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| Recovery
Begins After the Game |
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Replenishing nutrients is key
to speeding how fast you bounce back.
The second the final horn sounds and teams shake hands,
analysis, preparation and most importantly recovery all
begin.
Recovery starts when you skate back to the locker room. Are you
drinking a sports drink right away to replace lost fluids,
minerals and electrolytes? Are you preparing a recovery drink
that contains protein and carbohydrates with the proper ratio to
restore lost glycogen and promote muscular healing? Are you
spending 10 minutes on flexibility or massage to lengthen and
relax tired muscles? Did you see the trainer and ice your
bruised hip for 20 minutes to minimize swelling and tissue
damage? Did you treat your body the way it needs to be treated
to play great hockey again? We are going to focus on one aspect
of recovery: post-workout nutrition.
There is a process to recovery similar to improvement that
you can follow to make it easy and give you an edge over your
competitors. Sports drinks are an easy way to speed re-hydration
to your cells after a game. This is often the first and easiest
thing for most athletes to do. These drinks are typically all
carbohydrate based and contain electrolytes that help you
recover faster than water. Most drinks contain too much sugar
for optimal absorption, but the sugar does provide some benefit
for glycogen replacement and taste.
When an athlete goes through a workout of moderate or harder
intensity and length, his or her primary use of energy within
the body is stored glycogen. This is a simple carbohydrate your
body can use for fuel. To replenish this stored glycogen, you
can eat and drink normal healthy options at any point during the
days leading up to workouts or games.
After a workout or game, there are three important factors that
can help this process:
1. Timing
At Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, we preach continually
about the 30-minute window athletes have after exercise that
they can maximize recovery. Post-workout, your glycogen stores
are depleted and hungry. There is a 30-minute window of
opportunity that exists to refuel your body, when you can
simultaneously speed recovery and prevent further breakdown. The
sooner you put nutrients back into your body, the sooner your
body can begin to heal its own muscles that are exhausted after
a tough game or practice. Your muscles suffer damage each and
every time you workout, skate, play and practice. How quickly
they recover with nutrition, rest, massage, therapy, etc.,
determine how fast you can be at one hundred percent again.
Studies indicate that it may take 48 hours or more to recover
after rigorous exercise. Who wants to wait two days to play
great hockey again? Start by getting an edge on your opponent
and use your 30-minute window after youre done playing. After
30 minutes, your body will not process beverages or food at an
optimal level. A perfect meal an hour after a game will not help
as much as a drink after getting off the ice.
Timing is everything.
2. Drinking instead of eating
The next concept to understand is that within these 30 minutes,
a liquid beats a solid. Your body will not digest food in time
to beat your 30-minute buzzer, but liquids can be rapidly
digested into the bloodstream. Your post-workout choice should
always be in liquid form if you are taking recovery seriously.
You need to re-hydrate anyway, so think of it as a two-for-one
deal. Your muscles can prevent breakdown and start recovery
while you re-hydrate and restore balance to your body.
3. Content
The final piece to the 30-minute liquid-recovery formula is
content. What do you drink? The older you are, the more
scientific we become. Each and every member of the Boston
University hockey ream has a post-workout shake waiting for him
in the locker room when they skate back after a game. The drink
size may change depending on weight, percent body-fat, playing
time, etc., but everyone will start recovery right away. Their
recovery drink is usually a canned beverage that contains some
protein, a good amount of carbohydrate, and some fat. Gatorade,
Met-Rx, and many other companies have post-workout shakes that
are ready to drink out of a can or simply require 30 seconds in
a blender. These companies make it easy to re-fuel.
For our younger athletes, an ideal post-workout shake is
flavored low-fat milk. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc. all
contain a great ratio of protein to carbohydrate (roughly one to
four) that will speed recovery. They also taste great and will
prevent anyone who is unsure of supplementation from being left
behind. Finally, sports drinks are vital to re-hydrate, but
contain no protein. Sports drinks will provide a much greater
benefit than water or nothing at all, but are not going to have
the same effect as a shake or low fat milk. Use a sport drink to
re-hydrate, and use a post-workout shake to recover.
This process will help you sustain performance by preventing
muscle breakdown and muscular soreness while feeling prepared
and energized to play. Your opponents will soon be asking what
is he or she doing that I am not and how can I get their edge?
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