Your Guide to Passive Recovery Strategies

TOPIC:

What is Passive Recovery?

I don’t think that there exists a complete guide for athletes that tackles the underrated topic of “Recovery-Regeneration” strategies. I plan to disclose a majority of the scientific and practical information that I know of on this topic and equip you with everything you need to be successful. Faster recovery means faster strength gains.

You can break recovery down into two categories: passive and active.

Both approaches are indeed vital and complement one another. Recovery is ultimately dictated by fluid flow in the body, which can be expedited by active recovery strategies — your heart, lymphatic systems, and muscles are working to pump out waste and deliver essential nutrients.

But taking full advantage of passive approaches shouldn’t be overlooked, and will do wonders in restoring your body’s cells as fast as possible so you can keep training.

In this blog, we’ll focus on the following passive recovery strategies:

• Soft tissue Massage/Self-Myofascial Release
• Static Stretching
• EMS
• Ice/Cryotherapy
• Contrast Baths
• Cat Naps & Sleep
• Sauna
• Ultrasound
• Epsom Salt Baths
• Nutrition: Carbohydrates, Protein, Fats
• Hydration
• Pre & Post Workout Nutrition
• Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing Techniques

Passive Recovery Strategies

Massage & Self Myofascial Release (SMFR)

The topic of Massage has been discussed to death, but that’s because it’s important. Massage is used to “promote relaxation of muscles, help loosen up scar tissue, and stretch tight muscles and fasciae. [1]”

Moreover, massage and soft tissue work may improve the elasticity of tissues. Massage is believed to increase local blood flow and metabolic waste removal; however, there were several studies along with the words of world famous coach Christian Thibadeau that refute this claim. The specific mechanism for why both SMFR and massage work deals with the GTO mechanoreceptor located at the musculotendinous junction. When you apply a certain degree of pressure to a specific muscle, the GTO is activated, which in turn creates what is called autogenic inhibition.

Autogenic inhibition is simply a decrease in activity of the opposing muscle spindle located within the muscle belly which stimulates contraction of the muscle. When this occurs, the muscle won’t contract, and relaxation and tissue lengthening ensues.

Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson co-authored an awesome piece awhile back which emphasized SMFR/massage as a means of reducing the activity of the nervous system (tone) and its components. You can attempt to stretch a muscle, but if what’s regulating the muscle (nervous system) doesn’t respond, then it won’t lengthen.

Static Stretching

In my book, I disclosed several studies considering whether or not hamstring stretching had benefits on hamstring health and performance. Of the near half-dozen studies I found, a couple showed it may prevent injury. Several studies showed it can obviously improve the flexibility of tissues and joint range of motion. But does it assist in recovery of neuromuscular structures?

In one study, researchers used a protocol that involved 7 minutes of static stretching following a football game. Relative to cold water immersion (CWI) and active recovery methods the stretching was deemed inferior. [2] A similar study with basketball players identified the same outcome. [3] Two other reviews went on to state that stretching was not an effective recovery modality. [4][5]

However, I don’t think that there are downsides to stretching if you want to do it. Just make sure you practice it a day or so prior to high-intensity efforts — one study showed it could delay performance if done too close to training for too long. Dynamic stretching is better for pre-workout warmups. But for the purposes of increasing flexibility, static stretching is basically “time under tension” for getting into deeper ranges of motion.

Try this guide to static and dynamic stretching to help you on your way:

Pre-Activity or Workout

Dynamic Stretching         1-2 sets of 5-8 reps or 5-10 minutes

Post-Activity or Workout:

Dynamic Stretching         1-2 sets of 5-8 reps or 5-10 minutes

Static Stretching              1-2 sets of 2-3 reps or 10-60 seconds +

Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)

EMS or Electrical Muscle Stimulation is a classic therapeutic protocol that assists in several important physiological processes that positively impact recovery from high-intensity athletic training.

EMS works by transmitting electrical impulses that bypasses the CNS to a target muscle. The unique contraction signal sent from the EMS device is nice, because it doesn’t affect the CNS or contribute to the fatigue of this system. EMS can help with muscular re-education, atrophy reduction, pain management, edema or swelling, and more. A while back I located a solid review of the modality as it pertains to recovery, which shared about a dozen studies, but I can’t find it. (Sorry about that.)

I do vividly recall though, that the primary consensus and benefit of EMS with recovery was increased blood flow. The lymphatic system lacks a central pump, so the contraction generated with EMS is one way to get things moving along in the bloodstream. I would recommend reading this awesome article compliments of Chad Smith over at Juggernaut Training Systems. Chad discusses EMS in its entirety and includes a basic outline on how to manage its use during the training week. [6]

Ice/Cryotherapy

The vasoconstriction effect of cooling tissue makes the superficial cold application an effective modality to reduce pain, swelling and edema following trauma. Therapeutic cold can be used to inhibit spasticity, facilitate muscular contraction for various forms of neurogenic weakness, and for muscle re-education.” [7]

Cold packs and immersion are the most common forms of ice treatment. Bret Contreras shared an article on his site which examined a study conducted on nearly two dozen professional rugby players. The study was intended to see how different recovery options affected a series of functions, such as (i) Creatine Kinase Levels, a.k.a. the marker for muscle damage and soreness, (ii) jump performance, and (iii) individuals own perceived level of muscular soreness.

The specific approaches used on the athletes were cold water immersion (CWI), contrast baths, and light aerobic exercise. All three functions were deemed effective, although both cold water immersion and contrast were superior to light aerobic exercise for improving all three measures. The contrast was crowned king compared to both light aerobic exercise and cold water immersion according to researchers. [8]

Contrast Baths

Contrast baths (alternating submersion in warm and cold water) are also a hot topic for athletic recovery. Every study or article I researched supports contrast therapy for increasing superficial blood flow, which can only help recovery efforts. There was one large systematic review that analyzed all 28 articles on the topic of contrast baths dating back from 1938 to the present, and it also advocated contrast baths as an effective means of increasing blood flow. 9

Looking at how many professional athletes use ice and contrast on a regular basis is an unignorable data set. Perhaps there exists a placebo effect to some extent, but why would they subject themselves to such torturous techniques if they weren’t working somehow physiologically? Most athletes report decreased soreness and better muscle function following contrast therapy.

Sauna Sessions

I first heard of this one from world famous strength and conditioning coach, Joel Jamieson. Joel is a very bright guy and used to be part of the Seattle Seahawks staff. He notes that the sauna can increase activation of the sympathetic nervous system — this is important for individuals who are more aerobic or long-distance dominant. Often this type of athlete can suffer from parasympathetic dominance and all of its associated symptoms, such as decreased heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rate.

By integrating a sauna into the mix, you can help balance out signals sent from each branch of your collective nervous system. I found a study that showed a mist sauna can help someone recover from local muscle fatigue. [12] I should note that this doesn’t pertain to most athletes, especially in team sports, but I think it may serve great for an in-season athlete dealing with ridiculous workloads and volumes.

Ultrasound

I am not a physical therapist, nor do I understand the full effects associated with ultrasound treatment, but I did work as a technician for a couple years. I got to witness firsthand how this technique can help loosen up scar tissue and increase blood flow. Please note that this modality should only be used in the care of someone qualified/licensed to handle and administer this form of treatment. “If used with care, deep heat, such as ultrasound, can be effective by increasing the extensibility of tight connective tissue, thereby increasing blood flow.” [13]

Epsom Salt Baths

I personally didn’t respond very well to Epsom salt baths. I nearly fainted and passed out when I submerged myself in a bath sprinkled with this stuff, but I later found out my mother and I are allergic to sulfate-based products, so beware of that. Epsom salt baths can be great for neural recovery due to the fact they contain magnesium. Minerals can have a sedative effect and induce pure relaxation that is essential following high-intensity training endeavors like sprinting, agility, jumping, lifting, etc.

Many athletes use epsom salt baths as a method of tissue relaxation and recovery.

10-20 minutes with 200-400 mg of Epsom should do the trick.

Sleep

I found a pretty awesome study that assessed many of the hormonal and metabolic effects associated with sleep performance, and its role in the collective recovery process. First off, sleep deprivation results in increased sympathetic nervous system activity. We want this branch of the nervous system to be active during high-intensity exercise. But if it’s turned on during the night, we aren’t recovering properly, especially in regards to hormone balance.

