rousseau

Quads are sore. As they should be. So today I picked up the dumbbells and did a bunch of curls and stuff, and within seconds I could feel relief flooding into the legs. It felt good!

Call me naive and all that, but is this something everybody knows? Is this part of "active recovery"?

Jed19

Maybe just being active gets your blood circulation working well. I know that I recover faster from hard physical efforts doing something active rather than just laying on the couch. Even if just stretches.

No scientific proof of course, just a hunch.

deacon mark

Very true at times. Have run many marathons and go for a short walk later in tha day. Then jog or walk just enenought to get loose. Cycling the same- within limits doing this gets waste tissue out and build up. Circulation gets healing along as long as you are not hurt or over do it.

shoota 

What you're feeling is the blood circulation relieving your quads of the lactic acid build-up that's causing the soreness. A little cardio can help speed up recovery but you don't want to use the sore muscles in that cardio.

rousseau

So this sounds like it could be a good rule of thumb: Ride hard one day, then the next day do some moderate upper body resistance training to get the blood flowing and help with recovery (in addition to an easy recovery ride later on in the day).

pallen

Hmmm. Cycling one day, Kayaking the next...

I like it!

mazdaspeed

I ride 5 days a week and lift 3 nights a week, if anything for me lifting makes it harder for my legs to fully recover overnight but it's not a huge difference especially since I schedule my workouts...

Puma297

Actually lactic acid isn't to blame... one of exercise science's biggest misconceptions.

ahsposo 

>cough<cross>cough<training

BillyD

You ought to see about that cough.

hammy56

mpath

Lol.

I'm sure there are merits to that, but for me, I take post-ride/run/training glutamine and amino acid concoctions.

ahsposo 

As fixed by hammy56: >cough<dirty>cough<hippy

L. M. A. O.

Thank You!

shoota 

Wow then I'd really like to see some information backing that up.

hhnngg1

Nope. Flat out wrong.

If you want to get better on the bike, or run, or whatever endurance activity you choose, you gotta do more of it. Yes, even on the recovery days. So on the bike, you are best served by doing recovery rides on the bike.

This is why no professional single-sport athletes in run, cycling, or swim, really do any x-training in other sports during real buildups to race day. Sure, they dabble with upper body stuff in off season like Lance did, but when it's countdown serious training weeks to race day, it's all their discipline, with very few exceptions.

That small extra sport-specific stimulus, when acclimated over weeks/months, add up to a significant benefit over doing an unrelated activity. There are no competitive training plans in cycling or running that incorporate recovery days of upper body lifting or endurance training, and even in triathlon, it's pretty much well known that your extra swimming is doing almost nothing for your run/bike and that you'd definitely run/bike faster if you replaced all the swimming with run/bike.

Of course, compard to doing NOTHING, anything will be better, but there's no question that doing sport-specific is the best.

Jed19

Okay, what if after a hard century, and the very last thing you want to do is sit on another bike saddle? That happens with me a lot of times. Recovery, away from the bike (another physical activity), may not be as effective in making you a TDF caliber cyclist, but it works very well for me.

hhnngg1

It is STILL better to get on the bike for any easy spin, if you're trying to get better, unless you've been overtrained for months. (You can't overtrain with a single long ride.) There are exceptions of course - if you were not prepared for the century and overextended yourself, yes, you'll do better with rest that day. But given that you actually prepared adequately for the ride, and had the requisite base volume, riding on the subsequent off day will contribute to continued success if you're still trying to actively improve and aren't tapering or going into off-season. (Even in off-season, if you can get those easy spin miles in, it'll still likely be better.) Even if your legs feel toasted, and like wood, but you prepared adequately, the easy spin will help more than doing nothing.

Bottom line - unless you're doing a ton of miles already with intensity, like 250+ miles per week, doing easy spins for recovery is the best way to continue forward progress on the bike. Far better than doing nothing or running, with the exceptions I listed above.

rousseau

I see your point about keeping on the bike. I'm personally not training for anything competitive, though naturally I'd like to get in better shape and go faster and longer. I think maybe I should have been more specific: I've discovered that some easy dumbbell work during the following day after a hard ride the evening before seems to really make the quads feel good, but I'm still doing a recovery ride in the evening.

milkbaby

It has been shown a while ago that lingering lactic acid causing soreness is a myth. If you google it, there are research articles that show the concentrations of lactic acid go back to normal not too long after cessation of exercise and certainly don't remain high for a day or two after an exercise session. The soreness known as DOMS is believed to be due to muscle damage and associated inflammatory response.

Here is a short summary:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-lactic-acid-buil

I think the OP is feeling better from getting the blood circulating and the "distraction effect". If your quads hurt but I suddenly punch you in the face, that pain temporarily "distracts" you from the quad pain.

hhnngg1

Nuttin wrong with that. Carry on, carry on.

shoota 

Hmm. Well I'm no doctor but I've just always been told thru my years as an athlete that cardio gets rid of soreness by removing lactic acid. Looking back I never did think it actually did anything..

blargman

Wasn't it just discovered recently that lactic acid is actualy good for your muscles and is a form of recovery? The old addage of lactic acid being bad is hogwash. If you want to be not sore, I do agree some light exercise to get the blood flowing is good for muscle repair.

Ghost Ryder

My quads were killing me all day today, I could barely walk, & when I did it was @ a seniors pace.
I put on some Voltaren, lots of stretching, & have been massaging them quite a bit through out the day without any relief.
I went for a walk today, & struggled to play a bit of soccer for 30 mins, they felt better while I was playing, but its still a struggle to go up,& down stairs now. The only thing I see to relieve me of any pain, is rest.
Yesterday they were bugging me but I got through the commute to, & from work, & contemplated leaving after lunch. I got through l shift but couldn't do any overtime.

shoota 

Geez man were you beating your quads with a hammer while you were riding??

Ghost Ryder

That's what it felt like!!!
I still feel a bit of pain, but I can walk @ normal speed now,& run again.
Never felt pain like this since growing pains, I don't understand why my quads were effected this bad?
I guess I don't use my quads as much as I thought while cycling...