Active vs. Passive Recovery: Finding the Sweet Spot Between Too Little and Too Much

[caption id="attachment_17365" align="alignright" width="300"]This is NOT what is meant by passive recovery[/caption]

Active recovery is a recovery technique that relies on a specific type of rhythmic muscle activation to speed up the movement of nourishment and waste.

Passive or inactive recovery is, well, passive. Both ways work. If you do nothing (e.g. sit back, relax, and wait) , you will, if you are otherwise healthy, eventually recover. If you do something (e.g. the proper amount and type of muscle activation), you will, assuming all else is equal, also eventually recover. That said, the main differences between the two recovery techniques are not measured by the “end” result. Instead, the focus of the comparison is the difference in how you feel during the recovery process and how long it takes to fully recover.

Consider this...

Active vs. Passive Recovery: Finding the Sweet Spot

Have you ever finished a race or hard training session and immediately entered a crammed space such as a car, bus, train, or plane and remained there for several hours? Yes or no, the result is always the same: your muscles will feel more tired and/or sore at the end of your trip than they did at the beginning.

Why?

Simply put, remaining almost motionless in a crammed space for several hours post-exertion (ultra-passive recovery ) stifles the flow of nourishment and waste. Net result: you feel worse.

Want a better outcome?

Before you get into that dreaded crammed space, spend about twenty minutes doing, with less intensity, whatever you did to get tired and/or sore. Then, once per hour for at least 10 minutes or so, get up and move all of your tired and/or sore muscles (active recovery).

Too Much or Too Little of a Good Thing

It is very important to avoid over activating your tired and/or sore muscles. Doing so will actually prevent recovery and could easily lead to an overuse injury. Conversely, if you under activate your tired and/or sore muscles, you will marginalize the potential related benefits. Either way, you lose.



So, what is the key to finding the sweet spot between too much and too little ?

Always remember that this is a recovery technique, not a training technique. Thus, if your quads are tired and/or sore from running, go for an easy jog. Likewise, if your glutes are tired and/or sore from cycling, go for an easy ride. And so on. Never do anything that hurts. Focus your effort on activating the muscles in need of recovery (e.g. if you activate the muscles in your left foot, it won’t help the muscles in your right hand). And always … always, expend the least possible amount of energy to achieve the desired result … don’t waste energy!

The goal is to appropriately activate your tired and/or sore muscles until the desired result is achieved

Sounds good, but … you just finished and you do not have the want to jog or go for a light ride or perhaps even stand upright. Besides, your knee and hip are bothering you and you know from experience that “stressing” those joints under those conditions just noted is categorically a misguided and potentially injurious idea. Similarly, if your traps and lower back muscles need “activation,” jogging or going for a light ride are, once again, not a viable option.

Why? Jogging and cycling do not offer the needed rhythmic muscle activation. In fact, those activities usually create more trap and lower back tiredness and/or soreness, not less.

So, what’s the best recovery technique?

http://youtu.be/Q1fHF7VXN-I?t=11s

That’s easy. Use a high-end powered muscle stimulation device to activate your tired and/or sore muscles until the desired result is achieved. I recommend the MARC PRO to all of my clients … it’s easy to use, feels good, and works great.

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[caption id="attachment_17372" align="alignleft" width="280"]Book: ICED! The Illusionary Treatment Option: Learn the Fascinating Story, Scientific Breakdown, Alternative, & How To Lead Others Out Of The Ice Age[/caption]

Gary Reinl's snap shot bio:

Author, speaker, teacher, liaison, manager, spokesperson, franchisor, program designer, strategist, researcher, business owner, personal trainer, husband, father, veteran marathon runner, vegan

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