A big area of concern with a lack of sleep is the steady increase in cortisol concentration that occurs. Normally, as the day progresses, and we reach the evening, cortisol should begin to decline and other anabolic hormones start to increase their levels in the body, and vice versa. However, in a sleep deprived state this is not the case. One subject was six times slower at lowering cortisol near bedtime than someone who had experienced adequate sleep in the days that preceded. [14]  This becomes a major problem for muscle and tissue repair since cortisol inhibits the amino acid Leucine from generating protein synthesis, decreases insulin sensitivity, and lowers testosterone levels to name a few. [15]

Both the thyroid and growth hormone axis were also dramatically affected by a loss of sleep. [1]   After a week of poor sleep, subjects experienced a decrease in TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) by up to 30%. As many of you well know, the thyroid is a huge metabolic and performance regulator in the human body.  Just open up a basic anatomy and physiology book and you will see what I mean.  Aside from helping us to maintain a healthy and lean body composition, the thyroid’s function is synergistic with the nervous system.  Meaning that a low thyroid will reduce neural activity and subsequent muscular output that is essential to performance. The thyroid can also help raise growth hormone levels, which also take a hit when we miss out on sleep.

…Including Cat Naps

I think cat naps suck, but I have too many of my athletes and co-workers that participate in them on a daily basis. Perhaps it has to do with circadian rhythms and genetic factors, I’m not sure, but I just feel exhausted by them for some reason. The common claim over the years from coaches and trainers are increased releases of Growth Hormone during the nap period, and I found a study to confirm it. [10]  Try it out and see how you feel because it may help as Growth Hormone is clearly involved in strengthening tissue. [11]

Nutrition: Carbs, Fats, & Protein

Carbohydrates serve a major role in the recovery process and are arguably the most important nutrient in being able to recover fully. Without the appropriate intake of carbohydrates we won’t be as successful in re-hydrating after a grueling training session. Dr. Edmund Burke had a pretty stellar book on recovery, which discussed hydration science in full detail. The carbohydrates we consume not only help to replenish glycogen stores that help regulate performance and recovery (i.e. cell signaling, etc.), but they also increase the absorption of water through the intestinal wall with the help of sodium. [16]

Moreover, carbohydrates are hydrophilic or water-loving in nature.  So for each gram of carbohydrate we ingest, it brings approximately three grams of water along with it.  Not to mention that carbohydrates contain several of the key electrolytes that are excreted during training and need to be replenished in the hours afterward.

Carbohydrates also increase the release of insulin which is a key player in protein synthesis. Insulin prevents protein degradation or breakdown from occurring in our muscle cells. I’ve also seen some stuff that shows it helps regulate the MTOR pathway, which is one of the primary muscle building pathways in the human body, according to many credible sources.

I don’t think it’s any secret at this point that protein is essential to the recovery process. Next to water it is the most abundant source in the body, and along with carbohydrates, protein is a frontrunner in terms of recovery potential. It helps build just about everything in the human body.

I like the “gram per lb. of bodyweight” rule of thumb that many still advocate, or 30% of our total calorie intake per day. Every credible authority arrives at this recommendation and has dating back decades now. In his book “The Paleo Diet,” Dr. Loren Cordain discusses the “nitrogen governor” theory in our liver that regulates the consumption of protein. The body has clear limits, determined by the liver’s inability to handle excess dietary nitrogen (released when the body breaks down protein).  For most people, this limit is about 35 percent of your normal daily caloric intake. If you exceed this limit for a prolonged stretch of time, your body will protest with nausea, diarrhea, abrupt weight loss, and other symptoms of protein toxicity. [17] But, protein is primarily responsible for causing us to feel full in the short term. It also has a lower calorie content per gram, which is why it’s harder to overeat protein.

I’ve never seen a dietary reference guide (RDA, etc.) advise people to eat more than up to 40% of their calories from protein. My point with all of this is that protein seems to get too much credit above the other macronutrients when it comes to recovery and other topics. You need it, make sure to get it and prioritize it, but be sure not to overlook other essential sources of nutrition and their roles too so you complete your macronutrient synergy.

If you’re a sprinter or a team sports athlete, you will not be required to consume much fat in general as higher intakes affect certain anabolic responses negatively.  The alactic and lactic energy systems which we rely on primarily in sport, are fueled by carbohydrate and protein derived energy sources (glucose and creatine phosphate). That being said, fats play a critical role in recovery in the hours after training. Fats also help with neurological function by forming what is known as myelin sheaths around specific neural structures. Fats help build hormones, raise hormone levels, and supply us with the calories to make us more anabolic.

Pre-Workout Nutrition

First off, I think it’s important to note that the body has several energy reserves that it can call upon when the time is necessary to support activity. Blood glucose, muscle and liver glycogen stores, amino acid pools, and fat stores guarantee we do not run out of fuel right away. So is pre-workout necessary? I think it would depend on meal frequency and quantity, along with activity duration and type.

The Cori Cycle in the liver converts amino acids to glucose through a specific process. If we don’t get adequate carbs and decide to train at high intensities, then muscle loss becomes an issue. We need to make sure to get plenty of carbs for this reason alone. There is also some evidence showing increased protein synthesis post-workout with a pre-workout meal consisting of both carbohydrates and protein. [19]

None of what I read was conclusive, but the researchers did make mention that pre-workout carbohydrates might potentially delay fatigue. I also think a nervous system stimulant such as coffee works great for increased training production through higher adrenaline release and energy production. Anecdotally, we have some solid benefit from the addition of a stimulant (in moderation).

Post-Workout Nutrition

The biggest reason for a post-workout protein shake has to do with utilizing increased insulin sensitivity. The quicker we get a post-workout drink or what have you, the greater the uptake of nutrients into our cells and the faster we can recover.

However, there was a study that showed the window of rapid absorption was not dependent on insulin. Again, getting food in quicker could only help. Many people aren’t hungry after intense training, so it’s not always that simple. Glycogen replenishment eventually slows down after the acute phase of recovery is officially over. But we still generally have 40+ hours to get enough food and the right kind of food into our body to support recovery.

I’ve had dozens of athletes bulk up heavily and preserve muscle with very little emphasis on post-workout nutrition, and I’m sure many others can attest to this. We aren’t going to shrink that fast, so I don’t think people should worry all that much about timing. And according to one author, it took three hours before decreased protein synthesis and muscle loss became an issue. [6] That’s quite a big window, and other credible evidence suggests this “anabolic window” could be as long as five hours before you witness decreases in recovery and muscle mass restoration and growth.

Hydration

I’ve read figures that estimate our body is comprised of anywhere from 50-60% water. Moreover, a reduction in the water mass of just 2-3% could impair performance. [18] Lyle McDonald also referenced some solid research and evidence in one of his books that discussed the role water and hydration plays in tissue growth. Bottom line is that being able to create and maintain hydration is critical to the recovery process.

Supplementation

If you want the holy-grail of supplement information, browse through Sol Orwell’s site, read his articles, and check out his complete supplement guide. His guide is backed by a wealth of the latest research on effective supplementation.

There are a handful of tested supplements with enough evidence to support their positive effects. Check out this article for a solid foundational understanding of the most studied and relevant supplements for strength: Supplement Primer for Strength and Conditioning Athletes

Unfortunately, none of the research I have seen on more advanced supplements like BCAA’s, Arginine, Glutamine, or EAA’s was that promising or essential if your nutrition is on point. Your best bet is to make sure you are eating healthy and obtaining all of the right foods in the right quantities to meet your objectives and let the body do the rest like it’s hardwired to do naturally.

Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing

Deep diaphragmatic breathing modulates your autonomic nervous system, specifically activating your parasympathetic branch.  Also known as your “rest and digest system.”  Parasympathetic activity is anabolic, anti-inflammatory, and orchestrates mechanical, metabolic and nervous system restoration and development. Without adequate parasympathetic function, performance, resilience and health are all severely compromised. (Boyle, 20)  In other words, deep breathing can do a number of things in your body that will ultimately help you perform better, stay healthier, and recover faster after each grueling workout.

To Sum It Up…

Everyone needs to recover, and if you’re an athlete, you’ll need to prioritize your recovery to feel ready to attack the next workout. Don’t short-change yourself by skipping out on recovery efforts. Try them all, but ultimately do the ones that stick and work for you regularly. Consistent recovery leads to consistent gains.

References

1 – Kendall, F. Muscles Testing and Function with Posture and Pain. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005. Print.

2 – Kinugasa, T., and A.E. Kilding (2009). A comparison of post-match recovery strategies in youth soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 23: 1402-1407.

3 – Montgomery, P.G. (2008). The effect of recovery strategies on physical performance and cumulative fatigue in competitive basketball. Journal of Sports Science. 26: 1135-1145.

4 – Barnett, A. (2006). Using recovery modalities between training sessions in elite athletes: does it help? Sports Medicine. 36: 781-796.

5 – Vaile, J. (2010). Recovery Review: Science vs. Practice. J. Aust. Strength and Conditioning. 2: 5-11.

6 — http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2012/10/15/ems-for-maximum-strength-and-performance/

#7- #1- Kendall, F. Muscles Testing and Function with Posture and Pain. Philadelphia: Lippincott

Williams & Wilkins, 2005. Print.

