I actually couldn’t believe the result when this study came out… But when I really say down to think about it I realized, I actually could, easily, believe the result of this study.
The study basically showed no significant benefit or recovery result, from a muscular or performance perspective, from receiving a sports massage.
Which means…
All those times we got massages and felt so much better afterwards, thinking that we’re going to crush it in the gym the next day because of how great our recovery is now…
Was all in our heads.
Not just figuratively, but quite literally.
Because what this actually tells us is that the benefit behind deep tissue or sports massages is actually more neurological than anything else.
When we get a massage, it relaxes us and we actually physiologically calm down.
When this happens, we enter parasympathetic mode (rest and recovery – nervous system). This takes us OUT of sympathetic mode (fight or flight – stress based nervous system).
When THAT happens…
Our cortisol lowers, the stress hormone.
When cortisol lowers we begin to allow recovery and adaptation to begin.
When we allow recovery and adaptation to begin, the body starts the process of actually creating results (build muscle, gain strength, and even burn fat).
So… do massages help?
Indirectly, 100%.
But what this also tells us is that as long as we control and/or balance the autonomic nervous system inputs and outputs our body goes through AND practice stress management, to ensure we tap into our parasympathetic nervous system just as much as we do sympathetic, we will see results.
That could mean a million and one things…
→ Daily Meditation.
→ More Quality Hours Of Sleep.
→ Mindful Practices Like Journaling.
→ Taking A Vacation.
→ Practicing spirituality.
→ Low Intensity Cardio, Mobility, and Other Forms of Active Recovery.
→ Proper Nutrient Timing and Macro Distribution.
→ Hydration.
And so much more….
In my coaching experience, I’ve literally worked with thousands of people now.
In person and online, combined. Shit, I’ve sent and received tens of thousands of emails answering questions around training and nutrition as well (feel free to email me ANY question you have or need help with, I respond to every single one – [email protected] ).
And one of the most common things I’ve seen, which actually grows as time goes on…
Is too much stress and not enough recovery.
The autonomic nervous system is not balanced out optimally.
Too many sympathetic outputs and not enough parasympathetic inputs.
Which can be frustrating because you’re putting in WORK in the gym, cutting calories, doing cardio, and anything else you can do to see results…
Yet you’re not seeing any returns (results) on your investment.
See… your body is not getting true recovery from all the stress you place on it, which stops adaptation (i.e. literally the process of creating results). What my team and I help people to understand, is that dieting and training aren’t the only stresses (sympathetic) that are being put in.
Which means we need to consider work, family, stress, sleep disturbances, lack of nutrients, etc…
And then we need to match each of these sympathetic outputs, with a parasympathetic (recovery) input.
When we create this balance, fat falls off and performance jumps up.
It’s almost hard to believe. But it’s the exact reason why I take training OUT of people’s plans sometimes and even add calories to their diets, when they’re over accumulating stress and under prioritizing recovery, and then they see better results.
Which according to math and the simple equation of calories in vs. out, doesn’t make any sense.
But any experienced coach will tell you that if the body isn’t recovering properly it just won’t facilitate any serious results, so sometimes it takes backing off a bit and improving that end of the spectrum first.
Now, this is obviously a pretty individualized process but what we can do with this article is begin to first recognize the types of stress that could be over filling your bucket, so to speak.
TYPE OF STRESS |
LEVEL OF EFFECT ON C.N.S. |
|
Training
|
High |
|
Sleep Deprivation
|
High |
| Emotional and Mental Stress
|
Moderate |
|
Work/Finance Stress
|
High |
| Dieting (Caloric Deficit)
|
High |
|
Decision Making (Restriction)
|
Moderate |
| Family/Spouse Stress
|
Moderate |
We’ll leave it at that, for now. But as you can see, there is probably more to consider when it comes to filling your stress bucket up.
The problem we see most commonly is that people account for training and a calorie deficit (diet), but nothing else.
Not sure if it’s a case of the hardcore mindset or just lack of education being put out on proper recovery and the effects of stress. But people seem to either ignore the reality or simply think they’re one of the few who can just handle more of it.
For example, those people who say they can last on little to no sleep and be totally fine are very few and far between. Most of them are either lying or are just extremely motivated to succeed.
Example 1 –
I am one of these people. Give me 4 hours of sleep for a week and I’m good, stubborn, will still crush work, and stay motivated. But after 1 week of this, I’m a cranky asshole who is far less productive than I could even imagine. The truth is that most people who “think” they’re the low sleepers cannot truly last very long at all.
Example 2 –
There is a genetic mutation that a very, very… VERY, small population of people have that allows them to function totally fine on 5 hours or less per night.
“In a study on 100 pairs of twins, researchers found that a twin had a variant of the BHLHE41 gene called p.Tyr362. He slept for only about five hours per night, more than an hour shorter than his twin brother who did not carry the gene.”
They found in this study that he showed no signs of sleep deprivation, stress, energy loss, etc….
Out of 100 people, they found 1 person with this. On top of that, most researches will even say that the percentage of people who actually have this gene is even smaller than 1/100 – this study may have just got lucky with their findings.
But let’s get back to the original statement and discussion of massages not working, at least not like we all probably believed they did.
