.
.

Mind & Body: How to Best Recover from Extreme Training Sessions

Mind & Body: How to Best Recover from Extreme Training Sessions

Guest post by Vladimir Popovic, black belt judo, black belt bjj, master degree in sport science and exercise. Strength and condition coach, specialty – martial arts.

A large number of BJJ athletes around the world are exposed to very high even extreme effort levels, in order to achieve better results in their daily training and competitions. Due to hard work, the enormous scope and intensity of exercise and training leads to over training, bad sports form, injury, illness, loss of motivation for training etc. Certainly the greatest danger of over-training are injuries (were easier or harder).

Modern sports science has developed many methods of practice, organization of training, skills development and so on. The part that has been the most, and that is unfortunately still neglected is recovery in the sport. It is not a challenge to tire an athlete, but to recover him as soon as possible for the next training / competition. Many factors affect the recovery of athletes (level of training, age, sex, pre-load, etc.). Means of recovery can be divided into natural resources recovery, physiotherapy means of recovery and psychological means of recovery.

The natural means of recovery include:

  1. a) Active rest- it can be a low-intensity aerobic training (which promotes more efficient removal of lactic acid and acidic products from the body after a hard workout)b) Stretching – whether actively or passively – done a lot of research on this subject and we confirm to a large extent the effect of stretching in service recovery, in Canada there is even a special clinic, the rare one in the world that deals exclusively therapeutic stretching)c) Passive rest – sleep – very important for the rest of athletes and unfortunately often not sufficiently appreciated in the period of sleep is secreted certain hormones that are recovering and resting the body, the most important is the hormone melatonin).

 

yoga bjj

 

In physiotherapy means of recovery include:

a) Massage- the benefits of massage massages are all widely known; relaxes muscles, improves blood flow and thus the removal of harmful substances from the body, calms the nervous system and so on. There are many types of massage and all are very effective for the organism only when used properly at the right time.

b) Thermotherapy or heat therapy – it can be sauna or hot baths. The effect is similar; causes a vasodilatation, that is, expansion of blood vessels and more efficient blood flow and removing harmful substances from the body, open the pores of the skin, increased sweating and excretion of harmful substances and toxins, positive effect on the mental side of the man so.

c) Cryotherapy or cold therapy – probably the most effective and simplest of all methods of recovery. Cold therapy or ice causes increased blood flow, raises oxygen levels and most importantly rehabilitate micro-traumas in muscles and joints caused during training (which are the most common cause of injury)

d) Contrast baths – alternating the use of heat and cold. Therapy warm cold treatments should be between 40-43 degree difference, duration of 20-30 minutes, with the longer duration provides better results. It is recommended that heat is applied three times longer than the cold. It is advisable to start treatment with cold.

e) Therapy oxygen – height therapy or aero therapy. The air in the mountains, the seashore, near waterfalls is negatively charged. Negative ions in the air look very positively on the human body, especially recovering cardio-respiratory and nervous system.

f) Reflexology – acupuncture and acupressure. Acupuncture and acupressure are traditional Chinese methods of treatment and health care, that science is still not fully proven, but a large number of experts recommended them because of their practical effect. Acupuncture involves the use of special needles and by stimulating certain points on the body, improving certain system in oraganism. Acupressure does not use needles, but his arms as a means of pressure.

  1. g) Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin; practitioners believe this mobilizes blood flow in order to promote healing. Suction is created using heat (fire) or mechanical devices (hand or electrical pumps). Many athletes are practicing this and they swear it helps them a lot.
  2. h) Supplementation – as the word itself says, involves the use of certain chemical substances – drugs, supplements or products that promote recovery and regeneration of the athlete. These are most often vitamins, minerals and various drugs for muscle relaxation.
  3. i) Diet – involves the use of certain foods that are thought to improve health, recovery and sports performance. There are many diets and the best is the one suiting you after some testing and learning about your body.

Psychological recovery resources (special and very vast subject, here we only list, and one of the following texts we will explain in more detail):

– Yoga, meditation, an interview with a sports psychologist, autogenic training visualization deep muscle relaxation Self-Hypnosis control of breathing trigger technique etc.
Recovery in the sport will certainly be subject to further research the area in which you will invest more money and appreciate. Field training has long since reached its peak and has undergone countless studies and experiments, is also written countless books, a huge number of PhDs and the coach is trained in the field of training and so on. Recovery is as important as the training and was nowhere near researched. Training and recovery are two inseparable things and should be as close as possible. Recovery is just as important as training, maybe even more! It remains to be see in the future a development trend of science called “recovery in the sport.” And our advice to you is that if you train seriously begin to seriously address the issue of recovery.