Recently I've been getting asked about proper recovery by clients and friends and how it compliments a training regimen. This is a great question and an area of fitness that has many opinions. Most of recovery techniques are predicated on personal preference and individual need. I'll discuss what I believe to be the fundamentals of an effective recovery routine.
First and most importantly your recovery has to be congruent with your training in order to be effective. For example, if you're not exerting yourself or exercising for prolong periods of time utilizing deep tissue massage, acupuncture, and cryotherapy would be excessive to say the least. Conversely if your workouts are comprised of high frequency, intensity, and volume the above recovery techniques would be beneficial. If I'm being honest a lot of individuals use recovery to avoid getting started or from pushing themselves outside their comfort zones.
My personal training regimen is comprised of 4-5 days of exercise using various training modalities with 1 day of active recovery:(biking, swimming, hiking, climbing, etc.) and complete rest on the Sabbath. I've used an array of recovery techniques to address specific issues or to achieve certain results. Understand that recovery isn't an either-or proposition it's done simultaneously with exercise not to avoid doing the work, but to enhance it...
