RECOVERY: THE BEST WAYS TO RESTORE YOUR BODY
What is Recovery?
Recovery is a commonly used term to describe the physiological processes that bring our bodies back to equilibrium after we encounter stress. Stress is another big word that may be summed up as the things we encounter in our lives (environment, social interactions, physical activity) that have the ability to affect us. These stressors move our body away from equilibrium, or homeostasis as it's called in physiology textbooks. This happens due to the release of hormones like epinephrine and cortisol (stress markers), that cause the body to react in a way that physiologically moves us away from homeostasis. Recovery modalities aim to augment our natural recovery processes so that homeostasis is reported more quickly.
Who Needs It?
The short answer to this is… EVERYONE!!! If we remember that stress can come in a variety of forms, it makes sense then that everyone is going to have stressors in their days that pull them away from homeostasis. Athlete or not, recovery modalities can benefit all individuals by improving their ability to maintain homeostasis. Without recovery modalities you will still recover fine from low intensity stressors, however with the help of the right modality the rate of one's recovery can be improved. In addition, if you are doing high intensity work, or encounter high levels of stress from anywhere in your life, a recovery modality may be utilized to help you return to a level of homeostasis that you could not reach otherwise!
PFP Recovery
At Pittsburgh Fitness Project we do offer a suite of recovery modalities. These are definitely some of the most underutilized pieces of equipment in the gym, so we are going to take a moment to spotlight each of them. Read below to find out how you could best utilize each of our recovery tools!
Compression
Compression sleeves inflate with air to apply pressure to specific ares of the body. There are three types of sleeves we have: shoulder/arm, legs, and hip. The increased pressure improves venous return in whichever limb it is being applied to.
Increased venous return, or the return of blood from the distal parts of our body, is beneficial for clearing out byproducts that our body produces in response to stress. The increased pressure also triggers baroreceptors (pressure sensors) throughout our body which has a soothing effect on our muscles.
Massage Gun
Massage guns are a simple modality to use as they can be pointed at virtually any muscle, or other soft tissue, that is tender. The gun used percussion to vibrate the chosen area, which has a soothing effect. This can be used before a workout to loosen up a tight area before training, or after to sooth the area that was just worked. There are different heads that may be applied to the gun to better fit certain topograpohies of the body. There are also m,multiple vibration frequencies that can scale the intensity of massage you get.
Red Light Sauna
Red light saunas use infrared lights to raise your body temperature. Raising body temperature is a homeostatic stressor as our body likes to maintain a specific temperature range (about 97.6-99.6 degrees F). Through appropriate use of saunas, one may improve their ability to regulate their body temperature autonomically (without outside help). This occurs through improved sweating ability, improved vascular flexibility, and improved response to certain metabolites like “heat-shock’ proteins that tell our body to up regulate the parasympathetic processes (our body’s physiological parachutes).
Call the Lounge Chair!
After reading through what recovery is, who needs it, and what PFP has to offer; I hope you feel prepared to make good use of the recovery equipment at your disposal! Like anything, consistency is key when using these modalities, so make a plan for how to implement them into your training and stick to it! Check out our recovery lounge today!