Was up at the folks’ cottage in Parry Sound, Ontario a few weeks ago and it was one of the most relaxing trips I’ve ever had.
I went for 2 great hikes kinda wandering in the forest. There aren’t any paths to hike, so you either stay on the cottage road or you wander through the forest.
Found a wicked hike up the Canadian shield that gave me a great view of the lake and the fall colours. For those of you who don’t know, the Canadian shield is basically a bunch of rock that lines highways and dots the landscape throughout Canada.
Anyway, the trip got me thinking about recovery and how important it is to MMA fighters.
Think of it as just as important as BJJ or strength and conditioning and you’ll have a long, healthy career.
Here’s the vid, hope you enjoy it and I’d love to hear YOUR recovery strategies – leave a comment below.
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Leave A Reply (12 comments So Far)
Bobby
Great video! I’m lucky that 2 mountains are around my town…the nearest place is 30 km. and the good thing is that in the mountain have bungalows and 7 days before fight, I just go and rent one bungalow for 6 days…only tress, river, not have peoples (10-15 max.) and relax all time, not training (if is wrong to not training in fight week i will be happy if you fix me Eric). Before 30 days ago, I began to think about Tai Chi. It is fact that I’m not informend many about Tai Chi, but already I’m interested in it and would like learn many about that, because I’m sure will help me. Eric, how you think if I practise 10-20 min. Tai Chi before punching speed training? I do it at morning, when my CNS is fresh.
Blake S.
No offense intended at all Eric, but got to love the good ole rents! Good short calming video.
Eric Reply:
November 25th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
None at all taken! They’re good peeps.
Josh
great stuff. I would like to know however exactly how these things work to help recovery. I’m in the process of learning some tai chi because I thought it would be an excellent off day or even down time thing to be able to add in. I didn’t know it could help recovery though?
Eric Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Tai Chi helps recovery in a few different ways:
1) The gentle movement helps to increase blood flow throughout the body, helping bring oxygen to where it’s needed and get rid of waste products to speed healing and recovery…
2) If you get into the flow then it helps to calm your nervous system and bring you more into a parasympathetic vs. sympathetic state… When you’re in a parasympathetic state, you are in a state of healing, growth, and recovery.
3) If you’re open to Eastern philosophy, it improves the flow of Qi (or Chi) through your body… the Orientals say that blocked Qi results in disease, so anytime you can improve Qi flow, you improve health and well-being.
Josh Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Awesome stuff. Any suggestions as far as where to pick up some Tai Chi Training? Right now i’m trying to learn on my own through books.
Eric Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Just search ‘Tai Chi’ in your area… I know my dad has borrowed a bunch of Tai Chi dvds from the local library as well… and Amazon always has stuff
colleen
Very VERY,VERY COOL… to have the confidence to highlight your parents doing tae chi,(sp?). Staying fit at any age rocks!
Brian
I totally agree. Haven’t gone out hiking in nature for a loooong time. Thanks for reminding me. I’ll take the kids too. We tend to get too caught up in the hectic big city lifestyle chasing the dollar and don’t take the time to unwind, be it physically or mentally. Whether you’re a professional fighter or just training for fitness, we all need a little downtime.
Enjoy and keep the good videos coming.
Thanks,
Brian
larry
right Eric,
fighting in december so training hard at the mo’ basically 4 times a week in my kickboxing gym and twice doing the strength & conditioning program. Food wise no problem at all,,wife s Japanese and we live in Tokyo ,,plenty of good food in JP ,,,fresh veggies and fruit plenty of fish and chicken. I always make sure i get at least 8 hrs of sleep everynight sometimes 9. I go to a public bath as well once a week after a K-boxing workout . I get into a hot tub stay for 2 to 3 minutes then get into an icy cold bath and stay 3 to 4 minutes inside. I do that a couple of times then I hit the steam sauna for 15 minutes get back into the cold bath and go to the dry sauna for another 15 minutes. Once a week I try to go for a 20 minutes moderate -pace run to help speeding up the recovery process. I don t know whether it helps but I generally recover well. this week however i ve been feeling kind of tired so I m going to take a day or two off training
Eric Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Sounds like some good strategies there Larry… Although your balls probably hate you from constantly getting heated up/frozen!!!
Also good on you for listening to your body… It’s an underdeveloped and underused skills these days…
Jc
This is a pretty cool video man! :D