Today’s episode is meant to give a foundation of knowledge to kickstart a conversation about recovery in handstands.
There is no progress without adequate recovery after training. It’s the time in which we rest that our body adapts to the stimuli we exposed it to during the training session. As a result we improve in strength and skill. There are so many factors that influence recovery and there are countless questions that we could go into, so I wanted to make a video to start us all on the same page of the conversation. We’ll take all of your questions from here and make episodes to answer more specific questions.
Basic Concepts
The most basic concept of how our body adapts to training can be explained with the supercompensation model. In short, you deplete your energy storage and your performance decreases throughout the course of your training session. But with enough rest, your body supercompensates by increasing its capacity relative to the baseline to tolerate the training stimulus. The optimal time for the next training session is at the peak of the supercompensation curve after the resting period. If you wait for too long, your capacity returns back to the baseline. If you don’t wait long enough, you might not be fully recovered yet and over time, this pattern could lead to overtraining and/or injury.
Assuming that your general health is in place, the biggest influencing factor for your recovery is how you manage your work load. In other words, you need to find a balance between resting and training that works for you and allows you to progress over time. This is where it gets very individual and more complicated. There are tons of factors to consider, like your current level, the activities you do in your daily life outside of training, your sleep and nutrition habits, your personal stress level and your age.
We would love to get into this conversation with the help of your specific questions. So go ahead and let us know what you would like to know more about in the comments below!
It’s never too late to do what you love!