As all athletes know, the regeneration phase one of the most important during training. Any why is this the case? The muscles that you train and that want to develop further, whether it's the mitochondria are or really that muscle growth starts, have to rest in order to continue their training.
Why is the regeneration phase so important?
During training we stimulate our muscles. We do this in any case, whether we are training the muscle for endurance or whether we want to stimulate muscle growth. During training, certain growth hormones are released, which go into the trained muscles and, by the way, also into all the rest of the muscles. Although the body focuses on the trained muscles, they still land growth hormones in all muscles. That's why it's so important to train your legs. Let's train the legs - the quadriceps which is the largest muscle in the body - most hormones are released, which means that if we train the quadriceps, all the other muscles grow with it.
Just like we learned as a small child: you have to sleep if you want to grow, because it's the same with your muscles. Our muscles only grow during the regeneration phase, which is strongest at night.
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Sports scientists suggest sleeping at least seven, preferably eight and optimally 9 hours at a time. This is when the muscles grow best and the muscles regenerate so that they are soon fully operational again. So let's stimulate muscle growth like I did with mine right now 5×5 workout, then sufficient sleep is also necessary. Of course, it's not just sleep that counts, you also have to plan a few days off. For example, if you still have sore muscles, you should not train for maximum strength again. Since I'm still in the initial phase of my muscle training, I compete in tournaments two to three times a week and always have a 2-3 day break between the training days. I admit, three days are more due to my lack of time, because actually I could train with one day off from training, but two are sometimes quite nice.
Active rest or active regeneration
Every endurance athlete and especially those racing cyclist among you know of course active recovery. Active recovery means nothing more than moving the muscles anyway, even though they have just been subjected to overload. In the simplest case, you can see it in a footballer. The player sprints across the field easily doing a few hundred meters or more and then slowly jogging back. Even if a player is not involved in direct play, he moves. Jogs in parallel. That doesn't always have something to do with the famous game without the ball, but he stays active. His body keeps pumping blood through his veins past the muscles not becoming overloaded which means the muscles become adequately supplied with nutrients and can thus actively regenerate.
Road cyclists do the same
For example, does a racing cyclist have one violent sprint behind or one Slope which made a lot of demands on him, he also likes to hang himself in one slipstream after such a phase. So he tries to regenerate actively after the performance is done, to slow down the pulse again so that the muscles can be supplied with sufficient nutrients again.
Active rest can be taken even further
Let's assume you've been training for five days in a row and need a break, maybe you've only trained for one day and need a break. A day off from training doesn't mean that you stay in bed all day to regenerate your muscles, that would be counterproductive. Rather, you structure your non-training day in such a way that you go out and go for a walk several times a day. Even light jogging is absolutely permitted and encouraged. Because just like in the regeneration phase, during sporting activity, a walk in the fresh air also ensures that new fresh nutrients and sufficient oxygen are pumped through the muscles.
integration into everyday life
The good thing is that these active regeneration measures can be easily incorporated into everyday life. Whether you during the Work in the office just walk a flight of stairs, get up as often as possible and not always write an e-mail or pick up the phone or go for a walk with the whole family at the weekend. The time you have available can be put to excellent use. Of course you can also sit down on the sofa and watch TV, that's of course allowed. You just shouldn't do it all day, because that's when your muscles are sleepy and tired. I think we all know that once you sit on the sofa it's hard to get up again and that's solely because the muscles don't get enough blood flow. Once you get your tired body moving and breathe fresh air, you're fit again and that's the best sign that active recreation is working well.
Conclusion
I can only recommend everyone to spend their non-training days with family or friends and preferably in the fresh air. It doesn't always have to be a trip to the forest or to the beach, a walk to your favorite coffee is also enough. An adult should take at least 7000 steps a day, after a walk at the weekend I have already taken at least 9000 steps.
Move on!