Recovery after exercise is rest and it is one of the parts of training, without it all the effort we use does not make much sense. This is due to the physiological mechanisms that occur due to fatigue.

Rest is present before, during and after physical exercise.

• Before, because the state in which you start the effort is going to be decisive to produce some answers or others. For example, your cardiac variability values ​​may indicate how tired you start out, how active your sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are, and therefore how efficient your hemodynamic response to exercise will be.
• During, because the pauses you take between series and exercises will determine the levels of fatigue, the performance in each series and, finally, the immediate physiological response. That response will be the basis on which subsequent adaptations will occur.
• Later, because the adaptations to exercise require energy, replenishment of deposits, so that supercompensation occurs, and thus avoid overtraining. And it is on this last break that we will focus later.

Fatigue is the main reason we need to recover, as energy reserves are depleted, enzyme activity decreases, and water and electrolyte metabolism disorders occur.

Why is post-exercise recovery so important?

Because some people have a higher risk of suffering from post-exertional illness as soon as they finish exercising.

Because many of the mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of exercise remain amplified during the immediate recovery period, and this may represent a “window of opportunity” that could be exploited to improve adaptations to exercise, especially in populations clinics.

Because, at the individual level, responses to exercise during recovery can provide predictions for how the body will respond.

Recovery after exercise appears to be a vulnerable state.

Proof of this is sudden death 30 minutes after exercising in apparently healthy men without cardiovascular disease. Although this seems alarming, in men there is a sudden death after 1.5 million hours of exercise, and in women a death occurs every 36.5 million hours of exercise. To promote a safe recovery avoiding cardiovascular events, or even sudden death, it is recommended not to exercise in very hot environments, hydrate well and even use compression garments on the lower limbs that favor venous return.

Another vulnerable state after exercise is late-onset muscle pain, commonly called soreness. The inflammatory process develops in the next 48 hours. This pain prevents movements from being fluid, decreases technical execution, affects performance, and activates the pain pathway by modifying the perception of effort. For this reason, it seems that the most appropriate way to “remove” the stiffness is not to drink a glass of water with sugar, but rather that the most beneficial are massages and myofascial self-liberation, since they exert an analgesic effect without hindering the repair and recovery of the muscles. tissues.

Window of opportunity

The post-exercise “window of opportunity” could be used to exploit the transitory changes associated with the exercise. In the case of people with high cholesterol, an exercise session every two days could progressively reduce their lipid levels, since the effects of exercise last for up to 48 hours, as we have indicated. Physical exercise and drugs could be used synergistically knowing how to use these times rigorously. For example, a physical exercise session increases insulin sensitivity, so post-exercise insulin use would be modified in people with diabetes.

The most widely reported on this physiological opportunity is performance optimization through macronutrient intake. For endurance sports athletes, the carbohydrates consumed in recovery will have an impact on glycogen storage and subsequent performance. For strength and power athletes during immediate recovery, the rate of protein synthesis increases, so its intake is recommended.

What could happen if we don’t recover properly?

Not only would we benefit from the most effective form of exercise, but we could fall into overtraining, which is associated with the following signs and symptoms: slight propensity to fatigue, excitement, sleep disorders, loss of appetite, loss of body weight, tendency sweating, halo around the eyes, paleness, tendency to headache, palpitations, heart pricks, intracardiac pressure, rapid pulse at rest, accelerated basic metabolism, slightly elevated body temperature, marked red dermographism, delayed heart rate recovery of normal heart rate after training, uncharacteristic blood pressure, abnormal hyperapnea under load, uncoordinated motor sequence, shortened reaction time with many erroneous reactions, tremors, delayed recovery,inner restlessness, slight excitability, irritation, depression.

How much should we rest after exercise?

This depends on the type of exercise, duration, intensity, frequency, training status, physical condition, and environmental factors.

At a physiological level, these are the times that the coaches manage:

• Intramuscular reserves of ATP + CP: between 2 and 5 minutes.
• Restoration of intramuscular glycogen after continuous concentric exercise: between 10 and 46 hours.
• Restoration of intramuscular glycogen after intermittent exercise: between 5 and 24 hours.
• Restoration of intramuscular glycogen after exercise with an eccentric muscle contraction regimen: between 48 and 72 hours.
• Restoration of liver glycogen stores: between 12 and 24 hours.
• Decrease in blood and muscle concentration of lactic acid: For blood concentration at least 30 minutes with active recovery at 50-60% of VO2max, maximum one hour. For intramuscular concentration, minimum 1 hour with passive recovery, maximum 2 hours.
• Restoration of oxygen reserves: between 10-15 seconds and 1 minute.

 Between 48 and 72 hours of recovery

It is due to this restoration of reserves, and other factors, such as enzyme concentration, that after a FAST session we need between 48 and 72 hours of recovery. We must take into account that for the restoration of intramuscular glycogen after an exercise with an eccentric muscle contraction regimen, a minimum of 48 hours must be respected. With electrostimulation we may or may not perform exercises with eccentric contractions, but even so, the muscle damage is greater, so recovery must consider times equal to or greater than these.

You already know that you can make your appointment to train in our electrostimulation centers in Leganés, Marbella, Benidorm, Villalba , or about 50 other places. Choose your closest center !Luttrell and Halliwill. Recovery from exercise: vulnerable state, window of opportunity, or crystal ball? Front Physiol. 2015.

Weineck. Total training. Editorial Paidotribo. 2005

• Billat. Training physiology and methodology: from theory to practice. Editorial Paidotribo. 2002.