This topic is quite a bear cat, so we’ve decided to break it into a few different parts. This blog introduces the all-important topic we’ll be covering over the next couple weeks - RECOVERY! After that, each blog will address a specific type of recovery and how it’s facilitated with cannabinoids.
Over the past few years, recovery has become one of the most important concepts in the world of fitness. One may think the type of workout, technique, intensity, and overall effort exuded during the workout might be the biggest factor in fitness; they’re right, but with a twist.
The frequency which an athlete can exude maximum effort during intense workouts is the differentiating factor. So, that addresses effort and intensity, but what about technique? If the technique is missing, injury will ensue and recovery time will increase negating both intensity and effort.
For example, a good athlete might be able to endure high intensity training 3 to 4 times per week, while a professional athlete can intensely train 6 to 8 times per week. Someone who hasn’t been training might endure one high intensity training session and spend a week recovering. Please don’t misconstrue this and assume that the average Jane just needs to go crush 2 workouts a day for a few months and she’ll be seeing podium time at the CrossFit Games. The point is, pros not only train like pros, they recover like pros. The ability to recover properly and quickly allows them to train harder and more frequently than their competition. Therein lies the benefits of recovery. Trainers who can keep their athletes healthy and train them with high intensity, more frequently than their competition, will achieve victory.
Back to Jane - If Jane built up to two-a-days and really took CNS, muscular, and metabolic recovery seriously, she may not have the technique to reach the Games podium in a few months, but she would be one bad mama jama.
I get asked the question, “is CBD good for muscle recovery?” all the time. First off, I don’t like this question. It should be rephrased as, “are non-psychoactive cannabinoids good for recovery?” Notice the two changes? First, there are 115 cannabinoids out there and a lot of them have some great benefits. Yes, cannabidiol (CBD) is awesome and one of the most prevalent cannabinoids in the hemp plant but there are a lot more to the industry.
The second part of the question that throws me off is “muscle recovery.” Recovery is not just about muscles! That is why I typed out the long-winded titillating intro to a multi-email series. If you don’t think about the three major areas of recovery, you’re not going to be cultivating bigger, stronger muscles. There are three major layers to recovery: muscular, metabolic, and recovery of the nervous system. If any one of these three aspects are lacking, you’ll be in the creek of performance looking for a paddle (the definition of performance is unique to all of us).
Part II-METABOLIC RECOVERY- coming soon!
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