TIPS for swimmers: how to use CBD in recovery
Few sports are better for muscle and cardiovascular health than swimming. It's a low-impact exercise, which means you put less strain on your joints and muscles of different groups when you swim than you do when you run long distances, for example. Still, preparing or training for endurance swimming is not exactly an easy affair. If you push your body beyond its limits one day in training, it will usually make itself clear the next day and you will feel it. A big problem you have to learn to manage in swimming training is the build-up of lactic acid in your body.
When you wake up with sore muscles after a swim, it can reduce your motivation to throw on your swimsuit again, jump in the pool and swim another 1,500 meters. But if you want to achieve your goals, you need to find a way to get over the discomfort after each workout. Quality recovery after each workout can help you do this.
Key points:
Recovery after training is just as important as the swim itself. As a swimmer, you should approach every aspect of your training program responsibly - that means not neglecting to allow space for proper rest. A CBD can help avid swimmers greatly improve the recovery process, not only by relieving pain and allowing for a full night's rest.
TIP #1 - WARM UP AND CLOSE DOWN
If you've ever been on a swim team, you probably already know this step. However, if you are new to the sport and trying to incorporate swimming into your daily physical activities, this may be new to you.
Intense swimming - especially during interval training - can cause a number of metabolites to build up in your muscles, including:
Lactate
Inorganic phosphate
ADP (Adenosine diphosphate)
Hydrogen Ions
When these substances build up, it can cause muscle fatigue that can prevent you from doing another set of workouts.
Heat
Before you jump in the water at all, you should stimulate your muscles with a light warm-up. The best way to do this is through dynamic stretching, which prepares your body for the next load, loosens up the joints and allows the different muscle groups to work harder and longer.
Common exercises for swimmers include:
Jumping jack
Butt kicks
Waist Rotations (Trunk Rotation)
Skipping
Arm circles
High knee kicks
Forward lunges
Lunge and stretch
Backbend
Cooling (and calming)
After an intense workout or race, attention should be paid to calming (cooling down), which is sometimes referred to as active recovery. Cooling down helps you to naturally break down lactate from your muscles. The intensity of the cool-down will affect how quickly and effectively the lactate is broken down. If it's too intense, it can actually produce even more lactate than would naturally occur during passive recovery.
The type of swimming you do also affects your cooling needs. For example, if you swim sprints, this type of swimming is much more dependent on fast muscles than long distance swimming. This is why sprinters take longer to remove (utilize) lactate. Therefore, the intensity and length of the cool down depends on the type of swimming you are doing:
Sprint (50-100 meters) - Swim 20 minute cool down laps at a light to moderate pace of 130-140 BPM. Distance (500+ meters) - Swim 10-15 minute cool-down laps at a moderate rate of 140-150 BPM. If you don't have a recovery pool, you can do active recovery on land through light jogging or riding an exercise bike.
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TIP NO. 2 - TAKING CBD HELPS WITH DISTURBED MUSCLE PAIN (DOMS)
How much pain you feel the day after swimming depends on several factors related to your condition. Usually, muscle pain occurs within 24 to 48 hours of a strenuous swim. Still, how much pain you feel may depend on:
How new the workout is to your body
How hard you exercised
How long you have been exercising
Your age
Your body weight
In many cases, muscle pain is associated with a condition known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which, unlike the acute type of pain, is caused by very small tears in the muscle fibers in which the body produces inflammation to fight this more intense pain. Swimmers are susceptible to DOMS because its predominant source is exercise, where muscles contract and lengthen simultaneously.
Many swimmers are beginning to use CBD as a pre- and post-workout recovery agent to counteract DOMS. CBD can help support natural cannabinoid production and provide relief to sore muscles directly and indirectly:
Directly - rub a topical ointment or cream containing CBD into your sore joints and muscles after swimming. CBD provides direct relief to problem areas, especially when combined with other natural ingredients such as eucalyptus and menthol.
Directly - if you take CBD orally - you can try our CBD oils, you'll relieve ailments occurring throughout the body. Additionally, taking it by mouth (orally) can provide a number of other beneficial effects, such as increased energy levels and stress relief.
