Active Recovery: Make Training More Effective

You train hard and then during the recovery phase you benefit from your work. You can help speed up this process and set up the rest phase by keeping on the move at an easy pace for about 20 minutes. After a hard run, training session or competition doing this recovery phase on a hard surface adds a bit more stress for you to recover from.

The ideal active recovery is in the water. Muscle strain, impact absorption and lactate build up in the blood stream become the challenge to be overcome before the rest and recovery phase gets underway. Taking an easy run in deep water with a buoyancy belt is a better alternative than going for a jog on land. It not only removes the impact and weight bearing issues but helps set up the recovery process faster and more effectively than doing it on land.

Research has shown that lactate removal from the blood stream occurs more than twice as fast due to the hydrostatic pressure around the body when it is submerged up to the neck in water. The buoyancy belt takes the pressure off the muscles and skeletal structure by removing impact and while moving through the water massages the muscles. This means that the body is being prepared for entering the recovery phase quicker and more effectively than doing the same activity on land. Go amphibious and make the most of your efforts.