When I was getting my black belt, one of my single biggest problems was "recovery time" after classes. I resolved at the time, to learn about nutrition and to speak to some knowledgeable people to figure out what might help. Well, many article and discussions later, no lights had gone on in my head. I continued to drink lots of water and to feel terrible the day after a major workout.
But, this past weekend. I was in
Running Wild buying new running shoes (great store, they really take the time to match you up with the right shoes) and I was asking questions about nutrition and recovery. One store guy asked: "Do you sweat a lot when you work out?".
The answer is that I do. More than anybody else. Dramatically so. He then connected the dots for me and said that I should make a special point of drinking electrolyte drinks right after working out. For most people, short of a 10K or half marathon, it's unimportant but in my case, it made sense (and connected with some other issues that I won't discuss on the blog).
Since then, I drink up after each class and I feel a lot better. Note that since I'm also trying to keep my weight at a reasonable level, I'm careful to be consuming drinks that have low or no calories. I've looked carefully at the sports drinks available at our dojo and the sugar content varies dramatically.

I thought I would also mention a related "care of the equipment" issue. As someone who has a powerful cooling system (eg I sweat), I needed to learn how to keep my sparring gear decent. My current program is that as soon I get home, I bring it into the air conditioning and lay it out in front of a fan for a day. This totally dries it out. The few times when I've left it in the non-air conditioned garage or the car, I had to basically junk it and buy new stuff. Just a tip for some of you who haven't found a way yet.
I'd appreciate more hints on any of these "Care of the Equipment" subjects.
Labels: electrolytes, nutrition, revgear, sparring gear