Recovery products and services are everywhere! Facilities like DENVER Sports Recovery are popping up in major cities nationwide. In her book, GOOD TO GO, award-winning science writer and elite athlete, Christine Aschwanden takes readers on a behind-the-scenes look into how to recover from sports and fitness training.[1] It's no surprise that with growing interest in fitness training (i.e., Strength Training), recovery has become the subject of intense marketing. Everything from dietary supplements and saunas to compression pants and ice baths gets promoted as recovery enhancers. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend Christine's keynote presentation entitled The Science of Recovery at the annual REC Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2] Here's a synopsis of her book and takeaways from her keynote presentation.
Evaluating the science behind modern recovery methods requires critical thinking. Here are five ways marketers mislead consumers. One. Efforts to promote recovery products and services rely on low-quality evidence. In other words, cited references (studies) often come from predatory journals claiming to be legitimate scholarly journals. Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at the University of Colorado in Denver, says these journals are dishonest and lack transparency. Two. Many studies get sponsored by companies with a vested interest, which often influences the study's results. For example, a company that manufactures recovery drinks pays for a study to evaluate the effectiveness of its drinks and then uses the analysis to market its product. Three. Data dredging is also a common practice. Data dredging can otherwise be known as "cherry-picking of promising findings." This practice is considered unethical and a waste of resources. Four. Publishing studies with small sample sizes (very few subjects) is also common. Small sample sizes can prevent study findings from being extrapolated – in other words; they don't yield valid results. Five. Science washing is a modern way to market untested products and services. Science washing involves describing a product or ingredient using scientific-sounding language (toxins, lactic acid, super oxygenated, etc.), which leads customers to believe it's scientifically verified when it's not.
According to Christine, the secret of recovery is that there is no secret. Your body will always recover if you give it time. However, most of us are so preoccupied with doing things that we don't give our bodies exactly what they need: downtime and rest! Since you only benefit from the workouts you recover from, building recovery rituals into your lifestyle is a smart way to ensure you benefit from your Strength Training. Here are Christine's top three recovery rules. Sleep. Sleep is by far the #1 recovery tool. Given that sleep is when adaptation and repairs occur, it's no surprise that sleep deprivation interferes with and harms the recovery process. Prioritizing the quality of your sleep (sleep hygiene) is the first step toward recovery. Manage Stress. Stress management is under-appreciated as a recovery tool. To your body, stress is stress, whether it's physical or emotional. Emotional stress is just as damaging to the recovery process as physical stress. Daily Relaxation. We all need to practice relaxing. Most of us undervalue relaxation because we think we must be doing something all the time. Whether you need sleep, stress management, or relaxation, learning to read your body is the best way to assess what it needs.
Even though modern biosensors (i.e., fit bits, apple watches, etc.) attempt to measure recovery, Christine believes mood is the best measure. At the University of Indiana, Professor Jack Raglin has studied the relationship between mood and exercise for decades. Over the years, Dr. Raglin's research has shown a positive relationship between mood disturbances and increases in training stimulus (i.e., exercise volume, frequency, and intensity).[3] In other words, assessing your mood is a practical way to assess recovery and prevent overtraining. When it comes to mood, our brains are the ultimate tracker. The best mood management tactics are learning to trust yourself and how you feel. At MEDFITNESS, our program design factors in Christine's Recovery Rules. Our brief (25-minute), infrequent (twice-a-week) workouts provide a productive training stimulus without exceeding your ability to adapt and recover!
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Stay Strong,
References
1. Aschwanden C., 2019. Good to Go. New York, NY. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
2. Aschwanden, Christine. The Science of Recovery. REC (Resistance Exercise Conference), Minneapolis, MN. 2022. .
3. Psychological Monitoring of Overtraining and Staleness, British Journal of Sports Medicine. – Vol. 21, No. 3, September 1987, pp. 107-114.