Another important subject is "Rest and Recovery."
This subject is fairly complex, but I will try to keep it simple enough to help
you understand the main points, and hopefully you will be interested enough to
follow up and learn more. At the end of the lesson, I will give you some
references to make it easy for you to learn more. For those of you in school,
this can make a great class project. For the parents, you NEED to learn
this to pass onto your kids, it will even benefit you. If you don’t set the
example, who will? You have more of a responsibility to your kids than just
taking them riding or to the races. For you older riders (16 and over), you have
a choice, either put it in your program, or don’t put it in your program, I
think you know who will prosper. Be patient, there are many misconceptions and
conflicting ideas on these subjects, and everyone is different, so you must
study and find what is working, then experiment and find out what works best for
you. Just get started!!!
- OK, so first we must understand that when we ride or train
hard, we "injure" or "tear down" our muscles. Also, we
deplete our energy stores. So how do we recover quickly, so we can keep our
training going, and get the most out of our training? Number one is to know
what your body is telling you. Be sensitive to how you feel each day. If
your not sure, then find your resting heart rate. Each morning when
you wake up, before you get out of bed, you need to take your pulse (how
many heartbeats per minute). Write it down. After a week or two, you should
be able to determine your average resting heart rate. So on a morning that
your heart rate is higher than normal, that is your body telling you it
needs rest. Also, if you don’t feel motivated, or are low on energy, or
feel sore, you know you need rest, or an "easy" workout day. For
the parents that force or tell your kids when to ride, understand if it’s
your kids "off" day, you will not get results. Let your kids help
with the decision, look for signs that can help you determine if it’s a
good day to ride or train. If a person is worn out, all the training in the
world will do NO good. As a matter of fact, that person will most
likely end up sick. So the message here is, REST is important, and it
is part of a good training program.
RECOVERY- the idea here is to recover quickly and
fully, so that you can train constantly, and to the desired level. I will
outline what is called the "R4" system, which you can read more
about in a book called "Optimal Muscle Recovery" by Edmund R.
Burke, PhD. I will tell you where you can get this at the end.
The R4 system establishes four simple, practical
principles that all endurance athletes can incorporate into their daily
training. If you want to optimize recovery and achieve full muscle potential,
you should:
RESTORE fluids and important
minerals to recover from dehydration,
REPLENISH glycogen, a primary fuel
source for energy,
REDUCE muscle and immune system
damage resulting from the physical stress of exercise, and
REBUILD muscle protein, which is
important for the maintenance of muscle structure and function.
Now, let’s assume you aren’t getting everything your body
needs in your diet. Now you must consider supplemental nutritional products to
give you the essential vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and other
nutrients you’re not getting in your diet. The best products we have found are
BIONX and BIONX LITE. This is the ONLY supplement you will
need on the shelf. Also for the 16 and over riders, the best recovery drink by
far we have found is ENDUROX R4. The most important period to use this
product is within the first hour after a training session, riding or racing.
Also they offer a sports drink to use before riding or training called ACCELERADE.
The best time to use this product is before and during training or riding
sessions. All these products will help you with recovery and performance before,
during and after a race or training session. Many "Tour de France"
cyclists and triathletes use these products. They are scientifically proven.
Keep in mind that motocross is a "rider" sport, and I know many people
will say, I can’t afford these products, but hear this, spend LESS on
the motorcycle, and MORE on nutrition, I guarantee better results. Being
COOL is out, WINNING is in.
Here is a typical week if you race on Sunday, it’s only a
guideline, so tailor it to fit your time and needs.
MON.- Rest day, clean your bike and
gear. Eat and drink good food and liquids
TUES. – Hard day, ride, lift
weights, long bike ride, stretches or a combo of what you learned yesterday.
WED.- Hard to med. day. Same as
Tues., but vary it. Don’t forget to keep eating well, also lots of fluids.
THURS. – Hard day, only back off
if you trained too hard the previous two days. Ride, or work out hard for at
least 2-4 hours.
FRI. – Taper day, medium
intensity. Use a lighter workout program, stretch, easy run, fun day on
motorcycle.
SAT. – Rest day, get ready to
race. Eat good meals, but if you did not eat well all week, now really isn’t
the time to start.
SUN. - Eat or drink breakfast (a
smoothie), do warm-up exercises, have a good practice session, stay relaxed and
confident, and kick some butt. Eat and drink constantly, several small meals are
better than one large one.
A couple more things to speed up recovery are hot tubs and
saunas. Massages and stretching, both before and after a race or training
session.
Now to wrap things up, here is how you can find out more about
the products I talked about. I’m not trying to sell you anything, hey, the
decision is yours to make, but it’s my job to seek out the best products for
our students and race team.
BIONX and BIONX LITE, check
out our website or call Jim Autio @ Elite Performance Technologies (800)
800-9461, give him this reference # 4a11185.
ENDUROX R4 and ACCELERADE,
check out our website under sponsor links, or call Trisha at (877) 363-8769,
ext. 600, at Pacific Health Laboratories for more info.
MUST HAVE BOOK, Optimal Muscle
Recovery, easy to understand, $15.00 from "5 Magics
MX School".
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