Fitness Depends on Recovery

The key to quickly getting in shape isn't so much the workouts you do as it is how fast you recover. The more rapidly you bounce back from strenuous exercise, the sooner you can do it again.

There are several factors that influence the rate at which you recover. The most significant is age. Young people tend to respond more quickly than senior citizens. Experience is also important. Novices take longer to recover than do veterans. The more fit you are the faster you will recover, also.

Psychological stress even plays a role. Financial concerns, negative thoughts, relationship issues, and business or school problems all slow recovery.

Health also affects rejuvenation. When ill, even with a head cold, the body is using much of its resources to fight off the invader. Those resources would otherwise be used to boost fitness. Trying to exercise strenuously during an illness only makes matters worse as it spreads the infection more rapidly throughout the body.

Even weather can be a factor. Extreme heat and humidity increase the time necessary to spring back, as does extensive exposure to very cold temperatures or chilling winds.

On the other hand, there are several ways you can go about speeding up the rate at which you recover. The most important is sleep. While snoozing the body releases growth hormone that repairs muscle and other cells damaged by recent exercise. Eight or more hours of snoozing a day are typically necessary to realize the full benefits of sleep.

The next most important factor in speeding recovery is diet. Carbohydrate is necessary to replace spent glycogen�a primary fuel source in exercise. Protein is needed to rebuild muscle and other protein-based tissues. Also important are the micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, found in quality foods. Prodigious amounts of water are required to prevent recovery-delaying dehydration. If any of these is lacking the time to full recovery is pushed back several hours or even days.

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There are other ways of speeding recovery. How you organize your exercise program is important. Allow at least one day of rest for every day of stressful exercise each week and increase the workload of training gradually. Varying the routine of exercise may also help.

Other methods that may promote quick recovery are frequent massage, supplementing the diet with antioxidants such as vitamins E and C, staying off of your legs, and napping whenever possible.

Joe Friel is the founder and President of Ultrafit Associates ( http://www.ultrafit.com/ ) and Training Bible ( http://www.trainingbible.com/ ) and the author of several books on training for endurance sports. He is currently writing The Paleo Diet for Athletes to be released later this year by Rodale Press.