Enter Through the Barbarian’s Gate
Having just finished a strong three day cycle, I am ready for a rest & recovery day. Not even “active rest”, just rest. I am no Type A so I don’t obsess about days off from training or have to “do something” on those days. Yesterday, while beginning my training session, I told myself to “make it good” today and I will enjoy the time off the following day even more, and I am.
Every sport, no every sector of our life is littered with cliches and “buzz-words”. Some of course, are much more annoying than others. Many started being cool but have a short shelf life and should just go away.
Words and their meanings are fascinating.
Recently, in Recover and Get Stronger With ZMA, we went over the benefits of zinc magnesium aspartate (ZMA) as a nighttime aid to recovery after very strenuous workouts.
Two studies have just been posted on the ISSN forums refuting the claims of serum testosterone increase while using ZMA. The abstracts follow and you can decide for yourself if ZMA is something you want to use in your recovery arsenal. (Anecdotally, I sleep deeper when take it and wake up refreshed). I probably will continue to take it on my heaviest lifting days.
Not too long ago, MFBB happily wrote on the benefits of using chocolate milk as an optimal sports recovery drink and I have been enjoying mine since.
But it seems there has been controversy raging on internet forums, especially over at T-Nation as to what the ideal post-workout recovery drink is. Lyle McDonald has written about the benefits of milk as a recovery beverage in “Milk: The New Sports Drink? A Review”.
I had a strong lifting day today having done 5×5’s in both the deadlift and the overhead press, setting personal bests in both. To maximize my benefits, I had branched chain aminos in a drink while I lifted and had a post-workout recovery drink. Later in the day, I enjoyed a high protein dinner. Before bed there is just one last thing to do before dropping off to sleep-take my ZMA.
ZMA is a high performance OTC supplement consisting of aspartate and methionine forms of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. All are essential nutrients and I recently wrote of magnesium and how common deficiencies are of the important mineral in the general population and even more with hard-charging athletes.
ZMA should be taken on an empty stomach an hour before bedtime for the best results. Of course, getting a good night’s sleep is vital for recovery and that is the time the body releases anabolic growth hormone for repair and muscle-building. Adding ZMA over an 8 week period can increase free and total testosterone by more than 30% and about a 4% increase in IGF-1 according to a recent study done with NCAA football players. Anabolic hormones and quality of sleep will both increase. It is likely you will attain deeper, slow wave sleep stages. (I sleep deeper than normal and wake up more rested and refreshed. My dreams sometimes are a little stranger, but for me, entertaining!)
The upshot of ZMA supplementation is enhanced strength, endurance, recovery and growth and replace the deficiencies that hard exercise contribute to.
Remember, growth occurs during sleep and ZMA will help to maximize everything you do in the gym. Give it a try.
Yesterday I had a conversation with a Type-A motivated and driven runner who says running hasn’t been very much fun lately. This competitive athlete is vexed by self-imposed pressure in the drive for splits and PRs, heart rate measurements and getting in time at the track and gym.
Often, for the Type A competitive athlete, this is just burnout from overtraining, or more accurately, not getting enough recovery and sleep. It is amazing what a few days of total rest away from their primary training mode will do for these people. For all of us who train, really. Doing something else or nothing at all and staying away long enough until we are energized and rejuvenated about getting back into training and competing works wonders.
Most of the time, I think, that rest and doing something entirely different…and fun, is all that takes to put things back into a realistic perspective. The time for rest isn’t just when you are injured.
I am no longer competing at anything (and when I did, I took myself too seriously)! I do consider myself to be a non-competitive athlete. When I am overloaded with training, which at my age, happens more often than I like, I have no problem taking the time off. Never have. Then again, I am no Type A!
In the past, I competed at inline speedskating and as much as I liked the racing, I was happier with the training. Prior to that, I too was a runner and had raced distances from the 5K to the marathon. I was a middle-of the-pack hacker and was generally fine with it, except when a had a finishing time goal I had to attain or someone I needed to “crush”.
Between reading books and magazines on training theory, I read some of George Sheehan’s work, especially “Running and Being”. Considered the “runners’ guru”, Sheehan brought a different perspective to running which included philosophical elements as well as the fun component. (I admit at the time, the philosophical aspect he wrote about was a little over the top for my twenty-something mindset). I do to this day, still recommend the book to runners and non-runners alike. George sums it up best when he said,
“Fitness has to be fun. If it is not play, there will be no fitness. Play, you see, is the process.
Fitness is merely the product.”
Right on cue with our discussion, Ross Enamait posted an excellent article on his blog titled “Training For the Fun of It”. You should take a moment and read it.
After the wins and losses, the PRs and the misses, there has to be a greater reason for training. Do you know yours?
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