AIS Study from Hally

A couple of weeks ago a mate of mine was visiting friends in Canberra and he had a chance to go to the AIS and sit in on a seminar. The seminar was about a study they had conducted on recovery after participating in sport and it was interesting to read what they reported. The AIS had found these results after testing athletes as well as volunteers from the public.

Some major points that Hally thought would be useful were:

• Compression slacks do work but have a very short working life. Some brands didn't work and some only provided compression for a short period before stretching too much.
  Nike didn't have any compression qualities.
  Skins compression qualities lasted for about 5 weeks being used 3 to 4 times per week.
  2XU had the best results with the compression qualities lasting about 7 to 8 months being used 3 to 4 times per week.
  The best way to use the compression slacks are to put them on after exercise and wear them for about 4 to 5 hours.
  Some athletes have reported that they reduced shin splints when they wore them during exercise.
  The best results were with the full length legs.
  


• The best recovery method was to stretch and then submerge the body in hot/cold water:
  After exercise Cool down by doing a very easy activity (this lets the body know it has finished the activity).
  Then stretch the muscles, holding each stretch for about 10 seconds. You only need to go through every stretch twice.
  After stretching fully submerge the body to the neck in water that is 12 to 15 degrees then submerge the body in warm water. The total amount of time in cold/hot water should equal about 5 minutes each and always finishing with cold.
  You can use a shower if a plunge pool is unavailable.
  

There is heaps more information and research on performance recovery available at the Australian Sporting Commission/Australian Institute of Sport website. Thanks Hally.