Zeer interessante topic. Een andere benadering die ik hier nog niet gezien heb:
Active & Passive Recovery
Active and passive recovery methods are defined as follows:
Active Recovery (AR)- performing sub maximal exercise, cardio, or posing, to promote recovery from hard-core training sessions.
Passive Recovery (PR)- collapsing on a recliner from complete exhaustion, in an attempt to catch one’s breath and relax their muscles for the next workout or set in the iron jungle.
The question is, which of these techniques is most efficient for recovery? Today, we will dissect both of these methods. Fully elaborating from a physiological standpoint why and how they should be applied, while backing the claims made with the top scientific journals in the world.
How AR Works
Our focus this article will be on two products of active recovery:
Blood flow - AR’s ability to deliver precious nutrients to your muscles, via blood born transport.
Lactic Acid clearance - the optimization of your bodies LA buffering system, utilizing AR.
The aforementioned results will be discussed in-depth within the following paragraphs. Furthermore, the application of them to your routine will be laid out, for 3 specific times: during exercise, post exercise, and during recovery days from your workouts.
Lactic Acid & its Effect on Athletic Performance
We discussed previously that one of the benefits to AR is its ability to assist lactic acid removal. Before we delve into how this is accomplished, we must establish why this is so vital to your success.
Problems with Lactic acid occur when the amount of free hydrogen ions (H+) surpasses your bodies buffering systems, effectively decreasing normal pH levels (acidity levels; the lower the pH is, the more acidic your blood becomes). When this occurs, the athlete will begin to feel pain, and suffer a decrease in athletic performance.
This pain is caused by an accumulation of hydrogen ions that stimulate pain nerves located in the muscle [14]. Performance decline is induced by both metabolic and muscular fatigue.
Metabolically, a decreased pH causes the inactivation of several enzymes [15], membrane nutrient transport mechanism inefficiencies [15], and energy decreased accessibility. To elaborate on energy deficiencies, glycogen catabolism is slowed by the inactivation of the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase; moreover, lactic acid inhibits the recruitment of fatty acids, minimizing their utilization. Due to these effects, carbohydrates are used at a heightened rate, and PC catabolism is increased, which further inhibits ATP regeneration. All of these factors ultimately lead to reduction in the production of ATP. Thus, decreased performance [1, 9,15].
Concerning muscular exhaustion, lactic acid promotes the restrain of the actomyosin ATPase, which breaks down ATP so it can provide energy for your body. In addition, H+ interferes with calcium uptake that is essential for muscular contractions. Increased lactate may also interfere with cross bridging [16]. These factors lead to a decline in both the force and velocity of muscular contractions.
As clearly displayed above, lactic acid can severely inhibit your athletic performance if not cleared out of your system. So finally, how do you help your body clear LA? By far, the most proficient mechanism is oxidation both during, and after exercise. Subsequently, we discuss how to accomplish this via active recovery.
During exercise recuperation
Lactic acid rapidly accumulates during high intensity exercise, heightened around 60-180 seconds. Consequently, this time frame is quite beneficial for muscular hypertrophy (for more information on this refer to the following article, Count To 60 seconds And Grow Man Grow). Accordingly, bodybuilders often deal with LA accumulation.
As discussed above, LA can be very detrimental for physical activity. Thus, any method that accelerates lactate removal would logically enhance athletic performance. Let's analyze what procedures would optimize recovery.
First, if you recall, lactic acid is best cleared through oxidation. So any movement that supplied your body with oxygen, would be of great assistance. The optimal procedure for this is low intensity aerobic (with oxygen) movements. Did you notice I said low intensity? Though high intensity aerobics would supply ample amounts of oxygen to your body, it would also induce higher levels of lactic acid, which is counter productive. The first lactate threshold has been shown to be between 40 % and 60% of ones VO2 max; however, this may be higher for the elite athlete. For recovery, you would want to perform movements below your lactic threshold, so that LA production is minimal, while oxygen consumption, and hence LA clearance is maximized.