Stress, recovery and adaptation are all very neurological processes. Even though we may be placing stress on our muscles to grow, metabolism to burn fat, hormones to adapt positively or negatively, etc… it almost all comes back down to the nervous system because it’s the nervous system that will make the decision on which way to go – progression, regression, or stagnation.
So if this is a more neurological thing we need to be focusing on, how can we ensure that we’re doubling down on recovery and ensuring full adaptation to make improvements to our physique and performance?
First, let’s take a look at some hierarchy images made by RP in their Recovery Book that greatly explain what matters most in the exact order that they matter in:
This first image shows the simple importance of just down time and relaxation, because at the grand scheme of it all – general rest is the most important factor when it comes to recovering from your stressors; be that training, nutritional, or psychological stresses.
It’s simply taking time to NOT work hard with your body or your mind. But the real beauty in this chart and the studies that have been coming out to support this order of importance is that it proves that rest days do benefit our physical results.
It also helps to prove that things like meditation or actually going and having fun can benefit your physical body composition and performance (yes… hobbies do help your gains, bro).
This second image is also great because it shows the recovery hierarchy applied in training, specifically.
(M.R.V. – Maximum Recoverable Volume)
This shows us that going to failure all the time probably isn’t the best strategy for long-term gains, but rather taking your body just shy of that by 1-3 reps 95% of the time. Training in your own personal MRV is what will ensure the best recovery and results, above all else.
I’ve touched on The Nutrition Hierarchy many times on this site and also in my book, titled The Nutrition Hierarchy, which explains that energy balance (calories) is the base of the pyramid and supports the biggest changes in body composition via nutrition… well, MRV is the calories of recovery.
This hierarchy also shows you exactly what to prioritize when it comes to the different recovery modalities, so you can map out your training AND general recovery to optimize your adaptions (results).
[To Utilize a System That Factors ALL This in, Already – Join The Boom Boom Elite Membership Site]
I want to show this hierarchy as well, not only because it matches the hierarchy I wrote about in ebook but also because nutrition plays a massive role in recovery.
Calories are king, they will always support your stress/performance needs most. It’s energy in, which provides the fuel to be able to handle the energy put out.
Macros are not priority because they make up calories, but they are a VERY close second because the composition of your calories (which make your macros) is actually the key to enhancing your ability to perform and therefore recover from them.
Nutrient timing, however, is what I wanted to prioritize in this part of the article because the rest is obvious – eat enough, track macros, eat real foods, drink some water, and after all that is done take a few supplements.
Nutrient timing, though, is something that is misunderstood from what I’ve seen.
So let’s nail down the top priorities to remember and WHY you need to remember them.
NUTRIENT TIMING STRATEGY |
REASONING |
Meal Frequency
|
Eating 4-5 meals a day, spaced out evenly throughout a 12 hour eating window seems to be ideal for energy, digestion, nutrient absorption, MPS, comfort, and consistency. All of these things add up to improve recovery. Remembering that overall caloric/macro intake is still the key to body composition, aside all else. |
Muscle Protein Synthesis
|
This is essentially the anabolic response the body gets in response to training and/or ingesting protein. The amount of protein needed is a minimum of 20-25 and a maximum of 40-50, so having between that amount of protein in each meal is recommended. |
Pre-Workout Nutrition
|
Because carbs are stored as glycogen and utilized within a 24-36 hour window, typically – the demand of carbs pre workout does not make or break performance, in most. The leaner you get, the more depleted you may possibly be, and the higher the demand gets. Add to that, if blood flow (the pump) is important to you in your training – you may want to prioritize carbs more so, then. The top priority is getting protein within the 1-3 hour window pre training; second priority is carbs in that window. |
Intra-Workout Nutrition
|
Intra-workout nutrition is prioritized when muscle mass is a top priority for you, whether you’re striving to build as much as possible or maintain as much as possible during a cutting phase. Intra-workout carbs and amino acids can help build or retain more muscle tissue, which has been proven in studies. |
Post-Workout Nutrition |
Similar to the pre workout window, the most important factor of post workout nutrition is going to be protein – consuming it within the 1-3 hours window, ideally. It’s not life or death, but it does help recovery and muscle tissue repair (growth). Carbohydrates biggest role post training is blunting the cortisol response from training; this brings us into parasympathetic mode and actually facilitates better recovery. Glycogen replenishment is a role, but far less important than once believed unless there are multiple training sessions in a day. |
So… we’ve run through a lot in this short article on recovery. And I say short because in the grand scheme of things, we could go much deeper into each and every physiological intervention that was discussed in todays article.
But what I want you to leave with most is the simple idea that recovery matters just as much as the stress we’re placing on our bodies.
And remember:
ELICIT A STRESS → IMPLEMENT RECOVERY → CREATE ADAPTATION
And how you ensure that you’re following this structure accordingly, is to simply match up each sympathetic output with a parasympathetic input.
Cody McBroom is owner and head coach of Boom Boom Performance. He’s a Strength Coach and Nutrition Expert located in Seattle WA. He coaches people in person and online, now internationally. His passion is helping individuals changing their lives through body composition transformation, as well as creating content across all platforms to help individuals and other coaches learn more about training and nutrition.
