Sports Nutrition -
Answer To Question #1
Question #1:
I hear a lot about recovery from high intensity training and besides eating right and sleeping 7-9 hours a night, I'm not sure what else I can do to speed up my recovery. Any suggestions?
Answer by Dr. John Berardi:
That’s a great question, and of paramount importance to any power and speed athlete. The harder you can work and the more frequently you can train in a given training block, the better the results you’ll get. Of course, complete recovery is necessary for increasing “training density” in this way. You see, if you train too hard or too often without proper recovery, the stress on your system may be too great, leading to stagnation. And if this persists, it could even lead to overtraining.
Now, in your question above, you cover two of the biggies. Nothing will substitute for good nutrition and proper sleep patterns. But good nutrition is a nebulous term and means different things to different people. So you really have to make sure that you’re really using the principles of good “recovery” nutrition. And to do that, you need to understand the 5 types of recovery that need to take place for optimal repeat performance.
1) Replenishment of muscle glycogen stores
After many types of training – including strength and power training - muscle glycogen levels in the active fibers are depleted. Rapid replenishment of muscle glycogen stores has a favorable impact on the prevention of muscle protein catabolism, on cellular re-hydration, and on subsequent exercise performances within the same day or on subsequent days. Basically, if you don't replenish glycogen rapidly, your performance will suffer next time you train and you may even lose some muscle along the way.
In order to replenish glycogen stores, I usually recommend consuming a liquid recovery drink during and immediately after training that consists of a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein and some additional BCAA. Something like Biotest Surge is ideal for this purpose.
So why combine protein, carbs, and BCAA in these meals to promote glycogen storage? Well research shows that the synergistic insulin response promoted by carbs, protein, and BCAA will enhance muscle glycogen storage.
2) Recovery of protein balance
Protein balance is calculated as the difference between protein synthesis (protein anabolism) and protein breakdown (protein catabolism). After intense weight or speed workouts, protein synthesis may stay the same or minimally increase. However, after an intense workout, protein breakdown goes way up, thus creating a negative protein balance and a good potential for muscle loss. Although this eventually rebounds and the body goes into an anabolic state, in the time immediately following training, muscle can be lost. Since few athletes can afford muscle loss, this is an important focus for recovery and subsequent muscle gain.
Conveniently, the best way to initiate the recovery of protein balance is to consume the nutrient recommendations from the last section (glycogen replenishment). By consuming the mentioned ratios you will quickly create the optimal anabolic environment by minimizing protein breakdown and increasing protein synthesis.
3) Recovery of the CNS (neurotransmitter balance)
Neurotransmitters are responsible for many functions in cell signaling and play a big role in the communication between different brain areas and between the brain and the rest of the body. Some evidence exists showing that when neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine get depleted, physical and cognitive performance suffers. Since these neurotransmitters can be depleted from intense repeated bouts of strenuous exercise, this is bad news.
Since neurotransmitters can be depleted during exercise and this depletion can cause fatigue and over training, nutritional strategies may offer some support.
Supplementation with 1-2 g of phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) per day may prevent the depletion of acetylcholine seen with training. Since acetylcholine is active in promoting muscular force, memory, and awareness, this would offer both cognitive and performance benefits. Further, since policosanols can facilitate the release of acetylcholine and prolong the time that acetylcholine activates muscle contraction at the neuromuscular junction; the use of 10-15mg of policosanol per day may act synergistically with phosphatidylcholine.
In addition, 6-8 g of tyrosine supplementation per day may help with dopamine and noradrenalin depletion. Depletion of these neurotransmitters may lead to CNS fatigue, reduced motivation, poor memory, loss of motor control, and poor mood. And as green tea extract may facilitate the release of these stimulatory neurotransmitters, 150-300mg per day may act synergistically with tyrosine.
Finally, supplementation with 5g of BCAA during training may prevent serotonin increases during and after training due to the fact that BCAA compete with tryptophan for uptake into the brain, thus reducing the precursors for serotonin production. Of course, if you’re following the recommendation from above, this area will be covered.
4) Maximizing the anabolic to catabolic hormone ratio
In very intensely trained athletes, the anabolic hormones (testosterone) tend to decrease while the catabolic hormones (cortisol) tend to increase. This imbalance can lead to muscle loss, performance decrements, depression, and fat gain.
Several supplement strategies can be employed in an attempt to correct this. In a study done by Steve McGregor, tribulus supplementation increased the free testosterone to cortisol ratio in elite cyclists. This indicates it may be useful in balancing the anabolic and catabolic hormones. In addition, supplements like vitamin C, phosphatidylserine, and plant sterols may help prevent exercise induced increases in cortisol levels.
5) Recovery of the ATP-PC system
The ATP-PC system is responsible for repeated muscular contractions at the start of all exercise. It is also extremely important for brief, all-out bursts of maximal effort. ATP (the best energy source for muscular contraction) is broken down during such efforts and PC comes to the rescue to resynthesize the ATP that was broken down.
This system is usually very efficient. However when you really challenge the system with high intensity muscle-damaging contractions, the ATP is broken down faster than it can be resynthesized and some of its degradation products are lost from the muscle. This means that for each ATP that is lost, that's one less ATP to be resynthesized for further work.Over the next few days following an exercise bout, ATP levels can be lowered by about 20% due to this. Sure, a few days later it will be back to normal. But most athletes don't train once every 3 days or so but every day. So they need more rapid recovery of ATP.
Creatine supplementation and ribose supplementation may come in handy here. High starting levels of muscle creatine before the exercise bout may be beneficial in preventing the overwhelming of the system and therefore the ATP loss. In addition, ribose supplementation has been shown (in vitro) to increase the rate of ATP resynthesis after exercise-induced depletion (although the few human studies performed have been disappointing). So the creatine-ribose combination may be beneficial in partially preventing ATP depletion with exercise and may help lead to more rapid recovery of ATP to previous levels.
So now, with the knowledge of these 5 areas essential to recovery after training, you can target your weakest areas. Proper identification of what system may not be recovering will help you target nutritional strategies for maximizing performance and minimizing symptoms of over training.
About Dr. John Berardi:
Dr. Berardi has a PhD in the area of Kinesiology (with a specialization in Exercise and Nutritional Biochemistry) and is a consultant to 10 Olympic Programs and numerous NCAA and professional sports teams. Dr. Berardi and his company, Science Link, Inc. have one purpose: to take the latest in advanced nutrition research and teach it to others in a way that doesn't take an advanced degree to figure out. In this Q&A column, Dr Berardi will be answering performance related questions on the topics of training, recovery, nutrition, supplementation, and more.
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