8 — Webb, NP. The relative efficacy of three recovery modalities after professional rugby league matches. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27: 2449-2455, 2013.

9 – Breger Stanton, DE. A systematic review on the effectiveness of contrast baths. Journal of Hand Therapy, 22: 57-69, 2009.

10-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4377652

11-http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2009.179325/full

12-Lee, S. Physiological functions of the effects of the different bathing method on recovery from local muscle fatigue. J Physiol Anthropol, 2012.

13 #1-http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/502825

14-http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-2.html/

15-Burke, E. Optimal Muscle Recovery. New York: Avery Publishing Group, 1999. Print.

16-Cordain, L. The Paleo Diet. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2002. Print.

17-Tipton, KD. Timing of amino acid-carbohydrate ingestion alters anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise. AM J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 281: 197-206, 2001.

18-Fink, H. Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition, 2011. Print.

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Are you still trying the endless foam rolling and stretching exercises to get that deep squat position? We know how important mobility is for great, or even GOOD performance. All professional athletes have some comfortability in end ranges of motion. So, what else do they do to improve their mobility?

Brandon Robb is the founder and head coach of HEROIC Athletics @heroic.athletics — he’s worked with athletes for over a decade. First responders (fire, police, military), golfers, Crossfitters, obstacle course racers, and hockey players all turn to him for performance gains, injury prevention, and competition prep.

Is Mobility Work Really That Hard?

As a Canadian kid who grew up playing competitive hockey, I was decently strong out of the gates. I had a strong deadlift, could do strict handstand pushups, and was able to bang out the workout “Angie” strict: 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups & 100 squats. (To be fair, I’m pretty sure this took well over an hour, but I did it…)

But with all that said, I couldn’t squat below parallel to save my life.

Once I accepted the fact that I needed to work on my squat, I got to work. I stretched daily. I foam rolled regularly. I did everything I was told, and while I did improve my squat depth, it came at a cost — I tore my meniscus in my left knee.

The following two years led me down a path to truly understanding the biomechanics of the body.

Why is working on mobility important?

• Your movement efficiency is better.
• Your range of motion for each exercise is deeper.
• You have better control in those deeper ROM.
• You’re less prone to injuries and chronic pain/old injuries can go away.

Why don’t people work on it more?

• They throw a few stretches and foam rolling together to “fix” the issue, not unlike Phil Swift and his Flex Tape commercial
• It’s often boring as hell, and as a result most people follow it haphazardly and don’t give it enough consistency
• There are always other fitness goals to work toward — getting stronger or faster

Let me start with a disclaimer: assess, don’t guess.

In order to TRULY get a protocol that fits you, you should be working with a professional, like a PT. Template programs and subscriptions are great, but nothing will beat ponying up and investing in some 1:1 coaching.

With that said, I have practiced the following three principles on both myself and my clients with overwhelming success. If you can take these principles and apply them consistently to your training, you’ll be well on your way to improving mobility, reducing your injury risk and performing better than you ever have before.

PRINCIPLE 1: Vary Your Warmups

I see the same thing all the time. Athletes walk into the gym and hit the same warm up they’ve been doing for years.

Doing the same (or similar) warm up for every workout can activate parts of your body and brain to “wake you up” for your workout, but it doesn’t necessarily prep the muscles you’ll be using that day.

Instead, what I get my athletes to do is the following:

• 2-3 minute general warm up: sled, cardio machine, etc
• 2-3 bodyweight movements hitting specific muscles for that day’s training
• 2-3 loaded movements hitting the same muscles at different angles

For example, here’s how I would write the warm up/movement prep for a squat day:

3-5 minutes sled push/pull or Zone 2 cardio machine

2-3 rounds:

• 5 per side hip 90/90 transitions
• 8-10 glute bridge V walkouts
• 0:30-0:40 per side long split pulse

3 sets:

• 6-8 per side seated DB good mornings 
• 6-8 per side goblet kickstand pistol squat

By warming up this way you bias the relevant muscle groups more. EVERYONE has movement discrepancies, and by hitting these more “obscure” movements in your warm up, you can effectively focus on certain muscles more. When these muscles are activated properly, you’re more likely to use them efficiently and have better mobility.

PRINCIPLE 2: Focus On Your Joints

Most of the time we are taught to emulate the movements we see. But the human body is incredibly smart. More often than not, with enough focus and attention, we can mimic any movement we see. However in doing so, we may not be using the same muscles to the same degree as what someone else is demonstrating.

Without a keen coaching eye, there’s a high chance that you may be compensating by using one muscle or group of muscles more than the others.

How do we fix this? Focus on the joints, not the movement. For every movement/exercise in the gym, ask yourself two questions:

1. Does this joint HINGE or ROTATE?
2. Is this joint supposed to be STABLE or MOBILE?

Every joint has a role in every movement. That role is dictated by what the joint is built to do and what the joint is actively trying to contribute to the movement itself.

One good way to practice your mechanics at the end ranges for each joint is CARs, or controlled articular rotations. CARs help you focus on moving a joint independently of the rest of your body. This movement awareness can identify joints that have less mobility or more “sticky” points and help you work on them.

PRINCIPLE 3: Incorporate TEMPO

One of the big issues I ran into early in my career was the mantra of “Go hard, go fast.” There is a time and a place for speed, but if that is the whole make up of a training program, you’re asking for an injury and poor mobility.

Purposely slowing down and even holding movements is extremely beneficial to enhance mobility.

Tempo is the slowing down of any movement through its points of muscle contraction. It can be broken down into 4 numbers, with each number representing the time in seconds to perform a portion of a rep. Ex. tempo 42X1

The first number (4) – ECCENTRIC

• The “DOWN” part of a movement
• Lowering of a back squat, lowering of the body in a pull up, lowering the weight to the ground on a deadlift, lowering the bar to your chest on a bench press
• In this case, 4 seconds down

The second number (2) – ISOMETRIC HOLD

• The “HOLD” part of a movement at maximum tension
• Holding the bottom of a squat, the pause at the bottom of a pull up, the time it takes to reset a deadlift with the bar on the ground, the pause of the bar on your chest in a bench press

The third number/letter (X) – CONCENTRIC

• The “UP” part of a movement
• Standing up a back squat, pulling the body up for a pull up, standing up a deadlift, pressing a bar up for a bench press, etc
• NOTE: ‘X’ means explode, or do so as fast as you can, ‘A’ means assisted, and a number represents completing the movement over the course of a given time in seconds

The Fourth number (2) – ISOMETRIC HOLD

• The “HOLD” part of a movement at the reset point of the movement
• The top of a squat before you go into your next rep, the hold of a pull up at the top over the bar, the pause at the top of a deadlift, the pause at the top of a bench press before you move into your next rep, etc.

Incorporating TEMPO into your workouts can help mobility in 2 ways:

1. It ensures you perform the movement properly and make adjustments as you complete the movement, which allows you to bias and use stabilizers you may not use as much when training at full speed.
2. It creates more “time under tension” which, if movements are being executed at full range, provides more stability in your movement. When you complete similar movements in your job or sport, you are less likely to get injured as you have greater stability through movement.

Keep in mind, I have nothing against stretching and foam rolling. But, if you’ve been doing these things to no avail, changing a few pieces around your workouts may have more impact on improving mobility.

For myself and the athletes I work with, incorporating these elements has significantly improved mobility, reduced injury occurrences, and led to less daily aches and pains. Pick one to try for your next training session.

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Shoulder injuries are some of the most common in functional athletes. The high demands we place on our complex and intricate shoulder joints can mean tears, tweaks, impingements, and a whole host of nagging issues. Check out this blog and arm yourself with some reliable tactics for recovering from and preventing shoulder injuries.

Brandon Robb is the founder and head coach of HEROIC Athletics @heroic.athletics — he’s worked with athletes for over a decade. First responders (fire, police, military), golfers, Crossfitters, obstacle course racers, and hockey players all turn to him for performance gains, injury prevention, and competition prep.

How to Heal Shoulder Injuries

Shoulder injuries are no joke. They can be frustrating, painful, and completely derail your training progress. Time and time again, I see athletes take HUGE steps back to deal with an injury.

You’ve probably heard the term R.I.C.E – which stands for Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation. This term was actually coined in the 1970’s by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, MD, who actually recanted his original advice later in 2015 saying that ice and rest likely causes more of a delay in recovery than they do in support of recovery.(1)

Today, there are a number of acronyms that can work, but ultimately one of the best forms of recovery can be summed up in one word: movement. With a proper plan and approach, you can train around a pesky shoulder injury and come out stronger than ever.

I hold various certifications like Corrective Exercise Specialist and Mobility Specialist. I’ve been training clients for well over a decade. But at the end of the day, I don’t know your specific limitations and injury history.

