Getting Stronger, Faster - Muscular Performance Physiology
No pain, no gain. You can rest tomorrow. Push beyond your limits. Those are supposed words of encouragement that many of us have heard from our coaches and trainers. But this approach often leads to over-use and excessive strain on our joints, muscles and tissues - and results in injury and frustration.
100% Performance – What Does That Mean
Muscles are energized to control our movement - they are the shock absorbers for our joints. They store energy in the form of glucose – the fuel for them to contract and relax as we move our bodies, perform our activities and control our static and dynamic postures and movement. From a muscular perspective, all of your activity in a given day counts - from the moment you get up in the morning until your head hits the pillow in the evening.
When the energy supply of muscles is depleted, muscles will reflexively stop working – they cramp up and contract irregularly – resulting in a feeling of shakiness, muscular "burn" and/or heaviness as a result of muscular fatigue. You must adjust your performance to respect the fact that your muscular energy supply has been depleted when your muscular gas tank (or your battery...) is empty.
When muscular fatigue occurs, you have achieved 100% of your muscular performance. You can also use a 0-10 "level of effort" scale to guage the exertion/ fatigue factor you ahve achieved in a given day - with "0" as sleep/rest and "10" as the highest level of muscular work that you can imagine. Muscles require stimulation or "work" to strengthen, grow new muscle cells and to improve coordination and neuro-muscular control of your movement patterns. Muscles respond to stimulation. With regular activity they will metabolically and physically strengthen themselves as well as the surrounding soft tissues, joints, bones as well as your central and peripheral nervous systems that control our conscious and reflexive movement and postures over the course of typically 4-6 weeks. It's an ongoing process of growth and stimulation that requires active movement - as the adage goes, "use it or you lose it!"
A Recovery Day – defined
Once muscles use 100% (or consider a 10/10 level of exertion scale as a measure as well) of their energy supply, muscular metabolism requires 48 hours to replace it – to completely fill your muscular fuel tank (or to recharge your battery) again. This is physiological recovery time that must be respected as your muscles replace glucose, remove metabolic waste products, and as they repair and recover from physical exertion.
Downward Spiral
If you try to achieve 100% performance within the 48 hour muscular recovery time, your muscles will be limited. The maximum performance you will be able to achieve is 90% as compared to the prior day. By not respecting the muscular metabolic recovery time, your performance will be reduced.
Many of my patients have experienced this – with daily activities, athletic and work performance. Their mindset is often to push themselves to 100% performance every day. That’s understandable, and often a result of self-imposed and external (personal, family & work) demands as well.
However, this results in a downward spiral – a decline in performance, with 90% performance on the next day, 81% maximum performance on the third day, 73% on the 4th day, etc. With a trend of declining performance while increasing the level of effort, this can be very frustrating and exhausting - and often leads to injury as muscular ability to control movement as well as endurance is declining even though your level of effort is high.
Performance Improved
The great news is that by respecting muscular fatigue and metabolic recovery requirements, your performance will improve. On the day after a 100% performance day, decrease your activity level to a 50%-75% level of effort, drink lots of water (and consider electrolytes as well) and pace activities to respect muscular fatigue. Adjust your goals – including the demands placed on you by your family and work – to allow metabolic recovery. Get some good sleep.
The result – by allowing a muscular metabolic recovery day your performance will increase to 105% on the following day. Apply this to your daily activities, your work, your recreational and athletic goals. That’s how you will make incremental gains in your strength, endurance and performance over the course of weeks, months and years.
Take Home Message
Respecting muscular fatigue and muscular recovery is important. Set your schedule of activity to push yourself – within the limits of muscular fatigue and pain – every other day. Remember that if you're moving well you are not compensating and you should not have pain. Focus on the quality and technique of your movement, and respect the quantity. Quality is more important that quantity until you build the strength/endurance to increase the speed, resistance and duration. Pace and adjust your activity level on the “off” days to allow muscular metabolic recovery. Life will sometimes get in the way, and you’ll not always be able to make these adjustments. That’s ok - as you know that with this approach – giving your muscles and your body the metabolic recovery needed – this approach will allow you to make consistent gains in strength and endurance over time.
It’s important for you to take control – telling yourself and your significant others that your muscular metabolic recovery day is just as important as your 100% performance day. Your muscular performance - strength, endurance, speed, balance and whole body movement patterns will improve with gradual and positive gains. And you'll minimize the risk for injury while you understand and respect the need for recovery days to take care of yourself.
My best to you in health & wellness,
Dr. Darcy
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