Kelvin Giles on Recovery

Kelvin is with player development for Australia Rugby Union. He is a coach with vast experience. (See interview with Kelvin, Wednesday, August 2, 2006)I certainly attach great value to his comments.

“The research and application of recovery modalities in the current age is to be commended as it allows us the opportunity to question our assumptions on the subject. The problem arises when the coach simply jumps on a new fad or idea without any thought. Without any thought we will have a garage full of ice-baths, special drinks, special meals, electrical gadgets and other things that make us glow in the dark.

The key is to understand fatigue and to understand this with reference to the individual. Fatigue is a side effect of training and should not be viewed as some catastrophe. We know that sensible training with suitable recovery can lead to super compensation. The important word is ‘suitable’. On one hand you could say that for a certain level of fatigue a good night’s sleep will be the perfect solution. On the other you may have to react to the specific fatigue encountered and respond appropriately. Is the fatigue chronic due to a poorly managed program or is it a manifestation of other variable in the athlete’s life. Is the fatigue physical, emotional or social or a combination of them all?

I know that I have seen some distinct improvements in recovery from high impact games by the use of ice-baths. The micro-traumas of contact can be more quickly assisted to recovery using this modality. I have seen some workloads improved when, during very hot training conditions, intra-set cold water immersion has helped the athlete. This does not mean that everyone should run out and copy this. These were highly trained athletes in a very controlled environment and the evidence is subjective. The decision was based upon the environment in front of me – I reacted to the stress involved in the session. As stated before recovery from other sessions was simply a good night’s sleep.

If I put my ‘grumpy old man hat’ on I would also say that I don’t want to get to the position where we spend all our time in recovery and less and less time in pushing out the edge of the envelope. Smart training will still see the athlete taken to their physiological, psychological and structural limits. Too often I have seen individual athletes and teams tapering from a taper where they have entered into a sphere of protection from physical adversity. Recovery must be part of the written program whether one manages it in the intra-rep / set / microcycle / phase environment BUT you had better been working hard in between.”