Your best ideas for leg recovery

[VTechVaulter]

So everyone goes through periods after some time of intense training where legs just start feeling heavy and wobbly. What kind of stuff does everyone like to do to get legs feeling good again for the coming workouts.

Some of my favorites
Coldtub/hot tub contrast bath
Floating in a pool for 20-30 minutes
massage


What other kinds of things are out there?

[ACvault]

Well you pretty much summed up what I would do for recovery, along with some ibuprofen if necessary.

One of the things I do on a regular basis in between workouts is pool running. Start off with some light form running and then do your standard set of running drills (high knees, backwards running, skips, etc.). I find this not only gives your legs relief from the pounding they take on the track, but when you get back on the track you're more likely to be efficient in your running drills due to the resistance training in the pool.

[KirkB]

I did pool running too, especially when I was recovering from ankle injuries that prevented me from putting my full weight on them.

One caution is to wear aqua slippers, else you'll wear down the soles of your feet. We didn't have aqua slippers in my day, so after learning the hard way, I just wore an old pair of running shoes that I didn't mind getting wet.

Also, just doing laps with a kick-board helps to keep your legs from atrophying when you can't run.

These drills are for a slightly different purpose than VTV's original question, but the principle is similar - ways of excercising the legs (keeping the blood flowing) by something other than running.

Once my ankles healed, I still occasionally did pool running and laps with (and without) a kick-board - just as a change of pace on my legs.

I never did enjoy swimming much, but I did the laps because I HAD to. I had no choice.

And yes, alternating hot & cold tubs - water torture so steaming hot and so ice cold that hot began to feel like cold and cold began to feel like hot! OK, so I was a little EXTREME in my rehab methods.

Kirk

[KYLE ELLIS]

rest. don't underestimate the power of rest.

[spaseminars]

Elevating legs when possible - lie on the floor, legs on the wall, or less extreme options.

[jeffschu]

Something I have been doing when I am done with a big leg day in the gym and the next day is using "The Stick". and roll out all the kinks and it works. they are great

[VaultPurple]

how does alternateing from hot to cold help? I usualy just soak in hot water before a work out and stand in cold tub afterwards

[KirkB]

how does alternateing from hot to cold help? ...

The theory is that it contracts and expands your blood vessels, and this causes the blood to flow in a pulsating manner, flushing out impurities. If the blood's not flowing fast enough in an injured or fatigued area of your body, then it's not recovering as fast as it could. Hot/cold speeds up this process.

Also, if you just do hot, then you're leaving your blood vessels in an over-heated, swelled state. The cold brings your temp back down, getting your temp pulsating higher/lower than normal body temp. i.e. If you did hot only, you could only do one rep. With hot/cold, you can do several reps.

... I usualy just soak in hot water before a work out and stand in cold tub afterwards

Why? What's the science behind that idea?

My only reason for doing that would be to warm up the muscles - including ache and pain areas - before practice, and cool down to reduce any swelling after. That should only be if you're injured - hopefully an abnormal situation. But in your context, I don't think that makes sense. A hot tub before a workout can drain your energy, and a cold tub after is not a proper "cool-down".

Perhaps KE can explain this more scientifically?

Kirk

[VaultPurple]

I do it because I generaly have massive shin splints and right now i have a tweaked calf. But I generaly just sit on the sides with below the knee in the hot water to make them feel better. And I stand in the tub afterwards to prevent the shin splints. Its alot easier to soak them in the cold water up to my knees then to strap a munch of Ice packs to my legs. But this isnt my only cool down. After I jump i jog around then stretch for about 15min, then I go Ice stand in the cold tub for about 15min

[Andy_C]

I also get pretty massive shin splints mainly because I underpronate (roll-out). I usually find that prevention and rest are the best strategies for dealing with shin splints and leg problems in general. I always wear some sort of compression sleeve or strap or even tape around the area that gets affected every time I do a running/jumping session. My coach and I also do a lot of scheduling to make sure I don't do 2 very heavy running/jumping days in a row. I usually do lots of vaulting and running on one day always followed by a gymnastics day to give my shins lots of time to recover. This is also a good idea for resting your legs in general since you don't really use your legs that much in gymnastics but you can still work on a ton of pole vault related stuff.

[superpipe]

Guys,

Shin splints are caused by 3 things and are fixable and preventable:
1. You have pronation issues with your feet ( lots of people have this problem including myself )
2. Your doing too much hard training too quickly
3. Over training

The first thing to do is see a podiatrist ( specialized foot doctor ). They can tell you if you have foot problems and how to fix them. Usually they can custom mold an orthodic for you. You will need 2 sets, 1 for your training sneaks and one for your spikes. The spike ones will be very low profile obviously. I wish someone told me about a podiatrist when I was in high school or college. I personally think every track athlete except maybe throwers, should see a podiatrist just to make sure your feet are correct or not.

After a podiatrist's diagnosis, the rest is easy, adjust your training based on the diagnosis. Except finding the right running shoe for your orthodic is very difficult.

Note -> The only negative about a podiatrist, in my experience, is they don't know footwear very well and can't tell you what kind of running shoe ( neutral, stability, motion control ) to use with an orthodic they have created. Very annoying. You'd think you could use a neutral running shoe since the orthodic, in theory, keeps your foot positioned correctly. Not so, as I eventually found out by experience and seeing a very educated Physical Therapist who specialized in running ( Very hard to find good PT's ). My PT confirmed my findings, but explained very well why you can't just use a neutral shoe after having orthodics made. He said your orthodic works perfectly when you heel strike and roll your foot to flat when running, but it does not work very well when you transition to the balls of your feet when running. Sprinting and jumping, where you're really ripping off the balls of your feet intensify this problem more of course. Made perfect sense. Just wish I found the info earlier. I was amazed I couldn't find this info anywhere on the web during my research about it. The point is, the orthodic does help a bit on that transition to the balls of your feet, but not alot. So depending on how bad your foot problems are, you need to figure out what type of running shoe you need with your orthodics.

Also, don't ever use any orthodic not made specifically for you by a podiatrist. They are specifically trained in this. PT's are not. Any off-the-shelf orthodic is useless because it's not 100% correct if it's even close. It's expensive, but worth every penny.

Some advice for figuring out what type of running shoe to get after getting orthodics is to go see a PT or running store that specialize in running, but most importantly, they have a treadmill setup with video to analyze your foot contact while running. My PT did this for me to confirm I finally bought the right running shoes for my orthodics. They can slow motion the video so you can see your foot position during heel strike, transition to flat, and transition to the balls of your feet.

Sorry for the long post, but this was one of my biggest issues that started in high school and I didn't get it figured out perfectly until this year. About 14 years, though I stopped vaulting for 7 or so years.

Shins splints have been around forever, yet the podiatrist part never seems to be apart of the solutions in all of the research I did on it for years.

[powerplant42]

So I've been following this thread, but I haven't contributed yet... now I will with a situation... MY situation.

I strained my left (take-off) hamstring last Spring. Then I pulled it. Twice. In one week. Don't ask me how I was able to do that. I don't know. I was an idiot and kept training for the championship season. Ironically, I didn't really get to have one (just counties... where pull numero uno happened). Well, I took a break after that, and I iced and stretched and compressed, even elevated a little bit, saw a doctor, etc. I trained in the Summer, and it hurt a little bit in the beginning, but it stopped after a while. Now it hurts again. It is holding me back. What should I do? I have a meet January 2nd. I have had little practice time, and I have opportunities to really vault this week and over Winter break. I need to jump a qualifying height, and I have 1 more regular meet left. I can jump the height at counties or regionals though...

HELP!