Recovery Cocktails
“The ability to maintain athletic performance that exceeds proposed standards well into adulthood is the result of a carefully crafted cocktail of nutrition, recovery and volume management piled on top of a basis of good training methodology.”
Nutrition and Recovery Considerations for the Military and Fire Athlete
The realm of fire and military service offers a wide variety of challenges that would be poorly described as only “rare”, and more aptly phrased as “non-existent” for the average athlete. Twenty-four hour-plus shifts, fuel intake dictated by uncontrollable circumstances and unpredictable cycles of parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous system stimulating events create a cocktail of instability that can be damning unless managed. Here’s how we attempt to manage it in the garage--- nutrition, recovery practices and volume management.
Nutrition
The first pillar, nutrition, can be a stiff subject for some. Countless podcasts, articles, and entire degree courses of study at accredited universities, some of which we’ve participated in, have had different interpretations of success. Though this is no golden answer, and we have no nutritionist on hand, here is our answer to the problem of fueling for our athletes:
FAT
1 gram per kilogram of bodyweight per day
PROTEIN
2 gram per kilogram of bodyweight per day
CARBOHYDRATES
3 gram per kilogram of bodyweight per day
Example for 183lb (83kg) athlete:
FAT
(1gx83) = 83g = 747kcal per day of fat
PROTEIN
(2gx83) = 166g = 644kcal per day of protein
CARBOHYDRATES
(3gx83) = 249g = 996kcal per day of carbohydrates
TOTALS
(996+644+747) = 2387kcal per day
Where and why did we come to this conclusion? Mike Polis, who boasts an impressive resume of an MS from The University of Alabama and the titles of RD, CSSD, CSCS, LD, has been working with our athletes. Mike suggests working with a dietitian one-on-one is always best for individualization, but the above can at least get an athlete started with counting macronutrients. By giving us a simple basis of how to gauge what is a reasonable and manageable intake that meets our macronutrient goals, Mike has helped numerous of our athletes feel and perform objectively and subjectively better than before. For nutrient timing, Mike suggests feeding every 3-4 hours to maximize protein muscle synthesis and maintain appropriate energy levels throughout the day.
Along with macronutrients, there are micronutrient goals that must simultaneously be maintained. Suboptimal Vitamin D levels can be a widespread issue among active duty soldiers and offers numerous correlations to musculoskeletal injuries and inhibition of protein muscle synthesis. Vitamin D optimization (via diet and/or supplementation) proved a significant correlation to lower rates of stress fractures and other similar impact related injuries (1-3). As for anti-inflammatory goals, supplementing with a third-party tested Omega-3 fish oil supplement may also provide some benefit (4). Being that the day to day impact of loading and unloading trucks and equipment, wearing body armor and helmets, as well as climbing or jumping off of or onto things can accumulate to cause painful inflammation, omega 3s may have a therapeutic effect in reducing inflammation (4). Creatine monohydrate supplementation is also another tool in the toolbox to consider when discussing supplementation for the tactical athlete. Creatine aids in amplifying the effects of resistance training for enhancing strength and hypertrophy, improving the quality and benefits of high intensity intermittent speed training in activities that utilize the phosphagen system (think 10 seconds or less). For this, follow the most commonly recommended dosing of 5g/per day.
Mike suggests checking out Examine.com for more clarity on getting your supplement questions answered. Remember - it's always best practice to get in touch with a sports dietitian for individualized recommendations.
Recovery
In the realm of recovery, our athletes often suffer both from cultural and situational hindrances. The prevalence of the abuse of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine outside of regular use, shifts longer than twenty four hours that disrupt circadian rhythms and regulation of sleep cycles, as well as events that offer more than common levels of stress can together create a lifestyle in which recovery seems impossible. We’ve found that the most successful of our athletes follow simple rules that are easily enforceable and sustainable:
Sleep Banking
Use your off days wisely: A sleep banking study had the conclusion that as a result of baking “Reaction time improved; daytime alertness, vigor, mood improved; fatigue decreased” (5) over time. Sleep banking can be accomplished by sleeping or resting in a cool dark room for 8-10 hours for multiple nights (like a weekend) prior to a set of busy days or a busy week.
Sleep Volume and Hygiene
No screen time 30 minutes before bed: Limiting exposure to bright lights before bed, or outside of 11PM-4AM, allows us to secrete melatonin on a normal 16 hour cycle and helps us fall asleep. Avoiding bright light during periods where you are awake at night is also key, as it protects you from the negative outcomes of light exposure during rest. Try putting that phone on “do not disturb.”.
Sleeping 6, 7½ or 9 hours every night: Have you ever gotten a long night’s rest and woken up groggy? Rem cycles last approximately 90 minutes on average (6) and waking up in the middle of a cycle can leave you feeling tired. Sleeping for 6, 7½ or 9 hours can act as a solution for athletes by avoiding waking up in the middle of cycles.