TIP NO. 3 - FOCUS ON YOUR INTAKE OF LIQUIDS
When you're in the water, it's easy to forget that you need water in you too. You sweat when you swim, even if it doesn't feel like it. That's why you'll be just as dehydrated after a long swim as you are after a long run.
Water helps the body carry red blood cells through our physiological systems and make protein and glycogen - all of which are essential for muscle growth and recovery. When your body is adequately hydrated, you can optimize the efficiency of your metabolism. In other words, your body has easier access to the nutrients it needs to function properly. When you're dehydrated, however, it can cause a number of problems, including:
Cramping
Fatigue onset
Slower pace and thus worse times
Increased risk of injury
Adults should drink 2 to 4 litres of water a day, but you lose more fluid when swimming than you do in other activities. Therefore, swimmers should drink at least half a litre of water within 2 hours of swimming practice and then continue to replenish these fluids during the recovery phase.
TIP #4 - NUTRITION MATTERS
Swimming requires a huge amount of energy. This is true whether you are a casual swimmer or an Olympian. The intensity of swim training obviously affects energy burn, but all swimmers need to replenish lost nutrients. Michael Phelps, for example, reportedly consumed 8,000 to 12,000 calories a day to make up for his intense training regimen.
At this stage, you won't need a diet that's as energy-packed - but you will need to eat more than usual. For many swimmers, the main source of energy should be healthy, complex carbohydrates. These should make up half of a swimmer's diet because they are the fuel swimmers need to get through a tough workout or race. Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver and act as fuel that our bodies use throughout the day - especially during training.
Common foods containing complex carbohydrates include:
Oatmeal
Brown rice
100% whole wheat bread
100% whole wheat pasta
Apple
Bananas
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Melon Cantaloupe
For the best diet, combine complex carbohydrates with healthy proteins such as hummus, chicken, tuna, eggs and nuts.
TIP #5 - GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Although people naturally associate increased training with increased fitness, the truth is that most of the body's recovery processes take place during rest. You may notice that you swim faster or farther during training, but the body's adaptation to these activities actually takes place during the recovery phase.
The metabolic remodeling phase is the foundation of better performance. Sleep, coincidentally, is the best way to boost it. If you sleep too little, it can cause several problems that will affect your swimming, including:
Decreased glucose metabolism
Increased cortisol levels
Affecting tissue repair and growth
Deterioration of immune system function
Reduction of protein breakdown
Reduction of growth hormone release
But everyone recovers differently.
Some people need seven hours of sleep, others need nine. It's helpful to keep a sleep diary, keeping track of the number of hours and assessing your performance and feelings during the following day. If necessary, make arrangements according to your findings.
This is another area where CBD can help. Taking one dose an hour before bedtime will help promote deep, restful sleep.CBD combined with natural sleep-enhancing ingredients (like melatonin) will help you achieve the sleep your body needs to recover after a long swim.
RECOVERY PERFORMANCE: HEAT, COOL, MASSAGE
We want to say that if you are in pain, a combination of heat, cold and massage therapy works very well. Usually the recovery process takes place in three stages:
Heat - Heat therapy stimulates blood flow and helps to relax tired muscles, especially if they have been performing eccentric movements (stretching and contracting muscles).
Cold - Cold therapy reduces inflammation because it reduces blood flow.
Massage - Sports massage can stimulate circulation during recovery. It acts as a warm-up during active recovery by ridding muscle tissue of accumulated lactate and other metabolic wastes. By alternating these three treatments, you can release muscle tension, help the body relax and then fully recover.
CBD FOR SWIMMERS
Swimming is an optimal low-impact workout that can strengthen your muscles and cardiovascular system. But if you push too hard, your body will inevitably push back. So if you want to hit your goals and suffer as little as possible in the process, the way you recover is just as important as the way you exercise. Whether it's a calming swim or the composition of your diet, each adjustment contributes to a more complete recovery process after swimming fatigue.
CBD significantly supports the recovery of swimmers and other athletes. Whether you use CBD edibles such as CBD gummiess, CBD oils, or topicals (CBD ointments), all of these products should be third-party tested to ensure you are getting the best quality on the market.
Are you ready for faster recovery and a boost in your performance? Perfect. Try CBD.
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