Do you normally feel sore after a training run or running event? And does that muscle soreness linger around for days preventing you from getting back into running?
Well Grant from RecoveryWork recently did the New York Marathon. He hasn’t been training for distances greater than 30km (18.6miles) prior to the race, but using his recovery technique, he was able to get back on his feet quickly and experienced no muscle soreness following the marathon.
Below is a video outlining the recovery technique he used. It consist of active recovery doing full squats, simple mobility exercises, static stretches and cold water immersion. Watch the video to learn more.
Try this effective recovery technique to train harder and stay injury free today!
Your body’s natural reaction after such an effort is to do NOTHING – just collapse and recover! For me, doing an active recovery instead has proven to be the most successful method of recovering quickly and bouncing back to your best.
After my first marathon I took a week to even start walking normally. Using this really basic recovery protocol, I can now return to recreational running in just 2 days after finishing!
The key is to start active recovery within an hour of finishing. Now I know this sounds difficult for a lot of people, but starting out with something as simple as supported body squats – ¼ squats, ½ squats and then a full squat…..progressing to unsupported bodyweight squats – again ¼, ½ and full helps me bounce back quicker.
2 Hours after finishing I am able to do 2 sets of 10 full bodyweight squats.
I follow these up with a simple mobility exercise around my hips. This is to try and loosen up my lower back and hips and move more freely.
I do static stretching for my lower body and legs as a bare minimum…and if I’m really lucky and there’s water nearby I can jump in and do a cold water immersion session. This helps to keep inflammation from overuse to a minimum.
I’ve found this protocol very useful after running, but also after soccer, tennis or a hard personal training session of boxing and running intervals.
However you choose to recover, make sure its an active recovery and make sure you refuel your body properly.
Do you have a recovery method which works very well for you? Why not share it with everyone by writing it in the comments.
Grant is an accredited and internationally experienced Strength & Conditioning coach and Sports Massage Therapist and is a graduate of the University of Wollongong.