Active Recovery Workouts

[Akhilleus]

OK gang here it is,

I was reading Men's Fitness the other day and in it was an article by Chad Waterbury...in it he reccomends "active recovery workouts" were you do your regular workout then the next day repeat (I believe just one) of the core movements you did with a very light weight for very high reps (50-60)...he recommends doing about 4 sets of this any day and even more than one day in between workouts...I think the reasoning is that this gets the blood to the muscle and helps it recover quicker...he points to lumberjacks and other professionals who develop great muscles while working those muscles almost every day, or at least more than 1-2 times per week...I was wondering if anyone knows any more about this or can tell me about it as I thinking about changing things up soon and am open to new ideas...

ps the workout details were a little hard to understand so I may not have explained exactly what Waterbury reccomended...

[FooFighter]

For Active recovery in between my workouts, I do "bodyflow" and vibration exercises. The idea of active recovery isnt just muscular but neurologically. Doing the same exercise with lighter load can increase performance "neurologically" and muscularly it helps remove lactic acid or tension from the previous workout and promote better blood circulation.

[AndrewS]

Recovery workouts are based on the idea that doing a low intensity workout involving the same muscle groups increases bloodflow and clearance of breakdown products, while going through the same ROM (presumably giving a stretching effect, which can actually lead to hypertrophy). This will speed recovery and allow you to do more work.

Kurz quotes Talyshev on p121 of Science of Sports Training, stating that recovery work should be done after the body's immediate recovery process has faded (this is in reference to massage, ice, sauna, btw), with recovery measures applied 6-9 hrs later being more effective than those applied 0-3 hrs later (which are actually deleterious, and interfere with the use of said recovery methods the next day).

Personally, I base my recovery workouts on the intensity and nature of my previous workout- I use technical practice, bag work, kettlebell work, bodyflow, and sled-dragging as recovery methods- gentle workouts that don't stress me. Seems to work.

Andrew

[IronFist]

I wonder how ectomorphs would do as lumberjacks.

But yes, I've heard a lot of good stuff about active recovery. I think the key point is to have blood going through the muscles to do all that good stuff it does.

Strangely enough, one day my triceps were really sore from a triceps workout two days prior, and I went and did another triceps workout that day (I can't remember what the sets and reps were like), and then next day I noticed all the soreness was gone. It was crazy.

[Akhilleus]

Thanks guys...I think I will give this a try...can anyone tell me if either of the following possible splits sound better than the other or if both sound good or bad? They are the two I'm considering...

Option 1:

Day 1: Chest, Shoulders, Tris
Day 2: Active Recovery Workout for Chest/tris (40-60 reps on the bench press), and regular workout for back and bis
Day 3: Active Recovery Workout for back/bis (40-60 reps on seated rows or lat pulldows)
Then rest until ready to repeat cycle

Option 2:
Day 1: Chest, Shoulders, Tris
Day 2: 40-60 reps on the bench press
Day 3: Back, Bis
Day 4: 40-60 rows
Then Rest until ready to repeat cycle

I like the first b/c I can get more workouts in and the whole point of this thing is to make my muscles recover quicker so I can work out more...but would that be too hard on my body? The active recovery workouts are only suppose to get blood to the muscles so it's not like they would take that much out of me right? And after all they are "Recovery" workouts...

[FooFighter]

Since you are writing and training like a bodybuilder, then I will help you make your "active recovery" simple. Take your normal load of your selected exercises and divide it in half. Perform three sets of 15-20 reps, resting 30 secs to one min between sets. I hope this help. I would suggest you do something like Bodyflow, but maybe this isnt part of your health and fitness goals.

Bao

[Akhilleus]

Thanks...I'm going to try my first ARW tomorrow!

[Becca]

Since you are writing and training like a bodybuilder, then I will help you make your "active recovery" simple. Take your normal load of your selected exercises and divide it in half. Perform three sets of 15-20 reps, resting 30 secs to one min between sets. I hope this help. I would suggest you do something like Bodyflow, but maybe this isnt part of your health and fitness goals.

Bao
This is kind of dated, but I was taught to do the same workout, but with 1/3 lighter weight and 1/3 fewer reps. After a hard work out, lactic acid builds up in the muscle tissue and starts to crystalize. By doing the same workout but with a 1/3 cut-back, you force blood back into the area. This will create microscopic tears in the muscle fibers as the crystals are forced out. It is supposed to be the healing of these tinny injuries that helps build strength.

This is only for building raw strength, though. If I'm not mistaken, endurance weight training does not build any strength, but teaches the muscle to stream line it's oxygen use and developes the capilary network so the body can get more oxygen into the muscle group and the waste such as carbon monoxide out to prevent the formation of lactic acide, a by-product of carbon monoxide left too long in the tissue.