We all tend forget the importance of muscle recovery.  Of course we all notice the lean bodies with the sculpted abs, but how much work did the muscles have to do to get the desired effect?

The more we work our muscles the more our muscles respond by breaking down and rebuilding, which is essentially how we build our muscles.  It seems somewhat contradictory to break down something just to rebuild it, but that is how our bodies respond.  If you put external pressure on your body, it responds by adapting to it and making your body stronger.  Pretty amazing stuff.  As the saying goes “What won’t kill you, will make you stronger!”  So you can see how important muscle recovery really is.

Your rate of recovery actually determines how fast you can get into shape.  Essentially that’s what anabolic steroids do - they greatly enhance the rebuilding process, thereby making the muscles bigger and stronger faster.  But we’re not concerned or interested about taking a midnight trip down to Tijuana, like so many athletes (unfortunately) do. That’s another article all together.

Naturally, the muscle rebuilding process is much slower and depends on a complex chain of events.  I won’t bore you with details but here are the basics: The stimulus (in this case weight bearing exercise) triggers the release of a group of hormones that help with repairing and rebuilding the muscles.  Each hormone in the group has a specific job to do in the building and repairing process.  The rebuilding process is also heavily influenced by external factors, such as exercise intensity, nutrition, and rest.  Exercise (stimulus) releases growth hormones (just one of many hormones) into the blood stream, but the amount of growth hormones released depends on the level of intensity.

When performing exercises with high intensity such as lifting heavy weights while doing full body functional exercises, your body releases more growth hormones which enhances muscle building capabilities as well as stimulating your metabolism (which helps increase fat burning).

Nutrition plays a critical factor in muscle repair, especially dietary protein.  Amino acids from the protein is required to repair the micro-tears sustained to the muscles.  Rest is also a critical factor needed for proper muscle repair.  The process of muscle repair can take a day or two, depending on the individual and activity, so adequate rest / recovery is needed to maximize muscle repair.

On top of all the key factors just mentioned, I’d like to add in a bonus tip.  Soft tissue work. Soft tissue work includes all types sports massages as well as self myofascial release, like foam rolling.  For those of you who have never done “rolling” or self-myofascial release, it’s when you roll a specific body part on a round tube, oftentimes made of a stiff foam material.  I personally use a PVC pipe about 5 - 6 inches in diameter.  You roll up and down on the roller and whenever you hit a “hot spot” you hold the spot for a period of 15 - 20 seconds or until the pain starts to dissipates, and then you slowly roll off the area.

The basic theory behind it is, that while you’re holding the area, you stop the blood from flowing into the area, but as you roll off the area the blood rushes back into that area and helps loosen up extra tight muscles.
For whatever reason, this type of recovery work has not gotten a lot of attention until recently, however, athletes have been using soft tissue work for years for recovery as well as treating injuries.

The studies on the effects of soft tissue work on muscle recovery are pretty limited and some what inconclusive so far.  But as far as my own personal experiences go it’s been absolutely nothing short of amazing.  I do 10 - 30 minutes of self myofascial release a day after I workout and it really helps reduce my soreness the next day.  It’s also been real beneficial in keeping me injury free, by keeping my muscles from getting too tight and avoiding unnecessary muscular imbalance.  And whenever I have a chance I’ll get a deep tissue massage… although it can be quite torturous, I always feel much better afterwards—especially a day later.

The reasons for the effectiveness of soft tissue work are still somewhat cloudy.  Perhaps it’s the extra blood flow that’s promoted in the muscles that helps with the recovery process…  or maybe it helps release other hormonal factors that help accelerate the repairing process…  or maybe it’s all a placebo effect…  I’m not sure, but you won’t see me ditching my roller any time soon. I’m hooked on the “hurt so good” feeling!”

Have you been giving your muscles enough TLC?