Recovery/ Regeneration in the NBA Bill Burgos, MS, CSCS, RSCC Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Orlando Magic

Since the hiring of the first full-time paid strength and conditioning coach, Boyd Epley, by Bob Devaney from the University of Nebraska on August 15, 1969 we have encountered many measures since then throughout the years, which defines the accomplishments and accolades we as strength coaches strive to achieve. In fact, many of our challenges all boil down to restoring our athletes rapidly in order to be optimal for the next activity and/or competition. Whether it's countless hours reading and searching for articles on the topic of recovery, or reaching out to colleagues to discover what the latest technology is in sports science, we still tend to push forward every day with the commitment in making our athletes better.

Our athletes experience a grind everyday in dealing with the whirlwind of life such as Agents, Family, Personal investments, and to top things off we as strength coaches want them to give a great deal of effort in the weight room, which all contributes to a form of stress.

"The non-specific response of the body to any demand for change." Dr. Hans Selye, a Canadian physician and medical educator who was born in Hungary coined the term stressor over 70 years ago and defined stress as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change." Now these changes are made during homestatic adjustment to the internal and external stressors that elicit a physiological and psychological response. For instance, internal stressors such as heart rate, hunger, and breathing are regulated by either a conscious or unconscious effort. On the other hand, there are external stressors such as the whirlwinds as I mentioned earlier that influence mood and energy as well as a training stimulus in which the body is exposed to a repetitive bout of physiological stress such as the game of basketball. Basically, they both require for the athlete to adapt but each of course has a different recovery period depending on the duration, intensity, and the modality of the exercise. Retrieved from http://www.stress.org/what-is-stress/ on May 2014

Minutes for heart rate, blood lactate, and body temperature Hours for cognitive function, oxygen consumption Days for muscle glycogen and muscle soreness Although the recovery period depends on duration, intensity, and the modality of the exercise, we must keep in mind that it takes minutes for heart rate, blood lactate, and body temperature, hours for cognitive function, oxygen consumption, days for muscle glycogen and muscle soreness, weeks for muscle function and neuromuscular coordination, and months for muscle regeneration to all return to pre-exercise levels Weeks for muscle function and neuromuscular coordination Months for muscle regeneration C. Hausswirth & I. Mujika (2013). Recovery For Performance In Sport. Champagne, IL: Human Kinetics

TWO BACK-TO-BACKS WITH A DAY OFF IN BETWEEN AND THEN A HOME GAME

Flight is approximately 2:45 minutes 10am Shootaround Flight is approximately 2:45 minutes 12pm Lunch 3pm Prepare For Game Exit airport around 3:15am 430pm Bus or 5pm Bus Drive home 20-30 minutes 7pm Go to sleep around 4:30-5:00 am Game Ends around 9:45pm Leave to the plane around 10:30pm after media and taking showers Arrive to the plane 11-11:15pm Plane takes off around 11:45pm

Sleep Nutrition Athlete Monitoring System C. Hausswirth & I. Mujika (2013). Recovery For Performance In Sport. Champagne, IL: Human Kinetics

Sleep deprivation with standardized food intake results in reduced muscle glycogen concentrations compared to a normal night sleep. Partial sleep loss during the night can lead to greater strength declines during submaximal lifts. The three things I look at, which I feel is important from a recovery standpoint is sleep, nutrition, and an athlete-monitoring program, with sleep being the most important recovery factor. Now I'm not a sleep doctor, expert in sleep or a neurologist but studies show that partial sleep loss can show greater strength declines during sub maximal lifts as well as slower sprint times. Visual Coaching, ICE, Apollo, Kinduct, Edge 10 C. Hausswirth & I. Mujika (2013). Recovery For Performance In Sport. Champagne, IL: Human Kinetics

Retrieved from http://www.generalpatton.com/quotes/ on May 2014 "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." Retrieved from http://www.generalpatton.com/quotes/ on May 2014

“Preparation for the next battle begins when the game ends." –Bill Burgos