MASTERING RECOVERY: SIMPLE ACTIONS FOR LONG-TERM RESILIENCE IN FIRST RESPONDERS

Physical activity, whether it be cardio, strength training, yoga, or something in between, should be a key part of every first responder’s lifestyle. The benefits of a strong and efficient body for the high-risk, high-consequence jobs of first responders can’t be overstated, but these benefits don’t result from the physical activity alone – there are some other key ingredients required for the growth and adaptation we’re chasing from our training to actually occur.

One of those key ingredients is nutrition. Without proper fuelling pre- and post-exercise, your body will eventually burn out. The intensity of your workouts will drop, you’ll lose your ability to turn up again the next day, and you’ll find your workouts are actually doing more harm than good. Although nutrition is undeniably important – arguably more so than exercise – for first responder health and longevity, it’s also a well-known fact that has been extensively researched and reported, so this article is going to look at the third element of adaptation and growth: Recovery.

Supercompensation Theory

Supercompensation Theory explains that an improvement in performance requires both a training stimulus and adequate recovery.

Figure 1: Supercompensation Theory  

Immediately after a training stimulus has been introduced, performance significantly drops. Imagine running 10km, and then an hour later running another one. The first 10km is likely to be much faster, because your body is in a state of fatigue heading into the second one.

Over time, the fatigue will decrease and with enough rest, recovery and nutrition, your capacity to perform that task will increase by a small amount. If you introduce the next stimulus at the right time, you can maximise that increase in performance capacity and continue building upon it.

Figure 2: Sufficient training and recovery resulting in a performance increase

If your body is still in the process of recovering when the next stimulus is introduced, however, your performance capacity in the next training session will actually decrease, and over time this correlates with increased injury risk, overtraining and burn out.

Figure 3: Poor training and recovery resulting in a performance decrease

Similarly, if you wait too long before introducing the next training stimulus, your performance capacity will return to its original baseline as shown back in Figure 1.

"Those new to training will often be sporadic and random with their training which means they never actually move from their baseline capacity, or they go all in and overtrain which leads to negative adaptations."

Herein lies the common mistakes made by beginners. Those new to training will often be sporadic and random with their training which means they never actually move from their baseline capacity, or they go all in and overtrain which leads to negative adaptations.

Even experienced lifters are guilty of this. Someone who lifts often but only does cardio ‘when I can’, or regularly avoids squat patterns or lower body training in general are going to have the same issues. On the flip side, with the introduction of CrossFit and Hyrox-style training, high volume and high intensity in the same session has become a very popular training method. This can lead to very quick adaptations, but it can also lead to negative performance adaptations if recovery is not a priority because it leaves your body in a significant metabolic debt.  

Three Areas of Focus for Peak Recovery

If you train for an hour each day, then recovery boils down to what you do for the other 23 hours. For example, someone who trains regularly but doesn’t get enough sleep is going to see their training intensity drop, soreness increase and risk of illness skyrocket. Likewise, someone who is dehydrated, sedentary, overactive or highly stressed is also contradicting all of the good work they’re putting in at the gym. Recovery is not something passive that simply happens over time, it requires intentional action.

In sport, recovery occurs over a number of days, or even weeks, to ensure that an athlete is 100% ready for future performance. In the emergency services, recovery should occur constantly and is about ensuring your body is always 80-90% prepared to go at a moment’s notice. This means providing your body with what it needs at every stage of the day, not just the hour you’re in the gym.

• Sleep

"Someone who trains regularly but doesn’t get enough sleep is going to see their training intensity drop, soreness increase and risk of illness skyrocket."

I’d be willing to go out on a limb to suggest that as a first responder, you’re probably not regularly achieving the 7-9 hours of sleep per night recommended for the average adult. Studies have found that 71% of paramedics report poor sleep [1], and I’m not so delusional as to suggest that there’s a quick-fix or a magic solution to that for those of you on a 24-hour roster. It is important, however, that we’re maximising sleep where possible for the sake of recovery.

Sleep is crucial for recovery, because it’s during sleep that your body repairs any damage suffered during the day. Protein is synthesised for muscle repair and growth, waste products are removed and your brain consolidates learning and memory.

