biosteel Archives - Kevin Neeld

A couple days back I posted an article discussing important recovery strategies that every athlete should focus on regularly. If you missed that, I’d encourage you to check it out here: 3 Powerful Recovery Strategies for Athletes

The suggestions in that article aren’t things that most kids aren’t already aware of. That said, they also aren’t things most kids adhere to regularly and making a few simple lifestyle changes can have a profound impact on performance and recovery. Today’s article will build on those strategies and dig a little deeper into what recovery really means and how we can individualize strategies based on the “symptoms” players present with.

Understanding Overtraining and Recovery
In reading Biochemical Monitoring of Sport Training, there was a quote from a Lehmann et al. (1999) paper that stated:

“overtraining can be defined as stress > recovery (regeneration) imbalance, that is too much stress combined with too little time for regeneration.”

This concept is fairly intuitive, but it highlights the importance of finding balance between stressors and recovery/regeneration resources. Recovery is often thought of as a passive process, but the reality is that it’s much more complex than just needing “rest”, as its also dependent upon having sufficient available resources to elicit the adaptations to muscles/soft tissue, hormones, enzymes, etc. In other words, it’s important to think of recovery holistically and within the context of the quality AND quantity of the imposed stress, as the body undergoes both a general and specific stress response depending upon the stressor. For example, the nutrition/supplementation strategies for weight lifting are different than endurance running because of differences in the target energy systems and the required output of the neuromuscular system. Likewise, lifting a heavy weight for a single is much different than lifting it for 20 singles; running one mile is different than running 50. Simply, the nature of the stressor AND the environment that the stressor is placed in will dictate the required recovery strategy.

Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic Overtraining
Most people intuitively understand that athletes handle stress (physical and psychological, which also influence one another) differently. There are a lot of reasons for this, include genetic makeup, state of readiness, fitness, hormonal levels, and nutrition. As a result of all of these factors, as well as the type of stressors placed on the individual, athletes can drift in one of two overtraining states: a sympathetic or “Basedow” overtraining, or a parasympathic or “Addison” overtraining. Joel Jamieson has a great video explaining this concept and also provides suggestions on how to approach each from a recovery strand point (See: Recovery Strategies).

A couple months back, I was fortunate to sit in on a one day presentation from Patrick Ward, where he dove into this topic in detail. In his slides, Patrick mentioned that the symptoms of each of these states look like this:

Sympathetic Overtraining

Increased resting heart rate and blood pressure
Decreased appetite
Loss of body mass
irritable
Decreased sleep
Decreased performance
Increased fatigue

Parasympathetic Overtraining

Low resting heart rate and blood pressure
Lots of sleep, but never well rested
Signs of depression
Decreased sex drive
Decreased competitive desire
Decreased performance
Increased fatigue

In general, the remedy for sympathetic overtraining is to minimize excitement and training stimulii and maximize rest, whereas in parasympathetic overtraining the goal is more to maintain some high intensity work/stimuli, but decrease the overall volume to allow an opportunity for the body to use its limited resources to appropriately respond/adapt to the stimulus. To help illustrate the difference, long duration stretches may be more appropriate for a sympathetic overtraining state because of a greater emphasis on relaxation, whereas more “mobility” type movements may be more appropriate for a parasympathetic overtraining state because of the greater level of stimulation. As another example, using strategies like sitting in a hot tub or napping (preferably not in the hot tub) would be appropriate for sympathetic overtraining, whereas contrast therapy involving alternating between hot and cold water would be more appropriate for a parasympathetic overtraining state. Joel provides some other examples in the video, and wrote a provided a sauna protocol here: Recovery Methods: The Sauna

Some day, this will be my living room.

A Look at Supplements
Most people at this point are familiar with the importance of post-workout nutrition, and while there is some debate as to when the optimal time is to take in certain nutrients, I think the bigger picture is that you get something in during or immediately after your workout. As a quick aside, it’s important to remember that “workout” in this context also refers to practices and games. The general idea here is that following activity, the body is primed to replenish energy stores and shuttle nutrients to the most desirable places. In other words, nutrition can be used to jumpstart the recovery/adaptation process by providing the appropriate nutrients to replenish diminished supplies, as well as the resources for remodeling/rebuilding the structures damaged in the training process.

