You’re only as good as your ability to recover.
Stress is a necessary component in training. If we don’t do anything to stress the system and disrupt homeostasis, then we never get anywhere. Conversely if we apply so much stress that we are unable to recover from it we begin to breakdown, overtrain, and risk injury.
Thus, recovery is the name of the game and coaches and scientists are always looking for better ways to influence the body to promote a more advantageous healing environment. Thanks to Dave Tenney for passing the following video of Aaron Coutts lecture on recovery strategies in Australian Rules Football:
I enjoyed Mr. Coutts’ talk and ideas. I especially liked to hear his ideas about performing a lower intensity of work in the 24-48hrs following competition. This period, according to Mr. Coutts, should be devoted to “recovery” so that more intense work can be completed later in the week.
This recommendation contradicts some of the ideas I have heard a few strength coaches make who recommend doing the most intense training session the day following competition so that it is performed furthest from the next competition and the athlete can have greater time to recover before the next game. I often wonder if this recommendation comes from coaches who are not monitoring stress and recovery as much as Mr. Coutts is.
Mr. Coutts’ point about ensuring that the athlete recovers well being the key priority following a game is a very good one and shows that flexibility in the training program is essential. Oftentimes coaches get roped into a very rigid program that they overlook the needs of the athletes in an effort to “stick with the plan”.
Managing stress during the season is a difficult task due to the high number of variables the athlete is dealing with – competition, training, therapy, practice, travel, etc. Ensuring that the athletes’ are well recovered following game day not only helps to manage fatigue and any nagging aches and pains that may follow competitive play but, as Mr. Coutts points out, allows for a higher intensity of work to be performed in the middle of the week. In the example I gave earlier regarding performing the most intense training the day after competition it would be difficult to get a lot of quality work out of the athlete to see any true benefit. Some athletes may initially be able to tolerate this sort of schedule; however, as the season goes on, I think you will see more athletes start to break down. By allowing the training program to be flexible you can make changes in intensity on any given day depending on what the athlete needs and can tolerate. Having a system of monitoring stress will help you better meet the athletes individual needs on any given day.
Enjoy the video!
Also, if interested, Joel Jamieson just wrote an interesting piece on using the sauna as a recovery method.