Consult a physical therapist or medical professional on your own unique circumstances before implementing any new protocol. This guide is simply to provide you with ammo to ask your professional the right questions.

Step 1: Keep Training

In many cases, I encourage my clients to continue training while we modify their program around their shoulder injury so as not to exacerbate it. This may mean a temporary shift in program goals, but keeping consistent can help recovery in so many ways.

It may seem counterintuitive, but training while injured can actually help expedite recovery. First, continuing to train helps maintain your cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, and prevent muscle atrophy, which can all aid in the recovery process (2, 4).

Exercise has been shown to have a positive effect on pain perception, mood, and overall psychological well-being, which often helps athletes cope with the stress and frustration of being injured (3, 5). It’s important to note that the type and intensity of exercise should be tailored to the injury and your capabilities, and should always be done under the guidance of a healthcare professional (6).

It just doesn’t make sense to throw away all your hard work and crush chips on the couch while you “get better” — even if your training now looks like taking frequent walks, focusing on your endurance capacity or hammering your posterior chain only. Just keep moving.

Step 2: Do Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs)

To start the recovery process, I focus on improving mobility and maintaining control of the shoulder joint. Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) were my go-to for this step.

Check out this detailed video for how to perform shoulder CARs. Keep your focus on the rotational aspect and really hitting those end ranges without getting a pain response from your shoulder.

The key here is to remember the following:

• Make sure you that you are completing these small to start – avoiding pain.
• Gradually increase the range of motion each day/week over time to ensure proper progression and regain full access to the joint.

My wife (who is a physiotherapist) and I typically advise clients to start with “baby CARs” and gradually make them bigger over time. This helps get blood flow back into the joint and helps you regain range of motion sooner than later in the process.

Step 3: PAILs & RAILs

There are three ways in which a muscle usually contracts: concentrically (muscle gets shorter), eccentrically (muscle gets longer) or isometrically (the muscle length remains unchanged, as the force being applied is equal to the force you are able to use).

Isometric contractions can be immensely helpful in creating stability. Think of a regular plank hold — nothing is moving. But it is a shit-ton of work to hold it over time. Same goes for if you tried to stand a back squat up that was just a little too heavy. You sit at the bottom of a squat and re-evaluate your life choices, while you try with everything you can to stand up. That is essentially an isometric contraction: trying to move the joint/limb/weight/etc, but the force on you is more than you can move.

Once you have better range in the affected joint, you can implement some PAILs & RAILs protocols to help you build back stability in the joint with little risk for re-injury.

Caution here, the goal is to always remain pain free. Discomfort = good. Pain = bad.

PAILs (Progressive Angular Isometric Loading) and RAILs (Regressive Angular Isometric Loading) are isometric loading protocols that were a game-changer for me in bouncing back from my own shoulder injury.

External Rotation

Felxion

Extension

These two are also incredibly useful, depending on your symptoms:

• Shoulder Sleeper Stretch PAILs & RAILs
• Shoulder Abduction PAILs & RAILs

Again, my professional advice is to NOT try these completely on your own. Pony up, pay for a session with a knowledgeable and certified PT, and make sure you’re executing these movements correctly.

Step 4: Start Adding Load

Say you’re on vacation with the family at an all inclusive resort. Dinner time rolls around and you decide to hit the buffet. This particular buffet is known around the world for having the best, most delicious food from all over the world. So you go all in, load up your plate with all your favorites.

You sit down at the table and see your spouse has loaded their plate with food you didn’t even see. You get up and grab a second plate. Next thing you know, you have 3 empty plates, 4 empty dessert plates and a stomach ache.

When coming back from an injury, don’t try and jump head first into all of your training. The key here will be to GRADUALLY add weight back into your upper body workouts.

This stage often carries the greatest risk for re-injury, as many athletes feel they’re 100% recovered, but in reality their joint is only about 70-80% ready.

Make sure that you take things slow. Lift lighter weights than you think you should and increase VERY gradually.

This approach, combined with an effective warm up and proper progressive training plan, will have you back to slaying it in the gym pain free.

Good luck in your training, Heroes.

References

1. Mirkin, G. (2019). Why Ice Delays Recovery. Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health E-Zine. Retrieved from https://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/why-ice-delays-recovery.html
2. Loenneke JP, Wilson JM, Marin PJ, Zourdos MC, Bemben MG. Low intensity blood flow restriction training: a meta-analysis. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012;112(5):1849-1859.
3. Penedo FJ, Dahn JR. Exercise and well-being: a review of mental and physical health benefits associated with physical activity. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2005;18(2):189-193.
4. Roig M, O’Brien K, Kirk G, et al. The effects of eccentric versus concentric resistance training on muscle strength and mass in healthy adults: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2009;43(8):556-568.
5. Schuch FB, Vancampfort D, Richards J, Rosenbaum S, Ward PB, Stubbs B. Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias. J Psychiatr Res. 2016;77:42-51.
6. Topp R, Woolley S, Hornyak J 3rd, Khuder S, Kahaleh B. The effect of dynamic versus isometric resistance training on pain and functioning among adults with osteoarthritis of the knee. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2002;83(9):1187-1195.

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Fred Ormerod is a freelance coach, army reserve medic, nurse, master’s student, and massage therapist. He’s spent a decade working in healthcare and five years coaching in one of Edinburgh’s leading training facilities.

Here he explains everything you need to know about foam rolling based on science and his experience as a massage therapist and coach.

Is Foam Rolling Necessary?

Honestly, most of my athletes don’t foam roll. Most of them train often enough that simply running, performing a dynamic warm-up, or their sport induces enough of a circulation boost to outdo the positive effects of a foam roller.

If they get injured, they come to me or my team to fix the problem in the clinic. (That being said, if something is causing you an abnormal amount of pain, see a professional!!)

Studies show that foam rolling before your sport might also hinder performance, especially if your sport required sprinting and/or jumping. This is because increased muscle-tendon stiffness is more advantageous for explosive movements.

So is foam rolling necessary? In my opinion, no. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any benefits.

To understand how to use your foam roller correctly, you need to understand the science behind your muscles. And know how not to use it.

Foam Rollers: Not For Tendons, “Knots,” or Back Cracking

A big mistake people make is foam rolling their tendons. Tendons are very stiff and strong. They also tend to have very poor circulation (which is why they often take so long to recover). Because of this, foam rolling is going to do very little for them and it’s going to f*cking HURT!!

Some people enjoy the sensation of a foam roller and pain (aka masochists). More often I hear people enjoying the relief from a back crack when lying on a foam roller. (I admittedly do.)

The Truth About Back Cracking

Spinal manipulation (back cracking/popping) is rarely anything more than a change in pressure in the joints of the spine. It sometimes creates temporary relief by affecting the parasympathetic nervous system and how neurons pick up pain signals.

Further research is needed to confirm the positive outcomes of spinal manipulation. Most of its benefits are reportedly due to “anti-nociceptive reflexes” from the body, the same way that hot or cold therapy produces shock proteins that help immunity and recovery.

So essentially, the positive outcomes from manipulating the spine come from a response to damage.

To get a proper stimulus in this sense, the action needs to be high velocity and low amplitude. It’s best performed by a registered chiropractor rather than yourself in the corner of the gym.

Not for Knots

“But Fred… I have a huuuge knot in my shoulder that feels better when I foam roll!”

The definition of “knots” varies across the literature in the medical/sports world. Some consider them a build-up of lymph (the clear fluid you see at the edge of a cut or scab).

Others consider them to be areas of muscle tension that are “hyperechoic,” meaning they bounce back lots of sound waves during an ultrasound.

In my experience, what people consider “knots” are simply tight areas along the edge of defined muscle groups.

Usually, it’s a tight levator scapula, the tendon that attaches to the shoulder blade. If your levator scapula sits under contraction for hours (from driving, sitting at a desk, etc.) it becomes inflamed, possibly hypoxic (lacking oxygen), and sore.

Giving it a good prod with a massage gun or massage ball temporarily improves circulation, but the clicking/popping sensation is just the tendon rubbing over the bone and other tendons/muscles around it.

The ultimate cure (after the symptom relief from medication and/or massage), is movement and training the area properly. Not rolling around in pain.

Best Uses for Your Foam Roller

Like I mentioned before, foam rolling comes with a few benefits that speed up your recovery process (or at least make you feel like it).

1. Increasing Circulation

To improve circulation via foam rolling, I recommend doing 2-4 second passes over a selected muscle for 1-3 sets for 30-120 seconds per set.

This replicates a technique in massage called effleurage, or “flushing.” Effleurage gives a slight boost to the circulation of your blood and lymphatic system.

This circulation temporarily reduces the interstitial space between muscle fibers (where the chemicals that cause DOMS reside), reducing the feeling of soreness.

Here’s a video of me and one of my team members performing effleurage on a boxer before and after a fight:

2. Improving Mobility

I use foam rollers with athletes who need help mobilizing certain areas.

