Dr. Dan Plews

When it comes to recovery, the three pillars are sleep, periodization, and nutrition. Other tools include compression salts and cold water immersion, both of which have been shown to increase parasympathetic activity and help with recovery.
 
Transcript: "Hey there, good question. Thanks for this one. What recovery tools would you recommend to athletes? So when it comes to recovery, first and foremost, not thinking of tools. I always like to think of the three pillars of recovery. And they are sleep, so making sure you have good quality sleep. And I think there's a number of tools you can use to make sure you have good quality sleep. So some things like a chatty mat, not having blue light late at night, even buying blue light blocking glasses. And get red light around your house, especially if you're in the European summertime term to really help you with your actual sleep. So good sleep routines. You can even buy some quite cool things like magnesium and taurine and things like this that can actually help with sleep as well. So that's one thing. So there's sleep. There's training periodization. So making sure that you have plenty of recovery between your more intense and hard sessions, particularly ones that are above the anaerobic threshold. And then finally nutrition. So making sure that you go for the right fuel right time approach. So restricting carbs when necessary and increasing carbs when needed around high intensity exercise. And sometimes with recovery, when requiring you doing a high intensity session not that long later, but also restricting high refined sugars and more processed foods, which will also dampen recovery as well as alcohol. And they're the three pillars of recovery. But on top of that, I think one of the things that does come out, and a good meta analysis is published on this was compression salts. Compression salts are one tool that actually has been shown to help. And cold water immersion. So cold water immersion being shown to increase your parasympathetic activity and help with recovery. A great publication has just been actually published on that. Well, actually, I was asked to review it. I don't think it's published yet. But it was shown in there. So hopefully that one will be published soon. I hope this helps. And thanks for the question."

Refined sugars and processed foods are the biggest culprits in terms of inflammation. Dairy is actually a good source of calcium and protein and is beneficial for athletes, and high-intensity interval training with proper recovery periodization is also beneficial.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Amy. Thanks for this question. It's a really, really good one. So firstly, obviously, the refined sugars, I think, is the major one. And alongside that, any processed foods which particularly comes with a lot of sugars generally anyway a lot of hidden ones. I don't agree with the dairy comment, though. In fact, there was a meta-analysis that was published in 2020 that showed the exact opposite, with people who consume more dairy had lower levels of inflammation as measured by C-reactive proteins. So I'm not sure. I think that one's slightly true, and I think dairy is actually a good source of calcium, a good source of protein, and totally fine, and a very good one for athletes, in particular. And then, finally, one of the things that I think is really important is obviously high-intensity interval training and more high intensity, particularly things that are high loading and induce a lot of muscle damage so, like eccentric loading heavy weights. They're really good. Of course, they're very beneficial. They activate a lot of things that are important for growth and important for training adaptation. But I think having the right recovery between it's really, really important, and that's something else that can be considered. So the timing and the periodization of when you're doing those high-intensity intervals is really important. Generally, around 48 hours between those exercises where you're doing significant amounts of work above your second ventilatory threshold or the anaerobic threshold. So I hope that helps. Bye bye."

The preservation of endogenous carbohydrates is dependent on how quickly you're burning them. If you are a high carb burner, you likely need to take more carbohydrates during exercise. If you are a good fat burner, you probably need less. If you are using a glucose-fructose combination like maltodextrin, the upper limit is 90 grams per hour for most people. If you are just using glucose and maltodextrin, then 60 grams per hour is pretty much all you can oxidize and is independent of body weight. Additionally, absorption and tolerability are important factors when it comes to fueling during exercise.
 
Transcript: "Hi Rebecca. Thanks for the question. What is your formula for fueling in and I am? And so we actually published a great paper on this. It was published in the Journal of sports medicine, that was called same different horses on the same courses and it was around fueling for Ironman and basing it around your substrate, use or fat oxidation. But I mean that's that does become a little bit complicated. But of course the preservation of endogenous carbohydrates is dependent on how quickly you're burning them. So if A very high card burner. You likely going to have to take more carbohydrates during a good fat burner. You probably need less. For example, when I did Kona I had 50 60 gallons per hour and I had maybe 60 grams over the entire Marathon. For the co note for the marathon which was a 250 run split. So you know, you can get away with it. If you're fat, burning is good enough, but fueling depends on the type of carbohydrate you using. So if you are using a foot toes, grew close With a foot toes glucose combination, may be some kind of maltodextrine the fructose. Generally upper limit is 90 grams per hour for most people, so you can practice that. And of course, the more you're the harder, you going, the more intense the effort, the more likely likely you are going to be have to be up towards at 90 grams. However, if you are just doing glucose maltodextrine, then 60 grams per hour is pretty much all you can oxidize and it is independent of body, weight, body weight does not. Have a factor in that. So so even if your heavy referencing pretty much oxidation, rates are always the same, no matter how big or how small you are. So hope that answers that question. The, the other thing that I would do that, I would say is that obviously go absorption and the tolerability is a really important factor as well. So anyway, have a look at also have a look at indoor iq.com wrote A Blog about that. Not that long ago. We're adding a few blocks, written a few blogs, actually, but the ladies one was all around hydrogels and we go into some oxidation things in that as well. And why 120 grams an hour is probably not the best idea for most people. Hope this helps."