Post workout nutrition recommendations differ depending upon the things I alluded to above (e.g. the nature of the stressor), but in general it’s appropriate to take in protein and carbohydrates, preferably something quickly digested/absorbed (e.g. liquid), in roughly a 1:2 ratio with 20+ grams of protein. Biosteel’s Advanced Recovery is a great option that has gained a lot of recognition throughout pro sports, especially in the hockey world.

This is one of the best tasting supplements I’ve ever had.

While I’m still in full support of supplements (or food for that matter) that provide resources for recovering from a training session, practice or competition, I’ve been rethinking the use of supplements designed to enhance performance in the off-season. Notably, Beta Alanine and Citrulline Malate are two supplements that I’ve recommended to a lot of hockey players because of their ability to delay fatigue and reduce soreness. While these supplements are both effective, I think they’re more appropriate for in-season purposes when fatigue accumulation is greater, it’s even more important to minimize soreness, and the emphasis is as much, if not more, on performance than development (at the higher levels). In contrast, the off-season is a time to place specific stressors on the body to drive specific adaptations, and, somewhat paradoxically, supplementing to delay fatigue may limit the very stress that causes the body to adapt in the first place. This is certainly a controversial idea, but in general I think there is a sort of “law of diminishing returns” with performance-based supplements, meaning the more they’re used, the less effective they are. In that context, I generally don’t think high school kids should take supplements like Beta Alanine and Citrulline Malate because they have so much room to develop through training and the emphasis at that level SHOULD be more on development than performance anyway. In a yearly cycle, the emphasis on performance is higher in-season than off-season, so it seems more logical to save these types of supplements for the season.

As you can tell, there is a lot that goes into maximizing adaptation, which is the true goal of recovery strategies. To wrap up, follow these three steps:

Relentlessly follow the three strategies suggested here: 3 Powerful Recovery Strategies for Athletes
Be diligent about post-workout/practice/game nutrition by using a supplement like Biosteel’s Advanced Recovery Formula and/or eating a quality meal comprised of REAL food (see article above)
Closely monitor how you feel (or use BioForce HRV to track your readiness every day), and adjust your training and recovery strategies based on which type of overtraining symptoms you’re exhibiting

A great tool for athletes to use to monitor fatigue accumulation and overall readiness to train/compete

That’s a wrap for today. Feel free to post any questions you have or other recovery protocol suggestions below! If you enjoyed the last two posts, please share them with your friends, family, and teammates!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

P.S. The first step toward driving physical adaptation is making sure you’re following a quality training program. If you don’t have a written training program that tells you EXACTLY what to do, then check out Ultimate Hockey Training‘s Insider Section!

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I hope you had a great weekend. I had a busy few days as I spent Friday and Saturday with the US Women’s Olympic Team, then headed a little north to watch UMass Lowell’s home opener with my friend Devan McConnell. As always, it was great to work with all the girls and the coaching, medical and support staff with the US Team. Such a great group of people. It was also nice to finally get to watch some hockey!

As you may know, I spend the better part of my non-coaching time attending courses or reading research/books on a variety of topics within the fields of sports training, manual therapy, and physical therapy. The underlying scientific explanations and interactions are of particular interest to me, because these create the foundation for the way the body adapts to everything we throw at it, from a therapy or training standpoint. In the realm of recovery, there is A LOT to consider. With the advances in technology and the efforts of private companies to simplify taking your health into your own hands, it’s now easier than ever to measure things like heart rate variability, nutrient status, food sensitivities, and hormone levels, all of which can have a profound impact on an athlete’s ability to adapt to further training stresses, and therefore are worth monitoring. A couple weeks ago, I finished reading Biochemical Monitoring of Sport Training by Atko Viru and Mehis Viru that dives into these topics in further detail. It’s a little outdated at this point, but still has a lot of interesting information.

That said, the reality is that only a small portion of the athletic population are even aware of these factors, let alone the importance of monitoring them. Those that get this far still may not know HOW to monitor these things and/or be able to afford the available options. Furthermore, it seems silly to track a lot of these things when most athletes have sporadic sleep patterns and horrific diets. As is often the case, recovery efforts, and therefore maximizing your ability to adapt, starts with mastering the basics.

This was a main part of the 2-hour talk I gave to the Flyers Junior Team at the beginning of the season. The goal is to simplify powerful strategies that you almost always have control over, so that you can be CONSISTENT in adhering to these basic concepts. Below are 3 powerful strategies to maximize recovery.

