Muscle & Fitness UK – July 2019

116 MUSCLE & FITNESS/JULY 2019

BY JASON BEAUMONT

SPORTS & PERFORMANCE

Trade Secrets REVEALED from

Across an Elite Sport Science Team

B

efore I lose you in the notion

that “physios will always

advise to recover by resting”,

I want to make a clear point -

recovery doesn’t mean rest and

this is not a piece about foam

rolling or cupping.

THE BEST PERFORMANCE

RECOVERY

STRATEGIES

Although you can rest to recover, an

effective recovery strategy aims to return

you to your competitive best as quickly

as possible.

When we exercise, a multitude of

physiological, psychological and

biochemical changes occur and in

this article I’m going to discuss the

strategies employed across the support

team during my time in elite sport that

should help give you the edge during

your next competition, training camp

or prep.

NUTRITIONAL

INTERVENTIONS TO

AID RECOVERY

Problems:

• Muscle glycogen depletion is over
  70% when exercising for up to
  2 hours


• Muscle glycogen resynthesis is 5-6%
  per hour


• Greater level of depletion = faster
  resynthesis


• 13-27% of muscle lactate is
  converted to muscle glycogen
  (lactate is a carbohydrate in its
  base form)


• Brain glycogen also depletes with
  exercise


• Local heating of the muscle shows
  an increased glycogen resynthesis but PHOTO CREDITS: ISTOCK (4)