Hey Aunt Bea…

Opie done growd up.

Swami has been giving me a tough time about over doing it. OK, I’ve been a slacker. But now I’ve seen the light. Halleluiah Amen. Actually I’m just motivated and looking forward to figuring out where this is going and how Svetlana fits into the picture. Swami and I probably have the same type of history: working out in the weight room to get ready for high school football. Most of what we know came from education and math majors who were frustrated athletes themselves.

But this is 2007! Things have changed while I wasn’t looking.

One of the new theories is called ‘Active Recovery.’ I thought that it was obvious that a light workout the day after an intense workout day would be helpful in getting the blood flowing, loosening up the muscles, flushing out the lactic acid, and bringing necessary nutrients to the muscle. I always took this for granted, thinking it was common sense.

It turns out that ‘Active Recovery’ can also mean a low intensity exercise after the intense portion of the workout. This will also keep the muscle oxygenated and reduce the levels of lactic acid in the muscles. This additional workout does not effect performance and may increase a persons ability to relax after a workout. (I wonder if this would allow a person who works out later in the day to keep from being too jazzed too late – impacting sleep cycles?)

A third form of ‘Active Recovery’ is when a low intensity exercise like slow sprints, light rope skipping, or riding a bicycle, is done between sets or circuits. In my reading, it appears that this does not fatigue the muscle but actually enhances performance by keeping the muscles oxygenated.

Here are three of the Articles that I’ve read:

Sportsmedicine

ABCBodybuilding

Mahler RKC