in the most micro-tearing of the muscles, emphasis on this phase should be avoided. For example, when performing a bicep curl the concentric phase is the upward phase when you curl the weight to your shoulder. The eccentric phase is the downward (lengthening) phase when you lower the weight back to its starting position. If you were doing active recovery on your bicep, you would want to lower the weight back to its starting position within 1-2 seconds instead of 3-4 seconds. Make sure not to jerk, however, or lock out the joints in an attempt to quickly return the weight to its starting position. You may perform anywhere from 2-5 sets of 20-25 reps of each exercise in order to achieve active recovery. This may be done on the day following your intense exercise bout and should not be done in place of stretching. Rather, a combination of the two should be utilized. On your active recovery day in fact, follow your light aerobics or light weight, high rep resistance training with some stretching for best results.
Additional information
While active recovery has been shown to be beneficial after intense exercise, that does not mean that passive recovery does not have its place as well. Both forms of recovery are important to your success. Active recovery should not be done at high intensities nor for an extensive period of time. Having at least one full day out of the week to completely rest (passively recover), can give your body time it needs to refuel and recuperate completely. In addition, other factors contribute to the rate at which one may recover and rebuild after exercise including: nutrition; degree of micro-trauma; sleep; hydration; flexibility; and the like. When these factors are combined with active recovery, the rewards can be astounding. If you aren't already utilized active recovery, give it a shot and notice the difference.
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