Conor: Recovery is as important as training. If you don't recover properly,
you can't rebuild your muscles and you won't get stronger and fitter.
Hank: Yes, so in this video, we're going to give you some tips and tricks to help you recover
and make it more efficient so you can fit it into your schedule. On that note, we're going to do a
GCN poll over on the GCN app. What do you think is the best recovery technique? Let us know over on
the GCN app. What would your vote be mate? Conor: It's probably sleep. I'd
sleep all day long if I could. Hank: Yes. You're going to sleep
here in a minute, aren't you? Conor: Oh, yes.
Hank: All right, let's get to the video. Conor: Come on.
Let's start off with one of the most important ones, sleep. Sleep is incredibly important
but it's often neglected due to life's busy schedules. It's not only important if we want
to give ourselves time to recover physically, but it's also key to our overall health
and well-being. We need to give our bodies time to repair and rebuild. Just give me a second.
There are a few gadgets that help you track your sleep. We at GCN use WHOOP so that we can make a
concerted effort when it comes to getting enough sleep. It also gives us an indication of why we
might not be hitting our PBs, which could be a result of not getting enough recovery.
Make sure you get enough sleep. Maybe go to bed a little bit earlier or getting an afternoon nap.
Most athletes I know do get an afternoon nap and find it a very successful way of staying on top
of their recovery. It can be anything as short as 10 minutes. I know it doesn't sound like much
but it really does make a difference, especially if you're not able to get in that block of sleep
during the night. Talking of naps, I'm going to have one myself.
Lovely. Hank:
Nutrition. Yes, it is a massive topic but getting the right nutrition in will really aid
your recovery. Making sure we can replenish those carbohydrate stores but also get the right
amount of proteins in that help rebuild those muscle fibers that may have been damaged during
training. What you want to try and do is get in from training and get a recovery drink. The great
thing about recovery drinks is it makes it really efficient so something like a powder. This way you
get right amount of protein and the right amount of carbohydrates. Ideally, you would use real food
but it's quite difficult to chomp on 30 grams of protein straight after exercise in real foods.
One thing to remember though is that recovery doesn't just stop after first hour. No,
it could continue for around 24 to even 72 hours depending on how hard you've gone.
Making sure you drip feed all that protein throughout the day
is really important. Ultimately, fueling is going to make your performance even better and
it's going to make you enjoy riding more as well. Conor: When you're training quite hard,
your muscles do become quite sore. A great way to improve your recovery is to work on
a few stretches and increase your mobility. It will help keep your muscles nice and supple.
Now I must admit I am actually pretty bad at setting aside time to stretch, nowhere near
as good as Hank. I mean, he's great at it. If you can, be like Hank, it really is a brilliant
idea because stretching not only helps alleviate stiff and sore muscles but it will also help
prevent injuries and any little niggles you may encounter. Keep up the good work Hank. He's doing
brilliant. Yes, he's doing well. Before you head out on the bike,
do a few basic stretches and if you have a spare 20 minutes during the day
why not do a few mobility exercises. Trust me, this will really help in the long run.
If you want to use compression clothing, go for it because this can really help your recovery
too but do bear in mind to use clothing that has a pressure in excess of 20 mm/hg to be effective.
Hank: A firm favorite of mine is something called active recovery. This is great for increasing the
blood flow to the muscles especially if you wake up in the morning and you feel
a bit sore or a bit tired from a previous day's training or racing. Active recovery is basically
what it says on the tin, doing some sort of light exercise while you're recovering. This can be any
light exercise sport but I would say swimming is a great one because it creates elongation and
rotation but also some hydrostatic pressure, which is basically compression on the limbs.
Another top tip from the pros is doing around 20 or 30 minutes of yoga. So yes, work on those
poses I guess. I have to say, I absolutely love these days where I could just head out the door
and go super easy. Yes, not even getting in the big ring. If you have a couple of hours spare,
head out on the bike. Maybe even chuck a café stop in there and just enjoy it. Enjoy being out and
riding a bike without putting too much pressure through the pedals. If you don't want to ride your
bike, maybe go out for a walk, take the dog out or go for a walk with the kids. Anything that is
light exercise that you can go get some fresh air and get some blood to those muscles.
Conor: Sometimes mental recovery is even more important than physical recovery. If you have
done a lot on the bike and you feel like you need to take a break, then go for it. Try another sport
and when you come back to cycling, you'll feel so much more refreshed as a result and I think you'll
enjoy it even more. I'm going to get a bit of peace and quiet and some Zen now. If you did enjoy
this video, please give it a big thumbs up and let us know in the comments section if we missed
anything. Hank what do you reckon? How are you--? Hank: I'm just going to carry on working on my
yoga. If you enjoyed the video, what, give it a big thumbs up. What, 20 minutes left, hey Conor?
Conor: Yes, about that. Hank: I'm getting a bit red. A little bit.
Oh nice. [00:05:55] [END OF AUDIO]