In a sleep deprived state, a number of performance indicators plummet. This not only effects your performance output, but it also impacts the effectiveness of any training you’re doing in that state, and severely increases your likelihood of an injury. Those who work shifts of over 12-hours are 98% more likely to suffer a workplace injury, and shift workers are twice as likely to be injured at work than non-shift workers [1]. 

Naps are a fantastic way to minimise these effects on performance and injury risk as they can help to manage sleep pressure. Over the course of a day, sleep pressure – tiredness, or your body’s need for rest – builds up and is only released during sleep.

Without sleep, this pressure continues to climb and symptoms such as decreased reaction time, poor decision making, poor problem solving, irritability, decreased strength, decreased cardiovascular endurance and more, start to take hold.  

With naps, while the sleep pressure continues to build, it is at least held at bay and can be managed at a point where you can still function without the symptoms of high sleep pressure until your next opportunity to get a proper sleep. 

To maximise sleep for optimal recovery:

1. Utilise 30-90-minute naps to release some sleep pressure.

2. Do not consume caffeine within 6-hours of sleep.

3. Create a sleep sanctuary - black-out blinds, cool room, no light, minimal sound.

• Downtime

"You’ll have downtime after each individual session – ideally, in this period of time you will avoid prolonged physical or mental stress."

Sleep and down time make up the bedrock of the recovery pyramid. Before we can consider food, hydration, massage or supplements, sleep and downtime need to be addressed.

Downtime as it relates to recovery is the intentional suspension of activity – the time spent not training or exercising in order to allow muscle repair, nervous system regulation and energy replenishment. What we do in this intentional period of rest, and how often we schedule it, is crucial.

You’ll have downtime after each individual session – ideally, in this period of time you will avoid prolonged physical or mental stress. This is important as a first responder, because if you’re required to attend an emergency, you can expect significant mental or physical stress which may be detrimental to recovery. This might mean delaying your next training session until you’ve had sufficient downtime to be suitably recovered.

Over time, a first responder trying to fuel a regular training schedule and a career in the emergency services is similar to a bucket with a tiny hole; even if you replace the water you use, your bucket will still eventually run out. Every now and then, you need to take the time to fill your bucket all the way to the top without taking any water out of it. This might mean a deload week or a period away from training to allow full recovery before diving back in. This could align with a prolonged period of night shift where your training quality is likely to drop anyway.   

How to do a scheduled deload:

One week in every six to eight, decrease the volume of your training by 50%. It is important to maintain intensity by using your regular working weight or speed, but cut the sets, time or distance in half.

• Movement

At a minimum, two or three days a week should involve some recovery-focused movement, including training days, rest days, and on deload weeks. These are low intensity and low impact movements that won’t add metabolic stress, such as zone 2 cardio, walking, stretching, breath work, or mobility.

Not only will this help with the acute recovery, but the right exercises could help you in bullet proofing your body, improving long-term performance and staying injury free in the future. The aim here is to utilise muscles and joints in their full range without too much additional load, minimise inflammation and pooling, slightly elevate the heart rate to get oxygen to resting muscles and remove waste products, and recover mentally as well as physically.

To maximise movement for recovery:

1. Incorporate 5-minutes of low-load mobility in warm-ups or cool-downs on training days, and 15-20-minutes on recovery days.

2. Complete weekly zone 2 training sessions between 30-90-minutes.

3. Avoid prolonged periods of sitting and lying - get up and move every hour.

4. Have a daily step goal between 8,000-12,000 to encourage frequent movement.

Summary

Training alone does not lead to fitter, stronger and faster first responders – you must also understand the key role recovery plays in the continued development of physical performance. When fatigue is allowed to accumulate, not only does your training suffer, but so too do the members of the public that you have committed to keeping safe.

Sleep, downtime and movement are three key pillars of physical and mental recovery which should be prioritised for optimal performance, and this is an intentional and active process that time alone will not address. You must plan for recovery in order to account for the unpredictable demands of your career in the emergency services. By respecting recovery as a critical part of the training process, first responders can train harder when it matters, perform more reliably on the job, and extend both careers and long-term health.

References

1.      Kendrick, K., Ogeil, R.P. & Dunn, M. 2024, ‘The prevalence and effect of poor sleep amongst paramedics: a systematic review’, Occupational Medicine, vol. 74, no. 9, pp. 639-646.