Recovery: The Limiting Factor to Athletic Performance

 

In order to improve, you must train. In order to train, you must recover. Recovery is when your body both heals and grows from your training. Without proper recovery, you will be in a constant state of "deficit spending." Are you making lots of money (training hard), but spending even more money (recovering less)? Balancing performance and recovery becomes quite a dilemma, especially as we get more competitive and as we age.

 

And believe me when I tell you, I know the drill. I have recovered from many musculoskeletal injuries, multiple "minor" surgeries, many bouts of atrial fibrillation, a one major surgery. See here for more on my personal story.

 

For the highly competitive athlete, it is all about recovery! For the person who wants to simply enjoy life, it is all about recovery. Recovery is the key to being able to enjoy life and to train hard for competition.

 

This is especially true as we age. I have heard the words "I used to..." too many times. I used to compete. I used to be able to squat. I used to lift heavy. I used to play ball. This seminar is for those of you who are sick of saying "I used to." It is for those of you who currently train, but have that itch to compete. And it is for those of you who compete who want to bring it to the next level.

 

My goal is to empower you with the knowledge on how to take care of yourself on a daily basis so you can both train and recover. This seminar covers ALL areas required to do both. Not just mobility, not just foam roller, not just nutrition.

 

We will cover:

 

1. General health and performance metrics

• What is your family health history?

• What should you measure for health, for performance? 

• Is an annual physical worth doing?

2. Posture/Ergonomics

• What is good posture and why is it important?

• Ergonomics for recovery

3. Breathing for the athlete

• Relaxation breathing

• Recovery breathing 

4. Mobility and flexibility

• Is there a difference between mobility, flexilbility and stretching?

• Morning mobility

• Pre and post workout mobility

5. Self myofascial release (SMR)

• Learn how to treat yourself!

• Foam roller - do you know which one to use and how to use it properly?

• SMR tools for personal use - which ones to use and how to use them

6. How to Warm-up and Cool down

• Many of us have to warm-up before we train, but how many of us cool down?

7. Self assessment of movement

• Are you at risk for injury? Measure to get better!

• Functional Movement Screen

• Joint laxity (hypermobility) screeing

• Joint hypomobility screening

• Other movement screens

8. Exercise technique

• Boy, is this a big one! No disrespect intended, but I see so many technique errors with master's athletes, even experienced ones. These errors are SO IMPORTANT to fix and are always part of my treatment protocol with athlete care. I never understood how a doctor/therapist could treat and athlete and not review how they were training.

• We will video your technique and you will see and feel the improvement!

9. Program design

• Is training really about training to exhaustion all the time?

• How to design your program around your life

• Days off, rest days - what does this mean?

10. Environmental toxins

• Which ones destroy performance and recovery?

• Which ones can you avoid and how to avoid them

11. Diet and nutrition

• In my almost 30 years of treating injuries and training athletes, this is probably the biggest area for improvement needed

• What foods should you eat? And when? And does it even matter?

• What supplements should you take? And how do you know what to take? And how much?

12. Ice and heat

• When to use ice and when to use heat

• Different methods of heat and ice

• Cryotherapy - see Rockwall Cryo

• Contrast baths

13. Compression gear

• Does compression gear work?

• Which gear should you use, and when?

14. Kinesio taping

• Does it really work?

• How does it work?

• Which tape is best?

• How do I tape?

• When do I tape?

• Injury taping

• Performance taping

15. Sleep

• Sleep is king when it comes to recovery.

• What is the best bed?

• What pillow is the best?

• Best sleep strategies

16. Do you use NSAIDS like Aleve (naproxen), Motrin (ibuprofen), Aspirin?

• Are they safe to use?

• Are there "natural" alternatives?

• Do they work?

• Which ones?

17. No pain, no gain?

• ​What is pain?

• What type pain is OK, what kind of pain is not?

• How do you tell the difference?

• How do you "deal" with each type of pain?

18. Topical pain relievers 

• Do they work?

• What do they actually do?

• Which are best to use (you've probably never heard of it!)

19. The Brain Game 

• What do you do for your mental and emotional training?

• Stress Reduction

• Meditation

• Flow state