Be The Funnel - You Are The Funnel.

This is the second part of two posts. In the first post, we discussed the importance of transient recovery, aka the recovery you take whilst engaging in the activity. In Part 2, we will start looking at the bigger picture - more specifically, the recovery between exercise sessions.

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As discussed in the previous post regarding recovery time between sets or reps in any given session, recovery is based on the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). This model consists of an initial alarm phase, resistance phase and finally an exhaustion phase. In simple terms, if a particular stressor that causes a physiological response that cannot be completely mediated is applied for too long, the body will no longer be able to deal with the stressor and will shut down.

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Consider by analogy, a funnel with only a small spout. If we pour water into the funnel at a rate that the spout releasing the water cannot match, eventually the funnel will overflow.

Our bodies work in a similar manner. Our training stimulus induces fatigue (pouring water in) and then attempts to repair itself (funneling water out of the spout). The analogy somewhat breaks down however, since our bodies are a dynamic organism, capable of what is known as "super-compensation." Analogously, this means we are able to both increase the volume of the funnel and the size of the spout so we can deal with a greater stimulus and increase the rate of removal.

Returning to the GAS principle, periodization methodologies aim to induce an alarm in the body, remove the stressor, allow the body to repair and super-compensate and then apply another stressor before detraining can occur. This timing is critical in order to induce an optimal response, and can therefore be difficult to administer when attempting to control all of the given variables.

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The primary concern when periodizing a program in regards to recovery intervals between sessions is the direct relationship between the physiological load and duration of recovery period. If, for example, a stress of size "x" is applied to an athlete, time to return to baseline may be 12 hours and time to reach peak super-compensation may be 24 hours. However, if load "2x" is applied, the athlete may require up to 48-72 hours to return to baseline. This is often neglected due to a misunderstanding of this relationship, lack of or poor load monitoring, lack of or poor recovery monitoring or a multitude of other reasons.

This then results in athletes applying loads when still fatigued (increasing injury risk) and leads to overtraining syndrome. Once an athlete is overtrained, not only are they at risk of many illnesses and injuries due to reduce immune functional and biomechanical control, but there is no capacity left for supercompensation, stunting their athletic progress and disabling future performances.

An individual's periodization program must account for the size of the stressor (volume of water in jug), the rate of administration (how fast we pour the water into the funnel), the training capacity of the athlete (funnel volume), and the physiological capacity of the athlete to recover from the stimulus (size of spout). To increase the complexity of this situation, all of these components have dynamic sub-components to consider that will alter or affect each at a fundamental level e.g. hormonal profile of athlete, psychological stress, environmental factors, nutritional habits etc.

So we now understand the importance of suffienecent recovery both during the session and between sessions. Next we will look at the SPORT principle, on which all periodization methodologies are based.

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