Exercise Recovery - The Key to Exercise Enjoyment and Performance

It may hurt from time to time. Be smart and take time to recover properly and you will be at your passion until you’re 90!

Courtesy: backtoformfitness.com

(GUELPH, Ontario) - After 15 years of National and International powerlifting competitions with training 3 to 4 days a week, 2 to 3 hours a day, 50 weeks of the year, I am convinced recovery is the key to enjoyment, performance and exercise longevity!

Recovery includes, sleep, rest, eating, hydration and may also include the use of ice, heat, therapeutic massage and/or active release.

In general, research shows that recovery after exercise is essential to muscle and tissue repair and strength building. This is even more critical after a heavy weight training session. A muscle needs anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to repair and rebuild, and working it again too soon simply leads to tissue breakdown instead of building. For weight training routines, never work the same muscles groups two days in a row.

The following are a few of my personal suggestions on recovery after training or working out:

1. Cool down – don’t just stop abruptly
2. Stretch after cool down – even for just a few minutes
3. Replace fluids water, Gatorade, protein drinks, milk (avoid alcohol)
4. Eat within 30 to 60 minutes after your exercise – ensure you eat protein and complex carbohydrates to replace much needed nutrients – eating within 30 to 60 minutes speeds recovery by 50%
5. Rest the specific muscle group 24 to 48 hours
6. Make ice your best friend – it reduces minor muscle pain and helps get blood in those muscles
7. Use heat when necessary
8. Avoid over training – there are no medals for over training only injury and rehab
9. Use Massage
10. Use Active Release
11. If pain persists, back off and visit your – working through the wrong kind of pain can result in serious injury and long rehabs
12. Be smart and listen to your body – it’s the only one you have.

Deep tissue or sports therapeutic massage once a week and active release as needed. Active release is an extreme version of deep tissue or sports massage. Active release targets specific muscle problems, identifies the reason for pain and works that specific area. It’s intense and can be painful, but works wonders.

In closing, remember it’s YOUR exercise regime. You decide when, where and how long. You also decide how to recover.  It’s one thing to work through minor exercise fatigue, it’s another thing to avoid injury.

Remember, if it was easy everyone would do it and it is called a WORK out. So it may hurt from time to time. Be smart and take time to recover properly and you will be at your passion until you’re 90!

For more information on Walter Urban please visit www.walterurban.com, Twitter walterjlg, Facebook Walter Urban.

The husband and father of three girls 12, 9 and 5 is a US Citizen living and working in Canada. A competitive powerlifter for over 15 years competing in the 75 kg 165 lbs. weight class, Walter was a member of the Canadian Masters Powerlifting Team 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010, competing in World Championships in South Africa, Ostrava Czech Republic and Plzen Czech Republic. His best finish was 6^th place at the 2010 World Championships in Plzen Czech Republic. Walter has been a dedicated member of GoodLife Fitness Club for over 15 years where he trains regularly.

The World Record was accomplished by developing the “total” athlete as part of the team - mental, physical, internal and external.

Friday September 17 2011: 53-year-old Walter Urban set a new Guinness World Record for the most amount of weight squat lifted in one hour – drug free - on LIVE! with Regis and Kelly. The former record was 125,065 lbs, set in 2009 by a 32-year-old man. Walter’s goal was to lift 126,000 lbs which was to be accomplished by completing 700 to 1000 squats in one hour or 11 to 17 squats per minute for 60 minutes. Not only did he meet his goal, but he surpassed it and lifted 127, 245 lbs! The Guinness World Record representative said that this weight was “equivalent to approximately 20 African Elephants.”

When asked by Regis what motivated Walter to do this, Urban’s reply was “to show that you can be healthy, fit and strong at any age…even into your 90’s. You can be strong without the use of performance enhancing drugs, and finally…he likes a challenge!”