Recovery

Revision cards for A2 PE

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Fast Component

  • Concerned with the restoration of muscle phosphagen stores ( PC and ATP)
  • Takes up to 4 minutes
  • Represents the portion of oxygen used to resynthesise and restore ATP and PC, and achieved by mainly using the aerobic energy system
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Slow Component

  • Everything else that is required to get the body back to its pre-exercise state falls within the slow component.
  • These factors include heat dissipation, energy replenishment, rehydration and removal of waste products
  • Research suggests that 50% of lactic acid is removed after 15 minutes and the remainder after 1 hour.
  • At least 76% of lactic acid will have been utilised, converted or removed within the first hour of finishing exercise.
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Cooling Down

  • This has been shown to speed up recovery dramatically
  • Involves performing some kind of light, continuous exercise so the heart rate remains elevated
  • The purpose is to keep metabolic activity high and capillaries dilated so oxygen can be flushed through the muscle tissue, removing and oxidising any lactic acid that remains
  • This prevents blood pooling in the veins, which can cause dizziness when stopping exercise abruptly
  • Final part of cool down should involve stretching exercises which should facilitate and improve elasticity of the muscles as they are still warm
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Lactic Acid Removal

  • It is assumed that oxygen uptake after exercise is related to the extra oxygen that would of been consumed if the body had been able to sustain the workload through full aerobic respiration
  • Extra oxygen taken in after fast component is used for lactic acid removal, with a significant amount being converted/resynthesised into muscle glycogen
  • More than half the lactic acid is removed within 15 minutes after exercise
  • At least 76% is removed within 60 minutes after exercise
  • Elevated heart and ventilation rates are required for other functions other than lactic acid removal
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Restoration of ATP,PC and Glycogen Stores After Ex

  • After exercise there is a 'window of opportunity' for replenishment
  • Fatty foods or simple sugars may be consumed in this period
  • They will not be stored as fat always, instead they will be converted and used in the process for replenishing PC and glycogen
  • This replenishment will not be as quick as it would if complex carbohydrates are consumed
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Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

  • DOMS is due to tissue injury caused by excessive mechanical forces that have been applied to muscle and connective tissue
  • It is often a result of eccentric work and may occur because of structural damage within muscle membranes
  • The breakdown of muscle proteins causes an inflammatory response, which is created as fluid shifts from blood plasma to damaged tissues
  • Local pain receptors are then stimulated by this excess fluid
  • Can be minimised by:
    • building training intensity gradually
    • cross training - aerobic training increases capillarisation within the muscle, which allows more and faster saturation of blood carrying oxygen and nutrients, and allows oxygenated blood to the lactic acid in muscles
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Carbohydrate Loading

  • A legal method of boosting the amount of glycogen in the body before a competition or event
  • To increase muscle glycogen levels, the body must be starved and stressed by not refuelling with carbohydrates immediately after exercise.
  • This encourages the body to hold on to any additional carbohydrates in the form of muscle glycogen - the next time they become available
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Ergogenic Aids

  • Defined as any external influences that can positively affect physical or mental performance
  • Examples for recovery ice baths and compression clothing
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Ice Baths

  • For contact sports such as rugby, whole body ice baths are considered
  • For sports that stress the legs such as football and hockey, immersion of the lower limbs is useful
  • Immersion allows controlled and even constriction around all muscles, closing microscopic damage that cannot be felt, and numbing pain that can be
  • Body fights back from the shock of rapid cold immersion by sending a blood rush that flushes the damage inflicting waste from your system, while cold water on outside preserves contraction
  • To avoid tightness a warm shower should be taken 30-60 minutes later
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Compression Clothing

  • Studies have confirmed the following benefits:
    • Better muscle alignment and structure which reduces muscle damage, improves circulation and increases awareness of muscle operation leading to an increase in anaerobic threshold, power and endurance
    • Compression clothing material can reduce sweat rate by 30%
    • Evidence to suggest that compression clothing may improve exercise performance by reducing the impact of hot and/or humid conditions on the body's thermoregulatory system
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