Optimal Muscle Recovery: Your Guide to Achieving Peak Physical Performance

A complete nutritional strategy for long-term muscle health from a former director of the Center for Science and Technology for the U.S. Cycling Team.

For serious athletes, guidelines for designing training programs that best meet the physiologic needs of working skeletal muscle. Burke, director of the Exercise Science Program at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, is up-to-date on the latest findings in sports physiology; he ably organizes that information into understandable and ultimately practical terms. ``Once strenuous training or competition has ended for the day, sufficient rest and careful nutritional management become essential for future performance. The goal during the postexercise recovery period, Burke explains, is to provide muscles with nutrients to help them recover from mechanical damage (swelling, tears), oxidative damage (also known as free-radical damage), and tissue degradation (resulting from the body's stress response). Burke first describes the structure and function of skeletal muscles, including the biochemistry of movement. Then he lays out a ``targeted nutrition program'' to restore fluid and electrolytes that are lost due to dehydration; to replenish glycogen for energy; to reduce muscle stress; and to rebuild muscle protein, thus maintaining optimal structure and function. Burke follows this specific nutrition program with advice on general nutrition (carbo- loading, etc.) and some pointers on nonnutritional support measures for muscle recovery (massage, sauna, stretching). Casual exercisers can benefit from the clear explanation of the state-of-the-art of muscle physiology set out here; but the meat of this guide is more appropriate for the serious athlete and coach. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.