"Recovery is when your body actually grows stronger and more efficient. It is when the benefits of your hard training are realized. Working hard is easy, everyone knows how to work hard, but those who work hard at recover are the ones who win,"

-- Bob Kersee, the most successful track & field coach, with over 50 Olympic medal-winning performances.

Only during recovery does your fitness grow. Workouts don't build fitness, they break your body down, and only if you allow recovery time and actively help your tissues heal, do you become stronger and more fit. All of our work with athletes is focussed on aiding recovery and prevent injury.

Recovery is not laying on the sofa eating comfort food. There is nothing passive about recovery. Recovery is an active process where light "adaptation" workouts stimulate recovery better than rest alone. Light workouts are akin to the self-cleaning oven, where the heat is turned up to burn off the residue from cooking but no roast is placed inside. Light workouts provide the body the same opportunity to do house cleaning functions without having to recover from the damaging effects of a new workout. With the increased core temperature associated with recovery workouts, your body sets into motion an army of heat shock proteins that immediately go to work repairing an rebuilding tissues damaged by training.

With light activity, the vascular system is stimulated to increase blood flow to the muscles, delivering oxygen and nutrients to aide recovery. The muscle cells, stimulated by a release of hormones, step up the reparative functions and grow stronger. Similar occurrences improve connective tissue and bone repair as well. Stretching and self massage efforts before and particularly after light recovery workouts are more productive when unencumbered by the tightness that would otherwise occur following hard workouts. In this way, your stretching efforts go further toward elongating connective tissue and helping tendons and ligaments heal and grow stronger. A good indication of when your structural system is recovered and ready for another hard workout is when the stiffness from the last hard workout is absent.

Self-massage, with the use of massage sticks and rollers, is one of the best methods to aide recovery after workouts. Manipulation of the muscles and tissues increases blood flow, breaks down muscle and connective tissue adhesions, and promotes adaptation of these tissues to withstand the rigors of your training as you progress toward your goals. 

You will feel the fatigue and tension leave your body. When coupled with stretching and icing sore areas, these self-recovery techniques can make a very significant contribution to the adaptive process you seek, along with increased fitness.

For video instruction on the use of the Forster PT edition of Addaday massage sticks and other products, go to Addaday.com and click on Forster Tutorials. You will find a complete video library on the use of massage sticks for recovery and a for a comprehensive list of common injuries.

Furthermore, you can learn more about the benefits of self-massage for recovery and pain relief at a special interactive seminar at Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica, Tuesday night at 7 pm. Call 310-582-8212 or click here to reserve your spot.