For example, when you lay on the floor with the roller up your spine to just under the cervical spiny process (the bony bit at the bottom of your neck/top of shoulders), it becomes much easier to dissociate the neck for mobility drills.

This is a great drill if you suffer from neck pain. I even used it myself when I suffered from whiplash.

For thoracic and lumbar mobility, I recommend wall rotations. Kneel next to a wall, and hold a foam roller between the inside of your outside knee and the wall. Keeping upright, open out your chest/arms to touch the wall behind you.

3. Fixing Squat Patterns

Foam rollers are a great tool to improve your squat form. Hold the roller (either length- or width-ways depending on the desired outcome) between your knees, perform a full, deep, controlled, slow squat.

If you’re up for a challenge, try it with your heels raised. This helps you reach a full range of motion if you struggle to squat without knee valgus/varus (knees falling in or out).

4. A Cushion While Lying on the Floor

I know an athlete who buys every gadget going: sauna bag, EMS, massage gun, coffee roaster, phones, apps, the list goes on and on.

He told me the best use for his (stupidly expensive) foam roller is using it as a cushion while he lies in his sauna bag on his living room floor, so he can watch TV at the perfect angle.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s a very good use.

Your best bet for improved mobility and recovery is to build longer, stronger muscles through a complete range of motion.

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Dr. Matthew Styf, PT, DPT is a certified clinical orthopedic specialist and S&C coach based out of Massachusetts. He brings a unique viewpoint to the strength training community as both a coach and physical therapist with extensive experience helping athletes/patients return to their desired activities. Here, he explains the how and why of three important exercises every athlete needs to include when rehabbing injuries.

Requirements for a Full & Faster Recovery

The loads your body has to manage during training are immense. The force from running alone is about 2-4x your body weight. Factor in jumping and landing, and you realize your body is an incredible creation that most people take for granted. But remember, just because you’re moving pain-free doesn’t mean you’re ready to return to your sport.

There are a lot of aspects to training when you’re returning to sport. I’m not going to get into how different injuries require different reps/sets (because they certainly do), but I am going to stress the importance of including all types of muscle contractions into your rehabilitation for the fastest and safest recovery.

Isometric Exercises: Manage Pain & Improve Max Force

Isometric contraction happens when the muscle is not changing in length. This type of exercise is often overlooked in both rehab and training but is increasingly becoming more popular.

Isometrics are great for pain management as well as reaching max force outputs. Push isometrics are great at improving force production and reaching max force outputs, and holding isometrics are great for developing breaks of movement.

An exercise that utilizes both pushing and holding isometrics is the split squat. It’s enough to set up and is easily adapted to both pushing and holding. Just be sure you’re not pushing for too long or holding for too short. I recommend pushing no more than five seconds and holding for at least 30 seconds.

Eccentric Exercises: Build the Brakes & Develop Power

Eccentric muscle contraction happens when the muscle is lengthening (like an RDL). This is how your body controls movement.

Eccentric exercises are great in conjunction with plyometrics to develop deceleration and explosive power. Deceleration is a crucial skill to develop when it comes to preventing future injuries and properly absorbing force.

Strengthening with eccentric exercises can be done in a number of ways, but it doesn’t need to be fancy to be effective. The simplest way to add eccentrics to your training is by using bands. (Don’t underestimate the power of bands – check out this blog on building back muscles with bands if you need proof: Banded Back Exercises You Can Do Almost Anywhere.)

A pseudo form of eccentrics is using tempo to control the descent, which is also a great way to practice mastery of certain exercises. The bench press and back squat are the most common eccentric exercises people do.

Concentric Exercises: Gain Strength & Get Explosive

Concentric muscle contraction is the one we all know and love: the shortening of the muscle fibers (like a bicep curl). These aren’t all about max strength though, especially when it comes to recovering from an injury. Do you need to be strong? Of course. But do you need to test your max strength frequently? Probably not as often as you think.

Concentric training is all about intent. If your goal is to become explosive and gain a competitive edge, you need to make sure you have periods of moving light-moderate weights quickly as well as working near that 1 RM.

Squats and deadlifts are some of the easiest and most effective concentric exercises to incorporate into your programming.

Coach’s Tip: Concentric training at lower reps is great for maintaining in-season strength.

So which is the most important when it comes to rehabbing your injury: isometric, eccentric, or concentric exercises?

None of them is more important than the other. They all need to be used throughout the various stages of year-round programming to both recover from and prevent injury.

Don’t forget to program plyometrics, agility, and sprinting as well! These activities assist with developing tissue stiffness and resiliency. Just make sure you aren’t going from 0 to 100 – start simple (like agility ladders) and build up to more complex movements.

The key is to strengthen throughout all muscle contractions and movements. This builds a resilient foundation that gets you back to your training stronger than before!

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Fred Ormerod is a freelance coach, army reserve medic, nurse, master’s student, and masseuse. Working out of one of Edinburgh’s leading training facilities, he’s been fixing people for over a decade. He works with athletes across the spectrum, from limping and injured to national and international champions. Here, he sheds light on what he sees as the most effective recovery methods among his athletes.

What is Muscle Recovery?

DOMS, although not completely understood, is likely caused by a build-up of inflammatory compounds (such as creatine kinase) after exercise in response to damage done to muscle fibers.

Intentional recovery speeds up the repair process of these damaged fibers into stronger, faster, taller, or longer ones depending on the training stimulus.

Ideally, you want to strike a balance between training and recovery so that you’re still making gains while allowing time to let those muscle fibers build back up.

Techniques that aid in the muscle recovery process help refine that balance and allow you to stick to your training schedule. Make sure you’re tapping into some of these tried-and-true methods for healing that muscle damage.

1. Active Recovery

· Increased circulation/blood flow. This helps with DOMS by “flushing out” built-up inflammation.

· Increased training volume of underused muscles. This is useful in training underdeveloped/underused muscles and preventing injury as long as the intensity doesn’t get too high.

· Increased skills and “brain training” volume. Many coaches use mental skills such as responding to lights changing or word games as part of active recovery.

Active recovery varies from athlete to athlete, but some examples are yoga, easy cardio sessions, walking/jogging/hiking, stretching, and core/hip activation exercises.

2. Massage Therapy

Massage is many people’s favorite means of recovery. While there is some debate about the physiological effect of all massage therapies, it certainly does reduce pain in athletes (perceived or otherwise).

Some evidence suggests massage is one of the best ways to prevent/treat DOMS by increasing acute circulation and reducing space between muscle fibers for toxins to build up.

There are all different types of massage: deep tissue, METs, shiatsu, foam rolling, etc. As a sports massage therapist, I suggest you find one that makes you feel best and prioritize it at least once a month.

A Note on Massage Guns (Are You Using Yours Right?)

Massage guns are often debated among sports therapists. While evidence suggests they’re good at stimulating muscle fibers when used as part of a warm-up, their use as a recovery tool raises some questions.

Athletes who spend hours vibrating in the corner of the gym, forcing a massage gun deeper into their pec might be missing the point of the gun and deep tissue massage.

Massage guns are designed to apply a “tapotement” or tapping technique, which stimulates the nerve endings of a muscle. This tapping defeats the purpose of digging in deep since the machine removes the firm pressure you’re trying to apply 120-200 times per minute. When you spend too much time applying the tapping stimulation, your muscle doesn’t have a chance to relax.

I’ve had clients in my clinic who have caused themselves burns due to friction from overusing massage guns! Don’t do this!! Better to use the gun for shorter durations of time and at lighter pressures.

3. Hot/Cold Therapy

There are a few studies that show creatine kinase levels (an enzyme that may indicate recent muscle damage) are similarly lower after both. Some research suggests hot and cold (rather than just hot or cold) has a pumping/flushing effect, which might help further improve your recovery process.

Again, I recommend the temperature that you prefer and works best for you.

Some athletes use giant stand-in/sit-in freezers for cryotherapy, infrared saunas, plunge pools, and hot baths. There can be a cost barrier though, but you don’t have to invest a lot of money to reap the benefits of hot/cold therapy.

Personally, I alternate between using a sauna blanket and swimming in the ocean. Check with your gym to see if they have a sauna/steam room — many gyms offer these for free!

4. Alternative Medicine: Cupping, Gua Sha (Muscle Scraping), and Acupuncture

Ancient Chinese techniques claiming to increase circulation and “remove toxins” certainly cause some controversy in the therapeutic communities. (The fact that they can be performed without a license in some countries definitely doesn’t help.) The most common of these techniques are:

• Cupping, where practitioners use a cup to vacuum the skin and muscles away from the body, loosening stuck tissues and creating a round bruise.
• Gua sha, which uses a tool (made of bull horn, stone, or metal) to scrape along muscle fibers, again causing localized bruising.
• Acupuncture, where tiny needles are inserted at specific points to alleviate pain.