Most people will do three bikes, three runs, and three swims a week. Elite athletes usually have a ratio of 30% swimming, 50% cycling, and 20% running. Strength training sessions can range from 35 to 45 minutes and are usually done two to three times a week.
 
Transcript: "Hello again. Lottie, yep, another good question. So obviously it depends on who you are and what you're training for. But I think most people will do three bikes, three runs, three swims a week. Obviously as you get more and more professional, higher level, that can go up a lot, so five swims, five bikes, five runs easily and depends on what you're doing. But generally speaking in terms of percentages, what most people work [INAUDIBLE] is around. On the elite side, it's around 30% swimming, 50% cycling, 20% running, or it can be the vice versa where it's 20% swimming, 50% cycling, 30% running. But it's usually around that ratio. Most people will take that with two to three strength sessions a week, mostly two, but in the earlier season, many people will do three strength training sessions a week. And they can consist from 35 to 45 minutes. I hope that helps. Bye bye."

The best way to manage an intense workout is by manipulating the training itself, such as reducing the volume or intensity of the workout or changing the work to rest ratio.
 
Transcript: "Hey, [INAUDIBLE]. This is a great question, and I think the answer-- the answer to this is obviously manipulation of the training itself. I mean, if you-- I think you can-- the best thing to do is I always think something is better than nothing. So things that can be done, for example, is reducing obviously the volume or the intensity of the workout. That's a simple thing. But something that many people overlook is, particularly if doing interval training, is actually manipulating the interval training intensity itself or the manipulation of that work to rest ratio. So, for example, if you're doing 9-- what does that say? 5 by 15 minute-- 5 by 3 minutes, for example, at a very high intensity, most people will find it much easier just to break it down into 1-minute pieces. But you still do the total amount of work, so 5 by 3 minutes is 50 minutes of work. You could break that down into doing 15 by 1 minute keeping the same work to rest ratio. And that's a lot easier and much more manageable, but you still getting the total work done. And I think that's a really good way to manage it. So long story short, I think most things can be managed with a manipulation of training. You don't necessarily have to take a complete rest day but-- but also, that manipulation of training of the intervals and the work to rest ratios is also really important."

Fasted training can improve fat metabolism, but you need to be careful not to restrict calories too much. You should aim to get the right amount of energy and focus on healthy fats in your diet as a fuel source.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Igor. So when you're training fasted, yes, it will improve your fat metabolism for that particular session, so that has been shown in the research. It has been shown that training when a fasted state is better than training with carbohydrates just before. However, I actually did some research myself with my PhD student where we showed that eating protein just before, a pure protein, has a similar effect to when you're just fasted. So you can actually have protein or you can actually just be fasting and you're going to have the same [INAUDIBLE].. But one thing I will say is that what you need to be really, really careful is of an athlete is relative energy deficiency. So if you are fasted too much, you're not going to be getting the correct calories on board. And I think that when it comes to nutrition you always want to think about what's at the top of the pyramid and what's the most important. And most important before you consider any macronutrients, whether you're training fasted or whether you're having protein is that you're getting enough energy on board and you're getting the right amount of calories to support your training. So when you're doing that much fasted training as you're talking about in the question, I think that's probably a little bit too much and you're better off looking at bringing up your calories, doing less fasted training, and shifting your macronutrients to include more fat as a fuel. Because what we find is that the real way that you can improve your fat metabolism is actually be having more healthy fats in your diet than restricting them, and that's really, really important. So yeah, as I said before in my other message, I think you'll really benefit from checking out our course, so do, do that. And I hope-- there's loads of resources online, loads of blogs. EndureIQ.com. Check it out and you'll be away. OK. Bye bye."