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Fit and healthy in 20 minutes a day?

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We want results fast, we want results with 20 minutes training a day. But this short time frame means we just go hard, skip recovery and move on to the next thing on the to-do list…

HIIT produces fast fitness improvement, no arguing here. But what do most people and yourself do after done training? Many are on a tight schedule and head straight to the shower. From a health perspective, skipping a proper cool down is not the smartest thing you can do.

There has been lots of focus on warming up, specially dynamic warm up and joint mobility in the last few years, but apparently cooling down and stretching is way overlooked. Yet, it is one very important factor that affects recovery and well being, therefore it also affect your performance next time you’re training.

All strength training science (for ex: Tudor Bompa and Dr Yessis) agrees that what you do immediately after you finish  your session has a large impact on your recovery, and should be more in depth than just stretching for 3 minutes. The problem is that it takes a little extra time…

Even if you despise cardio training in the form of LSD (long slow distance), suck it up and use at least 10 minutes to do whatever light activity at a steady pace. it could be jogging, biking, rope skipping, rowing, whatever. This is not done for conditioning purposes, but to slowly take your body down to normal after hard training.

Active recovery is best implemented straight after hard training. This simple strategy balances hormone levels and heart function, and helps flush toxins from the muscular tissues. Over time, this impacts your health and your feeling of well-being. Adrenaline is not a nice thing to leave running around your system.

When you are well recovered, on the following training session you can train at the proper intensity instead of feeling lethargic and over-riding your body’s way of telling you you need extra rest.

Russians have known this for years. A friend of mine (Mick Kelly) mentioned how all Gireviks go for a light run in the woods (being outdoors is indeed better) after their training to help take their blood pressure down and re-balance their heart function.

On his advice I bought a blood pressure monitor to test myself. Of course this method doesn’t show the whole picture but it is very informative nonetheless.

Here are some of the readings I’ve had. My normal BP is 120/80.

Snatch 16kg at 25RPM for 5 minutes: BP 202/111. After assistance exercises BP 193/101.

My recovery method was light rope skipping for 5 minutes, brisk walking for 15 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes. BP returned back to 120/80.

On the days where I just stop, it takes longer for BP to fall back to normal.

Here’s some insight from Steve Cotter, who’s recently been  training in Russia with IKSFA.

“Running is important if you lift KBs for a few reasons; as basic GPP for cardio, but also for health. Without going into an extended explanation, the reason is because-on ECG (EKG) measurements-when looking at the electrical impulse of the heart; the normal, healthy heart at rest will show an electrical pulse at approximately 45 degrees downward in the Left ventricle; after KB lifting, the electrical pulse vector will point downward; after running the electrical pulse vector will point upward; so running actually balances out the electrical pulse of the heart-it is a perfect compliment to KB lifting; in basic terms KB lifting and running work different areas of the heart and by doing both you develop more areas of the Right and Left sides of the heart. Balance is important for health and not just for performance. This is based upon the research performed by Russian National team Dr. Vladimir Tikhonov .”

And if you have not read the Dennis Vasiliev interview, here’s an excerpt:

“When I train for Long Cycle, it can be like this: either I train 3 times per week, or I train day after day, one day training, one day rest, no matter what day of the week it is. The training time depends on the time I have, if I don’t have much time, I only do what’s necessary, and I have more time, I can train longer. Usually it’s between one and two hours. During that time I can make a good warm up, training set, and cool down. Of all the training time, more than 60% I spend in warm up and cool down. Even more, maybe 70%, because I warm up for half an hour, and cool down the same if not longer. 

The main part of the training lasts for some 20 minutes. It’s when I do few sets, but they are usually strong sets.

I came up to a conclusion that the most important thing in our training process is how good we make warm up and cool down.

The main thing I wish people: they should think about their health first of all.”

I also like the fact that Dennis has an organic approach to training. He listens to his body ( form of the day), instead of being locked in a rigid program that does not take this important variable into account.

To really hammer the message home, here’s some extract from Tudor Bompa’s book “Periodization Training For Sports”

“Strenuous exercise often negatively affects the body before it can recover and become stronger. Active recovery such as cycling or running for 15-20 minutes at 50% of maximum capacity can aid in recovery and regeneration. Strenuous endurance type training followed by static rest such as laying down or sitting can delay the regeneration of the body’s systems and the removal of the harmful by-products of training.”

“During the first 10 minutes of continuous light jogging, 62% of lactic acid is removed. An additional 26% is removed in the next 10 minutes of jogging. Thus, maintaining an active recovery period for 10 to 20 minutes after strength training seems advantageous.”

“After extensive muscle contraction muscles are slightly shorter. It takes around 2 hours for them to return to resting length. 5 to 10 minutes of stretching helps muscles reach their resting length faster, which is optimal for biochemical exchanges at the muscle fiber level.” 

Click for: More recovery tips from my blog.

“The benefits of stretching are enormous. Stretching can increase your strength by 10%. It is a lot.” The man explains that “when you lift a weight your muscles contract. And after the workout the muscles remain contracted for some time. The following restoration of the muscles’ length is what recovery is. Until the muscle has restored its length, it has not recovered. Hence he who does not stretch his muscles slows down the recuperation process and retards his gains.” Besides, tension and relaxation are the two sides of the same coin, “if the muscle forgets how to lengthen, it will contract more poorly. And that is stagnation of strength.” From Pavel: 80/20 Powerlifting

Train hard, recover well. Repeat.

http://kettlebell-fitness.dk



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