In all three techniques, some research shows an acute, local increase in circulation and immune response, while other research shows little to none.

But most studies DO show a reduction in reported pain by patients. This is an important factor to consider in the 2,000+ year continued use of these techniques. Athletes are always chasing ways to relieve muscle tension and pain.

Two studies published recently found that regular gua sha improves relative perceived exertion (RPE) when Olympic lifters performed cleans and snatches at 85% of their 1 rep maximum.

This is certainly something I have seen in my own patients who come in for cupping/gua sha before a competition. I can think of a few who hit new PRs in the days after such therapies.

The best way to know for sure what works is to try it yourself. If you find relief in these methods, by all means, use them to your advantage!

5. Mindfulness/Meditation

Practicing mindfulness is a great method to manage stress and anxiety, which in turn helps with sleep and muscle recovery.

There are many apps and tools out there to practice mindfulness and meditation. I personally use Headspace, but if you don’t want to download/buy an app, there’s a plethora of guided meditations on YouTube you can use for free.

Another method I tried and liked, especially when I was working long night shifts in the British military, was the Wim Hof Method. I found essentially hyperventilating and learning to control your breath to eventually cause an oxygen deficit can be incredibly calming and energizing. This method does come with some risks though, so use at your own discretion!

So, which of these methods is best for speeding up muscle recovery? I believe the greatest factor in recovery for all athletes is RPF or RPR (relative perceived fatigue/recovery).

Athletes who believe they’re recovered and feel fresh/mobile often perform better than those who believe they’re fatigued. This is basically the sports therapist philosopher’s equivalent of “I think therefore I am.”

Try a few of these methods out, find what works best for YOU, believe in your process, and see the hard work pay off.

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Ryan Tomanocy is a CSCS, certified CrossFit Level 1 trainer, and USA Weightlifting sports performance coach. In this article, he explains why sleep is the low-hanging fruit to improving your fitness along with five actionable strategies for better bedtime habits.

The Sleep Struggle Is Real

“Want XYZ, YOU SHOULD GET MORE SLEEP.” Yeah, yeah…we’ve all heard it. And how many times have we actually tried to make a change to get more sleep? For 99% of us (myself included), the answer is ZERO times.

As I’m sure you know, the research on the benefits of sleep for a healthy lifestyle is VERY conclusive. “Exercise, sleep, and nutrition form the triangle of health, and all are related,” says Dr. Phyllis Zee, a professor of neurology and director of Northwestern University’s Sleep Health Centers. For one, her research has shown that a proper night’s sleep (7+ hours) results in more productive training sessions later that day.

But seriously though, why don’t we ever try to make a change to improve our sleep? I see a few reasons:

1. Most folks don’t know where to start.
2. Marketing leaves out sleep and instead highlights the sexier stuff – diet, exercise, supplements, etc.
3. It’s not easy to commit to making sleep improvements.

So many people would rather try going keto, changing training programs, or popping an ashwagandha reishi supplement to see if that helps them lose fat, gain muscle, improve energy levels, get stronger, look better naked, make a billion dollars next year, etc.

But what if getting more high-quality sleep moved the needle more than all of the above interventions combined?

Let’s buck the status quo and jump in. Here are five strategies you can implement TONIGHT to get better sleep.

Move Your Body

Not surprisingly, physical activity has a lot of scientific benefits that lead to higher-quality sleep. Exercising outdoors boosts your oxygen levels while Vitamin D helps regulate your circadian rhythm. This keeps you calm and your bedtime consistent, giving you a restful night’s sleep.

The opposite is also true. Lack of sleep leads to crummy training sessions and a negative effect on recovery. When you don’t get enough sleep (or the quality of your sleep is poor), muscle recovery slows. That means you might end up feeling much sorer for longer than you should without seeing much progress.

Get Your Light Right

One of the easiest ways to get into “rest mode” is to adjust your exposure to light.
When you’re exposed to light (like blue light from a screen), your brain stops producing melatonin, the sleep hormone. This makes you feel awake and alert. And there’s no doubt that doom-scrolling or binge-watching keep your mind racing when you’re trying to relax.

Consider turning off your screens an hour before shut-eye. Worst case, use an app like Flux to dim the light from your computer in the evening.

FYI: some studies have shown that exposure to even small amounts of fluorescent light can increase insulin resistance, yikes.

Prep Your Sleep Space

Remove electronics from your bedroom — including your TV — keep the room cool and as dark as possible. Keep your sheets clean, your pillows comfortable, and try some sort of white noise in the background. (You can buy an actual white noise machine, but my wife and I use a $30 fan we got from Costco that works just fine.)
If you really want to nerd out on the best sleeping setup, check out feng shui tips for the bedroom by interior designer, Julie Khuu.

Keep Your Hygiene in Check

Take a warm shower! This is a foolproof sleep-inducer for me. Get into bed clean. If you’re a light sleeper, try earplugs and/or a sleep mask. For dry climates, a good humidifier can be a lifesaver.

If you’re known to snore heavily, consider doing a sleep study to see if you have sleep apnea. While the CPAP machine isn’t the sexiest device, it can absolutely change your life if your sleep is constantly interrupted by breathing troubles.

Maintain a Bedtime Routine

According to the National Sleep Foundation, actively building a healthy nighttime routine makes it easier to get the sleep you need on a consistent basis. For example:

• 7pm: Dinner
• 9pm: Screens Off
• 9:30pm: Read
• 10pm: Shower
• 10:30p: In Bed

Follow some sort of bedtime routine and your new norm becomes falling asleep quickly, sleeping deeply through the night, and seeing your health, fitness, and performance goals become a reality.

How to Successfully Change Your Sleep Habits

1. Pick 1-2 actions today that are the most sustainable for you long-term. In other words, if we fast-forward 3 years into the future, have you continued to follow these habits? Can you commit to getting in bed 15 minutes earlier and 3×20 minute workouts each week? Great, start there!

2. If you find that one of these actions doesn’t seem to help (after trying something for 3 or more weeks), then scrap it!

3. Go down the list and incorporate a new habit. Maybe taking a shower before bed doesn’t work for you, but what about a warm cup of tea?

4. Play with some of the extras I’ve noted below.

5. Talk with your doctor. My wife had a sleep study prescribed to her and it provided some really helpful insights!

Bonus: Tips to Fall Asleep Faster

Breathwork: Try five minutes of focused breathing before bed. I love the Box Breathing Method after training sessions and before bed. I’ve even used it in my pre-bed shower.

Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and repeat for 6-10 rounds.

Sleep Supplements: Personally, magnesium really helps me to sleep more soundly. And most health professionals would point out that the large majority of folks are deficient in it.

My wife uses melatonin on an as-needed basis. Brands like Beam and other CBD products are great places to start with supplements.
Talk to your doctor and don’t forget to read the product labels. Chronic use of most sleep aids will blunt their effectiveness over time, so use them only when you need them.

Meditation: If you’ve never meditated before, check out the Headspace app, Reveri hypnosis app, a sleep podcast, or something similar. There’s a lot of guided meditations out there that are great for clearing the mind.

New Position: Try a new sleeping position, add a pillow between your knees, and scan this article from Dr. Hennoch describing pro’s and con’s of each position!

Control Your Temperature: Try out the Eight Sleep Mattress Cover to customize your and your partner’s preferred sleeping temps. I’ve heard GREAT things about these from folks I really trust, including Dr. Huberman of the HubermanLab podcast. (Here’s one of his ToolKit summaries on sleep, if you’re a nerd like me!)

If you’re serious about your health, fitness, and performance goals, then a full 7+ hours of sleep every night is essential.

Remember that it’s a process and not everything will work right away. Commit to finding a good sleeping routine that works for you, and you’ll see dramatic changes in your mood and fitness performance. (I know I have!)

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If you love to train, chances are you’ve run into this issue: how do I manage my stress — good and bad — so I can keep making gains? Am I over-training? Under-training? How do I keep track?

Joshua Walters is a sports PT and USAW-L1 strength coach with a passion for building better humans. His fusion of music, stoic philosophy, and lifting adventures have encouraged his lifelong love of learning and coaching. Check out his top two methods for approaching load management in your training.

Tracking Your Workouts Keeps The Balance

Fitness and exercise are fun, especially when you’re seeing progress at the gym, in the mirror, or in your performance. But what happens when your #gainz slow down? Or your progress looks limited, or things are trending in the wrong direction?

Before jumping ship completely on your journey, take a look back at what you’ve been doing (or not doing) and you may find the missing pieces to the puzzle. It’s time to check in with your training, because you should be able to keep making progress while reducing the chance of injury. The kind of training philosophy I’m focusing on here is called load management.

First, let’s clarify a few terms.

