Last week I took a shot at our fascination with all the passive recovery tools on the market and how they pale compared to the active recovery provided by the movement by doing things like Crossover Symmetry.
Now, as I thought about this more, it may be a bit short-sighted.
I still think active recovery is superior to passive modalities like massage and e-stim any day; however, my suggestion that we all want the easy way out isn’t the most accurate.
Sure, we would all rather rub a lotion on our pain to make it go away or massage out that stiffness than a regiment of exercises, but as followers of Crossover Symmetry, I’m also sure you’re not afraid of doing a little work.
Therefore the real culprit here is not laziness but impatience.
We want the fix to be quick, so we can return to the fun things in life and perform at our best.
Unfortunately, even with advanced medicine and scientific advancements, there are limits to our physiology that we can’t outrun.
This chart demonstrates what I mean.
I originally published this to show the rates of tissue adaptation and why it’s essential to progress steadily with your training (as you can see, your muscles get stronger much faster than ligaments and tendons.)
But also appreciate from this graph that recovery is not an on/off switch but a progression.
Inflammation takes time to resolve, and cells must proliferate and remodel before you’re back to your old self. We can certainly do things to support this process, but there is an inevitable waiting game we must endure.
Yet again, that brings us back to the benefits of active recovery.
Not only does the proper dose of movement support the recovery process, but it can also scratch the itch for doing something.
And if you’ve ever walked through one of our 30-Day Fix Programs, Active Rest is one of the critical pieces.
That means finding modifications and workarounds to continue to pursue activity while the body gets better.
So once again, don’t sit around and wait for the healing to happen, but find a way to keep yourself moving.