Oxygen and Muscle Recovery
It’s well known that oxygenating the muscles is key to make the most of a workout, but what does oxygen play in muscle recovery? Oxygen is the key to help your muscles recover safely, and quickly.
To understand the role of oxygen in muscle recovery we must first understand what happens during training or workout. During exercise your muscles use ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) which is stored in the body as an energy source and once your oxygen levels get low myoglobin are used to fill the void. At this point your blood vessels begin to expand which allows blood to flow more quickly to your muscles and increases your heart rate. Once your glycogen is depleted your body begins to lose energy without anything left to keep it going.
When you’re done working your body is at a loss of oxygen. Well, not only oxygen: myoglobin, ATP, and glycogen. It is oxygen which is the key to recovery.
The simple act of breathing restores the oxygen lost as well as restores the myoglobin stored in the muscles.
Increasing your lung capacity can help you deliver oxygen to your muscles more quickly both during and post-work out. This makes your workouts more efficient and your recovery time faster. The result being increased endurance, improved performance and better overall results.
Breathing exercises and aerobic exercise are both great ways to improve your lung capacity. To make the most of breathing exercises it’s recommended to use a breathing resistance device like Expand-A-Lung.
The Expand-A-Lung uses inspiratory and expiratory resistance to strengthen your diaphragm and your intercostal muscles which overtime increases your lung capacity. It reduces shortness of breath and improves stamina and endurance during aerobic activity for improved athletic performance and longevity.
Aerobic exercise also assists in increasing your lung capacity. “Fast-moving exercise causes your heart and breathing rates to increase, delivering fresh oxygen to your bloodstream and energy to your muscles. Your lung capacity can be increased through regular aerobic workouts, but only by a modest amount, according to Dr. Tim”-www.livestrong.com
Because aerobic exercise alone can only have “modest” benefits it’s recommended to combine aerobic exercise with breathing exercise to maximize the efforts.
When the body recovers more quickly it can perform better positioning you for continuous athletic improvement, and improved cardiovascular health.