• Good Stress: Exercise, positive relationships, things that feel good but require energy
• Bad Stress: Negative life events, increased anxiety, illness, experiencing loss
• Load: Overall stress from exercise, work, sleep, life, etc
• Volume: Sets and reps
• Intensity: How hard are you pushing/working? (See this blog on RPE.)
• Injury: More than sore, being unable to complete a movement/activity due to pain

#1. Are You Ready To Train Today?

Life is stress management. If we were to make a simple equation of understanding stress and how we adapt it would look something like this:

Good Stress + Bad Stress = Life (Homeostasis/Baseline)

When we’re exercising or looking to make body changes in a consistent fashion, good stress needs to be higher than bad stress to drive a more positive adaptation (ie. improved running pace, weight loss, increased 1 rep max, etc).

On the flip side, if we have too many negative stressors in life or things become off balance (added work or family stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition habits, illness) it can lead to more negative adaptations when left unchecked.

As a coach and physical therapist, knowing how prepared a client or athlete is can highlight the impact other life factors have on your exercise and your capacity to work toward your goals. This means checking in with your balance of stressors in life and how you feel going into a workout session.

TrainHeroic has a really useful Readiness Survey that can easily keep track of your stress trends to gauge how mentally and physically ready you are to train. You can also see how your readiness lines up with your progress.

This doesn’t mean that you can only train when you feel perfect. But if you see a stretch of workouts with some low scores where those workouts seemed really hard, use that information to see what you might need to change in your routine.

When readiness is low, your best bet is to make sure you get enough sleep and adequate hydration. These are the two biggest positive habits that are easy enough to fix and have the greatest carryover for your fitness and body transformation.

#2: Are you over OR under-training?

Overtraining and undertraining can have similar impacts on reaching your goals and your chances of injury. If you spend all winter doing nothing and then go for a 10k run on a whim, there’s a high likelihood you’ll be managing some sort of acute overuse injury.

On the other hand, if you’ve been training too hard for too long, the likelihood of a chronic overuse injury goes up as well. Finding a “sweet spot” with exercise and stress management is a moving target impacted by numerous factors at any given time, but two of the biggest factors are overall volume and intensity.

Signs of Overtraining

When looking at your training log, can you see if you made big jumps in weight or overall volume in a short amount of time? Did you suddenly take all of your exercises to failure?

When you feel heavily drained every day and disinterested in your workouts, it could be a sign of overtraining. Your sleep and nutrition might even be trending down. In that case, prioritize your rest days and have a plan. Maybe you need a deload week or a series of active recovery days where you do something different. (Fitness for fun!) And chances are you should probably stretch and foam roll more often during off days.

Make sure to put rest days more consistently into your routine and find ways to vary your intensity and volume enough to build your physical adaptations toward your goals.

Signs of Undertraining

This one can be a little more challenging to identify. Undertraining can be easy to miss, but the most obvious sign is — are you making progress? Does everything feel too easy? Do you experience DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)?

Modify your workouts to increase your intensity once or twice during the week. Add interval training or tempo variations to your exercises so there are days where you feel good stress that you can recover from appropriately. Try a CrossFit class or play a team sport to learn new skills. Get yourself around athletes who work harder than you and have what you want.

The adage “everything in moderation (including moderation)” holds true, even with exercise. With all the information out there, the basics never really change: eat well, drink plenty of water, get enough sleep (8 or more hours on average), and be a good human. If you can keep these things in good balance 80% of the time, your progress is bound to come!

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As most athletes know, injuries come with the job description. Working with a physical therapist can make all the difference in the world. But did you know some bodybuilding training concepts make for excellent prehab/rehab principles?

Fred is a strength and conditioning coach, an army reserve medic, a nurse and a masters student working out of one of Edinburgh’s leading training facilities. He’s been fixing people for over a decade and works with athletes across the spectrum, from limping and injured to national and international champions. Read on to learn more about his hypertrophy-based approach to injury rehab.

Injuries Are The Worst

Every gym enthusiast knows how frustrating it is to train around an injury. Just when your lifts are getting bigger and pumps are getting sweeter and sweatier, a heartbreaking ping in one pec crushes your dreams of flirting and flexing on a Friday night.

Thus begins the recovery process. Often as long and exhausting as the mental preparation for split squats, recovering from injury has claimed the careers of many aspiring athletes.

As a healthcare professional, I always encourage anyone to seek help from a pro in this scenario.

Now, on the face of it gym bros and PTs might seem like two diametrically opposed groups. But they’re actually two sides of a similar coin in their practiced principles. This main principle is in inducing hypertrophy training to improve muscle integrity and girth.

Any gym rat will tell you that working in a rep range of 8-15 (ish) is the best way to induce a hypertrophy stimulus — this is often echoed by physical therapists. But why?

Why Do PTs Prescribe Hypertrophy Training?

There are a number of good reasons why professional physios would prescribe rehabilitation exercises in these rep ranges:

1. To increase muscle size in a given range of motion

Hypertrophy training will eventually make muscles bigger (win!). Since many injuries cause atrophy in muscle tissues, reversing this withering of injured muscles helps with recovery.

We’ve probably all heard muscular imbalances that cause chronic issues such as neck or lower back pain are improved by readdressing those inequalities. There is certainly some truth to this as building a more stable, well-rounded athletic profile is proven to help reduce injury risk and improve existing injuries.

Simply helping tight muscles grow into the space they’re in has made a huge difference for so many injury cases in my experience (see anyone with tight quads and anterior pelvic tilt but terrific glutes).

2. To work with lower weights

Working in ‘hypertrophy rep ranges’ usually means reducing the weight in an exercise. Having worked with many strength athletes, it’s always amusing to see their face when told to work for more than 3 reps at 60% of their 1 rep max.

For many, lowering the intensity of a session by reducing load might help with the confidence of performing the required rehabilitative ranges of motion. The act of which, with some consistency, will lead to improvements in performance and muscle integrity.

Working with lower weights is sometimes undervalued in strength specific sports (which might be how an athlete gets injured in the first place), so building confidence in these rep ranges with manageable weights is key.

3. To maintain total training volume

Many studies show that so long as training load is maintained and progressively increased, an athlete will get stronger, faster, taller, handsomer, richer etc. The benefit of increasing sets and reps is that a coach or athlete can maintain or even increase total workload even when working at lighter loads and managing injury.

For instance: an athlete ordinarily bench presses 100kg for 3 working sets of 3 reps, but much to their dismay they ‘tweak or tear a tit.’ Should the injury not limit range of motion (like a grade 1 tear/strain), then they might still be able to keep training and they should.

By reducing the weight to <60% of their 1 rep max and increasing the reps to around 10, they might meet the required load for hypertrophy without risking further injury under a load their injured pec can’t handle.

In this case, (100kg x 3reps) x 3 sets = 900kg total volume.
Equally, (45kg x 10reps) x 2 sets = 900kg total volume.

Working at lighter weight can prevent problems with atrophy and even improve long-term outcomes for the injured muscle/tendon.

Important Injury Considerations

Whether or not you’re capable of working in some hypertrophy around your injury depends entirely on the extent of your injury. These are the main issues I see all the time in athletes that come to me with chronic and acute (ish) injuries.

Impaired Range of Motion

The more obvious issue comes with injuries where range of motion (ROM) is heavily impaired. In these cases, working through pain free ranges of motion is a good idea. However, where this isn’t possible or there is simply no ROM at all, there’s a good chance something is fully torn. In this case surgery is in the offing, after which the gym can come calling again.

Chronic Under-Loading

Another rehab issue is under-loading the injured muscle — not providing a stimulus for growth. Recently I was involved in a conversation about an athlete with long-term Achilles pain. When performing calf raises to fix the problem they were only loading up with a 10kg plate. Given that they were well-trained, this represented barely 1/10th of what they could have been lifting, so there was little to no chance of seeing improvements.

They might as well have been carrying around a bigger handbag for the same effect. Once loaded up to a proper working load (100kg+ as it turned out) they saw big improvements in pain and performance. Happy days!

It’s worth noting at this point that one should always start conservatively and sensibly. If you’re new to lifting, 100kg might be an enormous load. If you’re a behemoth powerlifter, the 100kg might even be too little. Relative strength plays a key role in this approach.

Best Ways to Rehab Injuries

Now to get down to the crux of the matter. Here is a list of things to consider when adopting a hypertrophy-based training plan to recover from an injury.

1. Seek medical advice.

This is largely in here so I don’t get some muppet blaming me over social media because they went all gym bro “f*cking send it” and injured themselves more. However, anyone sensibly approaching a plan like this should get some assistance from someone in the know, be it a physio or knowledgeable coach. Not just in order to get a plan (feel free to check out my neck strengthening rehab plan), but having a friend at the gym for assistance can also be a massive help.