Cool and dark bedroom: Sleeping in a bedroom that is both cool and dark mimics more natural resting conditions (6) and therefore can be conducive to a better rest. A room temp of 60-67 degrees can be optimal for athletes.
Hydration and Recovery Movement
Drinking a gallon of water per day: Hydration is the basis of sports performance. Without proper hydration, your body becomes dysfunctional on a cellular level. Especially in avoidance of hot or cold weather injuries, hydration is key.
Utilizing a low-sugar or no sugar electrolyte supplement: Our favorite supplement has become LMNT, as they offer some flavors that aren’t common among sugary sports drinks that include mango chili, chocolate salt and lemon habanero.
Low impact recovery sessions: Research has proven that low impact aerobic sessions have created “positive psychological outcomes” (8) in regards to recovery. Using the pool or open water is one of the best options, as it limits impact and aids in maintaining currency in aquatic events that can be easily lost when gym sessions take away pool time.
Volume
Finally, how do our athletes manage volume? This is a question that cannot be answered on a broad scale and rather requires specific physiological and psychological markers that can vary from athlete to athlete. Each of our athletes have to create their own mechanisms of measurement that are both replicable and reliable. For our endurance athletes who can run a sub twenty-seven minute five mile, a 40 mile week may be nothing to bat an eye at, whereas for our powerlifters, 40 miles may reduce them to atoms. Using markers like relative muscle soreness, mental state and performance in warmup are all useful indicators, and here are some that our athletes use:
Soreness
To be sore is normal, but to be so sore that you cannot carry out a normal day of training is ill-advised. There are biological tipping points in which there are negligible or detrimental effects to physiological training, and too much soreness can be a sign of some of them.
Mental State
Are you dreading or worried about training? Oftentimes, this can be a result of unmanageable intensity or volume that has become overwhelming. One of the benefits of training at Gym Jones is that it is rare to see someone over the age of 35 who cannot outrun, outlift and outperform our younger athletes. The worst thing we can do is press our younger athletes too much and have them become resentful and disenfranchised with the training we offer them, especially so many years before peak performance can be achieved. Especially if peak performance in endurance sports and peak competency begins to be reached in the 30s, athletes who overtrain in their younger years jump the gun.
Performance
Some days, the warmup may seem like an obstacle in itself. Your warmup weight may feel like Atlas holding the earth or your warmup run may seem like the Bigfoot 100. Simple movements and warmups feeling much harder than they should be can be signs of nutrient, rest or recovery insufficiencies and a large reason you should rest.
Taking days off can be hard, especially in cultures that reward hard work and overcoming obstacles, but the biological needs of athletes being met should come first. Maintaining manageable volume for years and eventually decades creates athletes that can continually perform ahead of standard regardless of age and condition. It is much easier to recover from a musculoskeletal injury when you’ve been building up your physiological self for years and not overtraining than it is to recover from a state of degradation.
The bottom line is hopefully clear by now. The ability to maintain athletic performance that exceeds proposed standards well into adulthood is the result of a carefully crafted cocktail of nutrition, recovery and volume management piled on top of a basis of good training methodology.
A special thanks to Mike for the help on making this information available and his contributions to our athletes thus far.
References
1. Larson-Meyer E and Willis KS. Vitamin D and athletes. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2010;9(4):220-226.
2. Burgi A, Gorham E, Garland C, et al. High Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is Associated with Lower Incidence of Stress Fractures. J Bone Miner Res. 2011;26(10):2371-2377.
3. Ruohola J, Laaksi I, Ylikomi T, et al. Association between Serum 25(OH)D Concentrations and Bone Stress Fractures in Finnish Young Men. J Bone Miner Res. 2006;21(9):1483-1488.
4 . Heaton, L.E. et al (2017). Selected in-season nutritional strategies to enhance recovery for team sport athletes: A practical overview. Sports Med. 47:2201–2218
5. Vitale, K et al (2019),Sleep Hygiene for Optimizing Recovery in Athletes: Review and Recommendations
6. Patel, A. K., Reddy, V., & Araujo, J. F. (2020, April). Physiology, Sleep Stages.
7. Harper, R. Et al (2016) Sensory Conflict Disrupts Activity of the Drosophila Circadian Network
8. Ortiz, Robert O. Jr.; Sinclair Elder, Amanda J.; Elder, Craig L.; Dawes, J. Jay, A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Active Recovery Interventions on Athletic Performance of Professional-, Collegiate-, and Competitive-Level Adult Athletes, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: August 2019 - Volume 33 - Issue 8 - p 2275-2287 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002589
