What Does Science Say About Recovery Strategies? Part 1

In the last blog, we talked about the science of recovery. Hopefully, you now understand why your nervous system takes days to recover after hard training: your muscles send alarm signals that keep the brakes going at multiple levels (including the spinal cord and brain).

So, the harsh reality is that recovery takes time. But, are there ways we can recover more efficiently?

I say, absolutely. There are tons of factors that play into our ability to recover from exercise…and importantly, there are plenty that do not. In today’s blog, we’ll take a deep dive into popular topics and strategies in recovery and evaluate whether they actually improve it or not. Prepare for some myth busting.

Let’s get into it!

Recovery Strategies

Sleep - Ideally, this one is intuitive. The amount of sleep that you get matters. The duration of your sleep and the quality of your sleep (percentage of time in restorative/deep sleep) improve your ability to recover from exercise. I would even go so far as to say that there are no real counterarguments to this (I’m always up for a good debate).

Why does sleep help us recover?

Sleep is where beautiful muscle repair happens. When we restrict our sleep, it’s well documented that this repair process gets disrupted. Not only does our ability to build muscle decrease, but the activation of degradation pathways seems to increase (these pathways actually break down our muscles). We’re hurting our recovery from both sides of the spectrum. How does this happen? A lot of it has to do with hormones (chemical messengers that signal for different processes across our bodies). When we decrease our deep sleep, our hormonal environment changes (think about hormones like Growth Hormone and Testosterone). These changes ultimately decrease our recovery because they slow the repair of muscle tissue. Further reading can be found here (and here).

Pro-tip: aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Don’t have caffeine too late (takes a while to digest and metabolize), so if you’re looking to be ‘optimal,’ I would suggest nothing after 1:00pm, assuming you get to sleep around 10/11:00pm. Of course, sleep is highly individualized, so there is some flexibility here.

Protein-intake - Another recovery feature that is hard to argue with. Protein consumption is critical for muscle recovery. Our muscles contain massive amounts of proteins. In fact, muscle contractions only occur thanks to huge (on the scale of microscopic proteins) proteins within each cell (if you’re a real nerd, check out the sliding filament theory).

Imagine you want to build a really big brick house. The more bricks you have, the bigger the house. And importantly, you can’t build the house without any bricks. In this example, proteins are the bricks, and your muscles represent the house. Now, was that the best metaphor for protein-intake and its contribution to muscle growth? No. But, I think that it’s quite straightforward to grasp that fueling your body with protein increases your ability to build muscles.

How does protein consumption contribute to recovery?

Protein ingestion promotes muscle protein synthesis, reduces muscle protein breakdown, and facilitates muscle repair following exercise-induced damage (learn more). Pretty clear and beneficial all around.

But, while we’re here, I would love to clear up a couple of things. For a long time, the exercise science field was in relative agreement that all of us had what they would call an “anabolic” window; meaning, we had this window of time after we exercise (about 30 minutes) where we were most receptive to protein and this would help us recover more efficiently. However, the last 15 years of research suggest otherwise. In fact, the total amount of protein consumed throughout the day seems to be the best method to maximize our gains. Check out this study to learn more.

Some practical protein fueling advice from the literature: if you’re an endurance athlete, the science recommends ~ 1.2–1.8 grams/per kg of body weight per day, and if you are a power-based athlete, the recommendation is 1.7–2.2 grams/per kg of body weight per day (taken from here).

Also: quality of protein matters, make sure to fuel with protein that includes the following amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Deload weeks - if you’re an athlete, coach, or someone else obsessed with strength and conditioning, there’s a strong chance you’ve heard of the deload (not to be confused with tapering). A deload is a period of reduced training stress (typically around a week) designed to reduce physiological and psychological fatigue, promote recovery, and enhance preparedness for subsequent training (defined here).

In practice, many strength coaches implement deloads throughout their programming. The frequency of the deload depends on the coach or individual, but could happen every 4-6 weeks or so. During a deload, prescribed volume and intensity of exercises decrease (this can take shape in the form of decreased sets and/or reps, as well as decreased amount of weight lifted…at least within the scope of resistance training).

Does deloading improve our recovery?

Is there amazing research to tell us that deloads are fantastic for our recovery? I would argue the answer to that question is no. There is some evidence, but it’s not as much as I’d hoped. I find the most compelling to be along these lines: prolonged training without sufficient recovery could lead to a decrease of the anabolic signalling processes (i.e., muscle building process), so working in short-term periods of deloading could make muscle growth responses more sensitive to training (read more).

My scientist/coach opinion: Deloads have their place in training. Controlled resistance training studies are not easy to implement, and adding another layer of complexity with a deloading structure makes these sorts of studies even more difficult to run. When it comes to structured and progressive training, fatigue tends to accumulate over time. Whether deloads actually make our bodies more sensitive to training, or whether they serve to let accumulated fatigue dissipate, my take is that deloads can be strategically used for recovery. If you’re worried that deloads will decrease your strength, most studies suggest minimal effects…so relax (if you’re suspicious, read this). There’s a reason they’re ubiquitous across the strength training landscape: good coaches understand their athletes’ needs. Sometimes, research isn’t perfect.

Active recovery - this term seems a little paradoxical right? Recovery implies rest, yet, active recovery implies the opposite. Active recovery describes an addition to the end of a training session in which someone typically performs low intensity physical activity, like submaximal cycling, rowing, jogging, walking, yoga, etc. Active recovery is sometimes used to replace training completely, often when too much fatigue has accumulated over a training block, and can also be prescribed instead of a true rest day.

How does active recovery work?

The theory goes like this: increased blood circulation helps clear out metabolic waste from our muscles that build up during exercise (more here). Such low intensity movement is unlikely to interfere with the desired adaptations caused by resistance (or that’s the thought anyway).

Does performance improve thanks to active recovery? Truly, this question is not easy to answer. The literature is a bit mixed.

One study reported that immediately after squatting, light cycling improved lactate clearance and improved post-workout squat performance, compared to passive recovery (link to study). In another study, active recovery after bench press again resulted in better lactate clearance, but, this time, there was no performance benefit (read more). Another study, this time with Olympic-style weightlifters, reported no differences in outcome variables between active and passive recovery sessions, yet there were some individuals who clearly benefitted (link to study). And finally, in one more study comparing active and passive recovery, this time applied after whole-body training, there were minimal differences in outcome variables (molecular and performance-based) between groups.

Really, there is no consensus from a scientific viewpoint. My interpretation goes like this: it seems that the metabolic clearance effect is real…so, within a competition, where you may compete in multiple events, or even in an intense training session where you may have multiple WODs (talking to you, CrossFitters), some active recovery may help with performance. Replacing intense training with active recovery may also be a great way to get blood circulating and avoid fatigue. The long-term effects of active recovery seem a bit more suspicious. If I were programming, I wouldn’t necessarily prescribe this systematically. BUT, some athletes and individuals may feel like active recovery decreases their soreness/stiffness, so why not?

At umo, we know that recovery and readiness are crucial to performance. Regardless of the recovery strategies you choose (or not), our goal is to assess your recovery through nervous system metrics, so you can make the best possible training decisions.

Tune in next week for more of these hot topics in recovery!