Just looking for a bit of advice,
I read somewhere that taking NSAIDS (ie ibuprofen) can reduce your gains from lifting. Anyone have any info on this, and if the effect is serious enough to warrant an extra day out of the gym every week for recovery?
I’ve read that before as well, but don’t recall where. If you need anti-inflammatories but want to stay away from NSAIDs, try turmeric(curcumin) or cissus. I have used both and was impressed. Turmeric(or curcumin) is the cheaper of the two, but they both seemed to work about the same(for me at least). I take a turmeric extract to keep my knees happy(do a decent amount of running at work).
[quote]devildog_jim wrote:
Just looking for a bit of advice,
I read somewhere that taking NSAIDS (ie ibuprofen) can reduce your gains from lifting. Anyone have any info on this, and if the effect is serious enough to warrant an extra day out of the gym every week for recovery?[/quote]
Not sure about NSAIDS reducing your gains, but I was taking 2 aleve each day for about 3 weeks for elbow tendonitis and ended up with a stomach ulcer. Just be careful how much you take and how often, cause ulcers are not fun.
Try icing and heating in alternating pattern of 10mins of each. I’ve seen results with that with recovery.
One of my professors brought that up in a physiology class several years ago. I never forgot that he said NSAIDs would inhibit muscle growth, but I did forget the specifics. I think it has something to do with shutting down a cell signalling system that’s used to increase protein synthesis. If you’ve got an injury, it would be best to give it rest/lighter loads or find a way to work around it so it can heal. If it’s more of a recovery thing, my advice would be to take the extra day of rest. Adequate recovery is probably one of the most important things for consistent gains, right after actually training on a consistent basis. I tend to border on overtraining anyway, so I’m giving you the advice that’s been best for me.
Agree with you on recovery being essential. I get the best gains out of HIT, but after my squat/deadlift day my knees are bad. I recover about a day faster when I take ibuprofen before going to bed, but if that’s canceling my gains I’ll suck it up and just wait the extra day. I’m hoping that when my contract is up next year I can stop distance running and my knees will be better, or at least not get worse.