Several scientific journals support the notion of applied active recovery between working sets. A perfect example would be sprinters, which are often dubbed the cousins to bodybuilders, due to their massive muscles achieved from high intensity, hypertrophy elicited movements. Here is an experiment that covers this very topic.
Active recovery was examined during repeated sprints [2]. 13 male athletes performed 2 maximum intensity sprints, separated with 4 minutes of either active recovery (cycling at 40% of their VO2 max), or passive recovery, on two separate occasions. Those who performed active recovery in-between sprints showed a much greater power output on the second sprint. They concluded that active recovery is superior to passive recovery for performance.
Another experiment was done on 16 subjects performing 4 exhaustive exercises, up to 2 minutes in duration [28] . These were separated by either passive, or active recovery methods. When analyzed, a more pronounced decrement in performance was found during passive recovery when the first and last exercises were compared, while those who performed active recovery were able to maintain a higher performance. They concluded that active recovery enhanced the preservation of intensity during repeated maximal exercises. They attributed the benefits to a decrease in blood lactate levels.
I saved the best for last! Here is a fabulous study that is directly applicable to our sport. Fifteen resistance-trained males completed 3 workouts, each consisting of 6 sets of parallel squat exercise performed at 85% of 10 repetition maximum [20]. Each set was separated by a 4-minute recovery period. Recovery was randomly assigned from the following: passive sitting; or active 25% of onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA), and active 50% of OBLA. The results demonstrated that lower-intensity active recovery effectively minimized LA accumulation compared to passive or higher-intensity active recovery. Those who performed active recovery displayed a much greater maintenance of intensity, as the sets progressed. The data strongly supports that “elimination of La occurs using low-intensity active recovery following intense resistance exercise and is associated with improved endurance performance in the squat exercise.” They suggested that, “When attempting to improve large muscle resistance training performance an active recovery between sets should be used.” Here is some additional insight from the man that needs no introduction, President Wilson:
As Venom has so eloquently displayed, active recovery exerts many of its effects, by enhancing oxygen delivery to the musculature. One of the most vital keys in your understanding of this concept is once again centered around what Seyle, in the 1950's labeled as the "counter shock" phase of a stress reaction. To review - any activity which requires above resting levels of work knocks the body out of balance. It responds with a counter, by utilizing such mechanisms as increased epinephrine levels, or dilating certain blood vessels. You must realize that this study (of homeostatic reaction) is an intricate one. That is, differing activities stimulate differing reactions in the body, and therefore varying "counter shocks." Dynamic resistance training (lifting weights), for various reasons has been shown in several studies to actually lower stroke volume.
Cardiac Output = Heart Rate X Stroke Volume (blood ejected per beat - out of the heart)
While training intensely with weights, heart rate actually increases markedly, as you no doubt have noted. However, with a stagnant or lowered stroke volume, CO will only increase moderately, a predicament which will not optimally facilitate recovery. Venom however has the solution to this obvious problem. Active recovery between sets, utilizes a very aerobic (with Oxygen ) protocol. During such activities, stroke volume notably increases, and with it, Cardiac Output. Boom! You're in and 02 levels to the working musculature is instantly - optimized!
For much more on how oxidation operates, how enhancing blood flow to the heart will dissipate LA, and much more, study, Energetic Transference Occurring in the Biosphere Part III: Lactate Clearance and Anaerobic Training Adaptations
I can go on, and on, the results are profoundly in support of active recovery between sets to promote lactate removal, and effectively enhance athletic performance [3,4,5,10,13,17, 20, 26,27,30,31].
My suggestion to accomplish this is to perform some light rhythmic movements between sets. The goal is to get your heart slightly up, between 29-40% of your VO2 max, which is optimal for lactic acid clearance. This can be accomplished via moderate posing, dynamic stretches, light jogging in place, bike, a combination of techniques, or what have you. But, I would give yourself at least 30-60 seconds after active recovery to get mentally prepared for your set. You can apply this into your routine several ways. You can do it every set; you can save it for sets which induce the largest pumps, such as strips; or if you would like to maintain maximum effort between a grueling workout of parallel squats. It's up to you--go instinctive, have fun, and enjoy your gains.
bron:
Active Recovery—A Three Fold Break Down
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