Part 2c: Helpful recovery techniques

It's almost guaranteed that the muscle damage inflicted while training will give rise to a decreased range of motion, increased muscle soreness, stiffness and swelling, as well as decreased muscle force production. In order to accelerate muscle recovery, there are several recommended techniques:

1) Light Exercise During Recovery - Research has shown that performing a few sets of light exercise with the sore and damaged muscles may decrease muscle soreness and increase recovery. Both studies used approximately 50 easily performed sub maximal contractions in order to promote this effect.

2) Massage - Research has suggested that muscle soreness can be improved with regular massage therapy, however this technique does not appear to increase blood flow or force recovery.

3) Underwater Warm Jet Massage - One study showed that 20 minutes of underwater jet massage therapy, three times per week might help maintain performance capacity during intense training.

4) Muscle Compression - In a recent study, a few days of continual compression of damaged muscle tissue decreased markers of muscle damage and increased force recovery.

5) Cold Water Immersion - Although few studies have been done with cold water immersion, athletes have reported good results after soaking for 20 minutes

As you can see, there is a good range of techniques - so even if you don't have access to a gym (like me), you're still able to help your self.

In the next part, we'll look at the building blocks of muscle.