The idea for this space is to share experiences we have in these areas, mostly for prevention of injury. Majority of the time, injury is preventable. Be it lack of mobility, recovery methods or sheer ignorance. Which no one can correct sheer ignorance towards lifting.
RECOVERY METHODS
1.sleep
At the top of this list for me, is sleep. Sleep is number in progression and recovery. You can get by for a while with a shoddy diet, but if your sleep isnt on point, you WILL run youself into the ground. It will cause excess Fatigue which most likely will result in injury. Lack of sleep has been shown to increase Cortisol levels and decrease testosterone levels(BAD). Lack of sleep, or bad sleep habits also can cause fat gain. And later on if sleep is deprived enough, weight loss. so basically, youll get fatter and lose some muscle. No bueno
2. food
one of the easier ways to fight fatigue, and obviously build muscle, is be in a caloric surplus. low glycogen levels are shown to further fatigue. Keeping them higher will replenish your glycogen store for recovery and more energy. im not going to get into macro breakdowns specifically. cause everyone's body reacts and responds differently. but minimum 1/g protien per bodyweight per day is baseline for me. Fats are essential as they regulate hormone production which will have an effect on fatigue. i personally tried a low fat diet and did not like the way i felt. Carbs can be based off on what your goals are, and more specifically, how you are lifting on a certain day. you have a high volume day coming up this week? eat a ton of carbs that day.
3. massage
This one i wasnt quite sure where to place at in this list. Because honestly it can pertain to all of them. But getting a sports massage flat out helps reduce muscle inflammation. which we all should know, is bad. it promotes blood flow to the muscles which helps the recovery process but allowing nutrients to be feed to the muscles easier. it also helps reduce stress, which i will cover more on shortly. it may help increase muscle range of motion and improves soft tissue function.
4. stress
Fatigue can also be accumulated not just by lifting, but by stressors of daily life. Stress can also cause an increase in cortisol levels which will lead to fat gain. Being stressed for weeks can bleed into the on coming weeks, even if the particular instance you were stressing over is resolved. low stress activities has been shown to help reduce this. whatever it may be. a walk through the park. a bike ride. sitting at the beach. watching Game of Thrones of Netflix. whatever cause you to relax and just chill do it. of course there are other methods, such as meditation and yoga. just do something you generally enjoy a few times a week outside of lifting.
Mobility
The are many tools and methods for mobility. in this section im just going to share my experience with methods i utilize, or have utilized, for mobility.
ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUE. ART for short. ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.
this is a fairly good video that explains and shows the benefits, when to use ART and when not to use ART
LACROSS BALL- this will allow you to trigger point release areas in your muscles that are tight. great for glutes, hips, upper back and hamstrings. i dont like using them on my quads personally
ACUMOBILTY BALL - i own one of these and love it. i actually thought i lost it but i found it in the trunk of my old car earlier this week. similar to a lacross ball but it has a flat surface to lay on the ground to utilzed in pin pointing trigger release. they come in two levels. level 1 is softer, and level 2 is not as soft and will work for a deeper release. if you look on their website they have numerous videos to help show you ways to use one. and if you have Instagram, they are constantly posting videos there also.
Products Archive - ACUMOBILITY
https://www.acumobility.com/acumobility-ball-videos/
YOGA - i think we can learn a lot from yoga. it requires a lot of mobility to be able to do some of these poses. but with continue work i saw improvements in a short period of time. i also found it to help in mind muscle connection. along with a great way to work your core. i was kind of thrown to the wolves by a friend who is a yoga instructor herself who took me to an advanced class. utilizing these poses can really benefit our mobility i believe.
STRETCHING - there are a million stretches and movements to list here. im just going to point you in the direction of going to youtube and looking up Kelly Starrett
PREHAB/REHAB
Donnie Thompson lower bak protocol- My Personal favorite. Rather than trying to explain to you in words how to do this and what it is, here is a couple videos
Donnie Thomspon Bowtie - if you have been hanging around this part of the forum you see quite a bit of talk about this peice.
what it does is sets your shoulders back into proper position VS. slumping forward. if you sit at a desk, text, drive your shoulders are probably a tad out of whack. this piece helps with that. Comes in two variety's, casual and formal. the later being the heavier duty one. it has definitely helped me some in the brief time i have used it.
Body tempering - i wasnt sure where to place this as like a few other things, it can really go in either category. Body Tempering is basically a giant steel roller in which you use like in this video below
They come in various weights, with the heaviest i believe weighing 130lbs. you can also make your own using a large PVC pipe with the ends capped and cement filling the inside. its cheap to make and a helpful tool. highly recommend.
