The term “recovery in sports” is most often understood as a time period from finishing the workout until the organism reestablishes its function at the level closest to the state at rest. During the relaxation period and under the influence of oxidative activities and metabolism changes, the causes of fatigue provoked by physical strain are gradually vanishing. Quantity of time for recovery will, above all, depend on the kind of strain and its intensity and scope.

Restoring organism functions after workout session has several different features:

• Uneven process of strain, where recovery after strenuous training-workout is quick at first, later getting slower and slower. This particularly applies to eliminating oxygen lag. Depending on whether the workout is being within the zone of alactatic or lactate conditions, oxygen lag will be bigger or smaller. For example, if the training is going on in alactatic conditions, the scope of oxygen lag will be 3-5 I. However, if the training is going on in lactate conditions, which leads to build up of lactic acid, oxygen lag could reach up to 8-13 I.
• Asynchronous  restoration of certain organism functions at the starting level after workout has been finished. It is proved that recovery of certain functions such as : lung ventilation, oxygen consumption and blood pressure happens in different time intervals.
• Criteria of readiness for repetitive work apply mostly to recovery time for organism functions which take longest to normalize, that is, return to the state when muscle efficiency is possible again. Since there are two kinds of recovery (speedy and delayed), this is particularly important when we bear in mind that delayed recovery can last up to several hours.
• It is mostly understood that recovery should be complete, however, for acquiring top results in sport, it is necessary for a sportsperson to be trained in such manner as to sustain heavy and repeated strain which lasts longer. For this reason, more and more trainings are being done in incomplete recovery phase, with the result of longer and observable supercompensation. The enclosed chart shows time of recovery for certain organism functions.
• Age  Apart from the mentioned characteristics about restoring functions after workout, age itself is a feature of special attention. Considering that early selection is more and more applied in sports, which means that ever more young sportspeople are engaged in high intensity trainings, it is of special importance to pay attention to all forms of recovery which determine regenerative processes.

Chart 7 – Types of functional systems

Concerning that the character of muscle strain, scope and intensity of workout in trainings and competitions affect the level and duration of fatigue, it is necessary to provide appropriate recovery.

Duration and way of recovery after each strain will depend mostly on the overall scope of work, duration of intensity, the applied exercises and their character, the number of repetitions, the length and efficacy of rest after exercises, trainings and competitions. If intensity of work is higher and duration longer, the recovery will take longer. Frequency and the contents of training, in terms of scope and intensity, will determine the length of recovery between two trainings.

Trainings of submaximal and higher intensity require longer recovery process between two trainings. The easiest and most precise way to determine time of recovery in the course of training is monitoring heart frequency. A precondition before new strain is introduced, after one or a series of exercises, is that pulse values do not exceed 120-140 per minute. So the work-recovery ratio with endurance exercises in anaerobic conditions is 2:1 or 1:1. With such activities the rest period can be half as short as the work period or alternatively  last as long as the work itself.

In trainings which develop physical power, especially when developing maximum power, recovery or rest period should last for 2-5 minutes. After the training, active and passive rest should be taken. In active rest, application of light aerobic exercises and stretching leads to quick removal of by-products (lactic acid). Work intensity at active rest does not exceed more than 60% of maximum heart rate frequency. In this way, by light jogging after the training, about 60% of lactic acid will be removed in less than 10 minutes.

Passive rest is the most important for restoration of working capacity. Sportspeople must have sufficient time for sleep to be able to recover completely. For complete recovery, sleep should last for at least 9-10 hours.

The length of recovery after training and competition is a solid indicator of the sportsperson’s training capacity. In the example of two sportspeople subjected to the same strain in training, we can see that a sportsperson recovering faster is the one who is better prepared.

In periods of training and competitions, when a sportsperson is subjected to big and exhausting strain, it is most important to estimate and determine the appropriate way of recovery and rest. These conditions require knowledge of pedagogic principles of using rest intervals between exercises, series of exercises, trainings and competitions. Besides, application and use of medical substances and other helping devices can be of great importance for quick and effective recovery.

If, after strenuous trainings, a sportsperson complains of bad sleep, bad appetite and unwillingness to train, it is a clear signal of fatigue, that is, of insufficient and inadequate recovery.

Apart from different kinds of rest, there are some well-known traditional methods of recovery with the use of water and heat, various types of massages, saunas and vitamin supplements. In the last couple of years, apart from the previously mentioned methods, hydro-massage, vibration massage, inhalation of oxygen enriched air and other methods have also successfully been used.

In top professional sport especially, psychological methods of recovery and relaxation are used more and more often.

Concerning that doing exercises can provoke psychological and physical stress, sportspeople who are physically better prepared are less prone to stress than sportspeople who are less physically prepared. Since stress is multidimensional, various methods of relaxation are used with various sportspeople in order to overcome stressful situations and muscle tension. There are a lot of relaxation methods, among which are: progressive muscle relaxation, controlled breathing, yoga, autogenic training and others.

Application of various methods of recovery is also important because human organism adapts to recovery methods in the same manner as it adapts to exertion. If we use various scope and intensity of strain to increase the level of sports capacity, then it is necessary to use various means and methods in the process of recovery.

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Article taken from “The Basics of sports training”
Ratomir Vasovic