2. Actually do your prehab.

The best form of rehabilitation is pre-habilitation (otherwise known as strength training). Simply put, being strong through a given ROM will help prevent getting an injury in the first place. Work with your PT for help on common prehab movements like CARS, plyometrics, blood flow restriction, tissue manipulation, etc. Then actually show up to the gym early and DO your prehab before you train to prime your body for the work.

3. Use progressive, conservative overload.

When you start rehabilitating your injury, start slow and aim to gradually increase intensity and/or load as you go. Remember, if it’s a new exercise starting at a manageable weight should still glean improvements. “Noob gains” apply even to the strongest gym bro when they’re training a weaker or overlooked muscle group… like legs for example. The key word here is conservative.

4. Aim for pain-free ROM.

To quote comedian Tommy Cooper: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this… Well, then don’t do that.” There’s acceptable pain and bad pain in this scenario. Post workout DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) isn’t a bad thing. But if something hurts while training, that’s probably a sign you’re negatively affecting the injury. Be aware of general tightness versus shooting/sharp pain. The goal is to be able to progress through a sticky range of motion with no pain.

5. Use agonist & antagonist training.

As with training in general it’s always worth considering what stimulus the working (agonist) and opposite (antagonist) muscles are doing in a given movement. For example, in a bicep curl the biceps contract and the triceps elongate. If you’re training through a bicep injury, don’t neglect your triceps since they support the action of the biceps.

It’s also worth considering that if you’ve been walking around with an injury, there’s a good chance you’re “guarding” it — protecting it consciously or subconsciously. This can cause all sorts of problems long-term. Years ago I tore a tricep and the greatest issue I faced in my rehabilitative process was sorting out the associated neck and shoulder pain after walking round like a wounded puppy for the two weeks after. To prevent this, think about what muscle groups might be affected by not moving as a result of your injury and…. move them. (Smartly.)

6. Focus on eccentric loading & tempo.

This can be seen as a more advanced training technique for some, but I always encourage its use in rehab. Basically speaking, “do the down bit slow” (unless it’s a cable lat pulldown in which case it’s the “up bit”). Also known as negative or tempo training, eccentric-focused loading places greater stimulus on muscles that are stretching under tension. This means you can lift, avoiding the concentric contraction of an injured muscle, while maintaining a stimulus for growth and strength.

When performed regularly, eccentric training is also associated with improved ROM and decreased DOMS. But beware, if you’re training eccentrics for the first time, you will experience DOMS like never before, hence its usefulness for bodybuilders.

At the end of the day, recovering from an injury is never going to be the most pleasant part of your training process. It’s always worth getting help from gym buddies and professionals alike. Remember, if you train smart and work on gradually coming back from an injury, it’s an important part of your development as an athlete.

Consider using bodybuilding hypertrophy principles around lightly symptomatic injuries to test the waters. Your rehab/prehab process can only stand to benefit from stronger tissues and symmetrical muscle growth!

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HRV is among the buzzy fitness metrics to surface with wearable tech in recent years, but there are good reasons — understanding your heart rate variability in the context of your nervous system is a huge indicator of your overall health. But the terminology and data can be confusing.

Steve Gagliardi is a former D1 lacrosse player and founder of LaxFarmer & BodyBlizzard.com. Based out of Austin, TX, Steve is passionate about creating online resources that research and review the best new goodies in health & fitness. He’s here to guide you through HRV trends, including tips on how to improve your HRV.

Measuring Fitness

Are you actually getting fitter? Let’s run down the list. New squat PR, check. Faster mile time, check. Better sleep, check. But wait a minute… is this the right way to measure progress? The truth is, there are dozens of data points you can use to track improvements in fitness & recovery. However, if you’re looking for a single macro pattern to indicate your overall fitness, it is important to understand your heart rate variability trend.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of the beat-to-beat changes in heart rate. As an athlete, our bodies need to be able to adapt quickly to stress. HRV enables this. So, you might think high HRV means you’re a fitter person — not so fast. An isolated HRV metric tells us very little about our health. Instead, the pattern of our HRV over time is much more important. This is what we call HRV trends.

In this article, we will break down the common mechanisms behind heart rate variability and more importantly, how you can improve your HRV trend to unlock enhanced fitness and recovery levels.

What Is Heart Rate Variability?

Heart rate variability (HRV) measures the variation in time between heart beats. It can be used to indicate how well your body is adapting to stress and can provide important information about your overall health.

Initially, you might assume your heart beats like a metronome at regular intervals. But it turns out that we have natural variability in the spacing between our heartbeats. For example, if your heart beats 60 times per minute, you might assume that it beats once every second. But the time between the first beat and second beat could take 1.1 seconds. And the time between the second and third beat could take 0.9 seconds. Rather than beating at a static cadence, your heart beats at a varied pace. 

This is what we call heart rate variability, and it becomes even more identifiable when measuring in milliseconds.

HRV Mirrors Your Nervous System

Heart rate variability is heavily influenced by whichever autonomic nervous system is most dominant. Broadly speaking, we have two nervous systems: one that is under our control and one that is not under our control. We go about our day breathing, digesting, hearts beating. Ever notice how we are not consciously performing these actions (thankfully)? That’s because our autonomic nervous system regulates them on its own.

The autonomic nervous system divides into two branches: the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system. The parasympathetic system is the “rest and digest” system. It’s the down-regulating system that conserves energy, aids in digestion, and slows your heart rate. The sympathetic system is the “fight or flight system” that makes energy more available (like during a workout), dilates our pupils, slows digestion, and increases heart rate.

So What Does This Have To Do With HRV?

To put it simply, when the sympathetic system is revved up, HRV goes down. When the parasympathetic is in control, HRV goes up. 

As your heart rate speeds up (in sympathetic state), there is less variability between the beats. As your heart rate slows down and your body relaxes, there’s more variability between the beats.

Why Is HRV A Sign Of Fitness?

Heart rate variability is an indicator of how well your body adapts to stress. The more variable your heart rate, the more capable your body can respond to its environment and switch gears between the two autonomic systems. High HRV is an indicator of exceptional cardiovascular health, fitness, and recovery. Low HRV is associated with inflammation, chronic stress, and cancer.

In addition to being an adaptability mechanism, high HRV allows your body to dedicate resources to other areas during athletic performance which is critical for competition. A high HRV reflects a balanced nervous system capable of responding to its environment.
HRV is also a key signal of how well your body is recovering. For example, an elevated morning heart rate (low HRV) can indicate a need for more recovery. Getting poor sleep, drinking alcohol, and eating an unhealthy diet are all contributing factors to a low HRV, and thus your overall recovery.

HRV Trends

HRV is a highly sensitive metric that varies from person to person. If you track HRV with a wearable, you will notice that it fluctuates hour by hour and day by day. When comparing your HRV to other individuals, you’ll notice a wide variance across the board thanks to influential factors such as age, hormones, nutrition, physical fitness and more. Instead of comparing your HRV to others, a better question to ask is, “What is a good HRV trend for me?”

Rather than analyzing your HRV on a day-to-day basis, it’s better to look at the macro trend of your average HRV over a series of months. For example, if you are taking steps to improve your overall fitness, your average HRV will gradually increase over time. Conversely, when you are sick, not sleeping enough, or eating poorly, your average HRV will gradually decrease over time.

To help monitor HRV patterns like this, Oura created a metric called HRV balance, which is generated through a longer-term comparison of your current HRV trend and your personal baseline. In other words, a rolling average of your HRV in the past 2 weeks is compared to your HRV baseline of the past 3 months. This metric presents us with the exact information we want to know — are we trending in a healthy direction or unhealthy direction?

How To Improve Your Heart Rate Variability

Although high HRV is what we strive for in the long run, low HRV can be necessary in specific scenarios like exercise. Putting your body through a strenuous workout will rev up your sympathetic nervous system. This acute “fight or flight” state is necessary for elevating your heart rate during activity. When putting your body through this sort of environmental stress, you are training your HRV to become adaptable.

In addition to exercise, there are plenty of other beneficial ways to improve your HRV trend:

• • Hydration: Post-exercise rehydration positively affects HRV.
  • Sleep: Sleep deprivation is associated with negative cardiovascular functions.
  • Nutrition: Poor diets including trans fats and high glycemic carbs reduce HRV.
  • Alcohol: Alcohol causes your HRV to drop. As a result, many athletes are opting for alternatives like non-alcoholic beer.
  • Acute cold exposure: Cold therapy, like exercise, is beneficial in making your autonomic nervous system more adaptable over time.
  • Breathing exercises: Deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system to improve HRV.
  • Upgrading your evening routine

At the end of the day, HRV is all but one metric to observe when thinking about general health and fitness. If you’re looking to monitor the overall continuum of your athletic readiness & recovery, Train Heroic’s Athlete Pro tools offer better predictions of training stress than wearables that measure HRV.

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