RECOVERY METHODS
1.sleep
At the top of this list for me, is sleep. Sleep is number in progression and recovery. You can get by for a while with a shoddy diet, but if your sleep isnt on point, you WILL run youself into the ground. It will cause excess Fatigue which most likely will result in injury. Lack of sleep has been shown to increase Cortisol levels and decrease testosterone levels(BAD). Lack of sleep, or bad sleep habits also can cause fat gain. And later on if sleep is deprived enough, weight loss. so basically, youll get fatter and lose some muscle. No bueno
2. food
one of the easier ways to fight fatigue, and obviously build muscle, is be in a caloric surplus. low glycogen levels are shown to further fatigue. Keeping them higher will replenish your glycogen store for recovery and more energy. im not going to get into macro breakdowns specifically. cause everyone's body reacts and responds differently. but minimum 1/g protien per bodyweight per day is baseline for me. Fats are essential as they regulate hormone production which will have an effect on fatigue. i personally tried a low fat diet and did not like the way i felt. Carbs can be based off on what your goals are, and more specifically, how you are lifting on a certain day. you have a high volume day coming up this week? eat a ton of carbs that day.
3. massage
This one i wasnt quite sure where to place at in this list. Because honestly it can pertain to all of them. But getting a sports massage flat out helps reduce muscle inflammation. which we all should know, is bad. it promotes blood flow to the muscles which helps the recovery process but allowing nutrients to be feed to the muscles easier. it also helps reduce stress, which i will cover more on shortly. it may help increase muscle range of motion and improves soft tissue function.
4. stress
Fatigue can also be accumulated not just by lifting, but by stressors of daily life. Stress can also cause an increase in cortisol levels which will lead to fat gain. Being stressed for weeks can bleed into the on coming weeks, even if the particular instance you were stressing over is resolved. low stress activities has been shown to help reduce this. whatever it may be. a walk through the park. a bike ride. sitting at the beach. watching Game of Thrones of Netflix. whatever cause you to relax and just chill do it. of course there are other methods, such as meditation and yoga. just do something you generally enjoy a few times a week outside of lifting.
Mobility
The are many tools and methods for mobility. in this section im just going to share my experience with methods i utilize, or have utilized, for mobility.
ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUE. ART for short. ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.
this is a fairly good video that explains and shows the benefits, when to use ART and when not to use ART
LACROSS BALL- this will allow you to trigger point release areas in your muscles that are tight. great for glutes, hips, upper back and hamstrings. i dont like using them on my quads personally
ACUMOBILTY BALL - i own one of these and love it. i actually thought i lost it but i found it in the trunk of my old car earlier this week. similar to a lacross ball but it has a flat surface to lay on the ground to utilzed in pin pointing trigger release. they come in two levels. level 1 is softer, and level 2 is not as soft and will work for a deeper release. if you look on their website they have numerous videos to help show you ways to use one. and if you have Instagram, they are constantly posting videos there also.
Products Archive - ACUMOBILITY
https://www.acumobility.com/acumobility-ball-videos/
YOGA - i think we can learn a lot from yoga. it requires a lot of mobility to be able to do some of these poses. but with continue work i saw improvements in a short period of time. i also found it to help in mind muscle connection. along with a great way to work your core. i was kind of thrown to the wolves by a friend who is a yoga instructor herself who took me to an advanced class. utilizing these poses can really benefit our mobility i believe.
STRETCHING - there are a million stretches and movements to list here. im just going to point you in the direction of going to youtube and looking up Kelly Starrett
PREHAB/REHAB
Donnie Thompson lower bak protocol- My Personal favorite. Rather than trying to explain to you in words how to do this and what it is, here is a couple videos
Donnie Thomspon Bowtie - if you have been hanging around this part of the forum you see quite a bit of talk about this peice.
what it does is sets your shoulders back into proper position VS. slumping forward. if you sit at a desk, text, drive your shoulders are probably a tad out of whack. this piece helps with that. Comes in two variety's, casual and formal. the later being the heavier duty one. it has definitely helped me some in the brief time i have used it.
Body tempering - i wasnt sure where to place this as like a few other things, it can really go in either category. Body Tempering is basically a giant steel roller in which you use like in this video below
They come in various weights, with the heaviest i believe weighing 130lbs. you can also make your own using a large PVC pipe with the ends capped and cement filling the inside. its cheap to make and a helpful tool. highly recommend.