1) Stay Hydrated
Even mild dehydration can significantly impair physical and mental performance. This is one of those things that everyone knows, but few athletes are diligent about adhering to. Keep a water bottle with you sip water throughout the day. There are lots of water recommendations, but the easiest way to assess how you’re doing here is by checking your urine color. Clear, consistently, is the goal. Naturally, the more active you are and the more you sweat, the more fluid you’ll need to replenish. If you’re a heavy sweater and/or prone to cramping, it may be worth looking into picking up some Gatorlytes, which are just packets of electrolytes to give you a little extra sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. When you sweat, you lose water AND electrolytes. Your body likes to keep a specific concentration of electrolytes based on the amount of circulating fluid to optimize a number of processes (like muscle contraction). If you only replace the water, you’re missing a big piece. A lot of people do fine with this simply from eating food or from taking a quality sports drink like Biosteel or Generation UCAN, but some athletes benefit from getting in a little extra. Gatorlytes are easy to transport and take in a hurry, so there a good option. You can get them at a lot of places, but I tend to buy a lot of my supplements from a site called Vitacost.com because you can get quality brands at discounted prices.

The most powerful supplement there is…

Anecdotally, I can tell you that a lot of times when players come to be complaining about early fatigue in practices or games, and a variety of other symptoms like not being able to concentrate or getting headaches, poor hydration is an underlying factor.

2) Get Quality Sleep
When it comes to minimizing the damage of accumulated stress (e.g. that from training, practices, school/work, relationships, nutrition excesses or insufficiencies, and the environment), nothing is more powerful than quality sleep. Simply, it’s time for your body to rest, repair, and regenerate. We are very poor “resters” in our country. From a practice and training standpoint, there is often an overemphasis on “doing” and an underemphasis on “adapting”, which takes a more holistic look at the stimulus-recovery relationship. That said, even those that try to sleep long enough may not be getting quality sleep. Here are a few tips to help get you started on the right path:

-Track the number of hours you sleep every night. The goal is to be above 8 every week. Factor in that it probably takes 30 minutes for you to fall asleep, meaning you’ll need to set aside closer to 9 hours to get 8 of sleep each night.
-Go to bed and wake up within an hour of the same times every night THAT YOU CAN. In short, get off of Twitter and Facebook and stop texting in bed. -Remember the phrase “An hour before midnight is worth two after”
-Keep the room COLD, DARK, and QUIET! Use blinds to block outside lights, turn alarm clocks away from you, place cell phones face down (so you can’t see the light), and turn off your ring or vibration. It can wait until the morning.

All of these things can go a long way toward improving your sleep quality. If you have trouble falling asleep, I’d look into picking up an Earthing Sheet (Read more about this here: Recovery Week: Earthing Products) and/or a magnesium supplement like Poliquin’s Uber Mag Px or TopicalMag, both of which are great at quickly quieting your mind and helping you transition into a deep sleep.

Rub a few squirts of this on your feet for the best sleep ever…

3) Eat REAL Food, Almost Always
Simply, real food can be hunted or grown. The overwhelming majority of the kids I talk to eat very little, if any, real food throughout the day. Most eat something along the lines of cereal, sandwich with chips, and whatever my parents cook me (typically pasta or chicken…and pasta). Everyone can do better. The overwhelming majority of food that enters your body should be meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and various oils (e.g. Extra Virgin Olive Oil). The food you eat literally provides the building blocks for every structure within your body. If you build your body with garbage, you will feel and perform like garbage. This may express itself in different forms. Some people get fat, some are moody, some have frequent gastrointestinal distress (cramping, bloating, farting, etc.), some have poor energy or attention spans, some have a difficult time putting on muscle mass, and some are more injury prone (among others). NO ONE is unaffected. Think about the meals you have over the last week and how many of them have been comprised of real food. Start by changing breakfast and move on from there. There are TONS of quality meal ideas in Ultimate Hockey Nutrition so check that out if you’re not sure where to start.

I tell our players that there are times when you don’t have control (or you have less control) over what foods you can eat (e.g. on the road), so it’s important to eat as well as you possibly can during the times when you DO have control (e.g. during the week and during weekends with home games). The goal is to spend as much time eating “right” as possible, so maximizing controllable opportunities is a big piece of the puzzle.

As you can see, there is nothing overwhelmingly advanced about any of these strategies. Every athlete has almost complete control of these at all times. Although none of these are very “sexy”, they are extremely powerful. In a couple days, I’ll be back with a few more recovery considerations, but until then, stick to the above and start gaining some momentum toward optimal health, recovery, and performance.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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