After reading this, you are probably going to think I’m
crazy. What if I told you that I have
virtually eliminated the soreness and fatigue in my muscles, simply by relaxing
in a very specific way for 5-10 minutes, immediately after my workout? Well this is no myth, at least in my case,
this works and it’s quite miraculous. I
recently saw an article talking about a new machine that various college and
professional sports teams are starting to use.
The title of the article grabbed my attention when it said that this
product works better than steroids for some.
Being one who doesn’t like to do things with too much outside help… and who
is quite afraid of needles… and who enjoys at least one alcoholic beverage to
wind me down in the evening, steroids aren’t for me. A key benefit to steroids is that they reduce
your recovery time substantially, allowing you to train more often and with
more intensity. This is the key benefit
to using this machine as well. I really wanted
one, but I simply wasn’t going to put up the $3,000 that they are asking for
it. Not being one who gives up easily,
my brain was locked on this concept for a few days. At the gym last week, I had one of those
eureka moments! I believe that I have
discovered the poor-man’s version of this machine. The reason I am sharing this bit of knowledge
is that I want your feedback. I want to
see if you experience the same results as I do; and if you do, by all means,
please share this with others.
The concept behind the machine is quite simple. It cools the palm of your hand, while
applying a slight vacuum to the hand in order to increase blood flow to the surface
of your hand. You see, animals and
humans alike have networks of veins that are localized in specific parts of the
body and work as natural and highly efficient “radiators” for the body. They cool your body very quickly through the
circulatory system, and that’s why Stanford News Service calls them our “built-in
radiators”. These special veins are
called arteriovenous anastomoses or
AVAs. In humans they are found on the
bottom of our feet, our faces and especially in the palms of our hands. In dogs, they are found in the tongue (hence
the panting to cool down); in rabbits they are in the ears; bears in the pads
of their feet and the tips of their noses (which allows the huge creatures to
not overheat during hot summers with all of their fat and fur). So what does this have to do with muscle
soreness and fatigue?
By cooling these
regions after a workout, you allow your muscle cells to cool back to a state
where the enzymes they use to preform work are once again in an active state. According to Stanford, this is “essentially
resetting the muscle’s state of fatigue.”
The results are immediate.
Lately, I have had to think about which body parts I just worked on when
reviewing my workouts. The painful
muscle fatigue that I was so used to, that I thought was necessary to grow, no
longer exists just a few minutes after my workouts. You can train more often and more intensely,
similar to the effects one see when using steroids. You can walk around with no pain after doing
your heavy squats and deadlifts! The
results literally blow my mind. In fact,
the only time I have been sore over the last week was the day after I walked
uphill for an hour, which made my calves a bit sore. The 400 pound free-weight squats to failure? No soreness at all. The difference? I didn’t use this technique after the uphill
walk. I would not believe this had I not
experienced it. Ok, so how am I doing
this?
The concept is
simple, increase blood flow to the surface of the skin, then cool the regions where
you find the AVAs, but not so much that you constrict the veins and actually
reduce circulation to these areas. I do
this by filling up a 32 oz. sports drink bottle with cold tap water (not ice
water, just cold tap water!), then hopping into the sauna for 5-10
minutes. While I’m in there, my palms
are wrapped firmly around the smoothest section of the bottle to get as much
direct contact between my palms and the cool bottle as possible. I rest like this for 5-10 minutes, I get out,
I go home… that’s it. When you walk back
to your car you will know if this worked for you. You will feel different than you usually do
after a workout, especially if you worked your lower body. No more waddling back to the car, you can
proudly and painlessly walk back to your car instead. As I mentioned, I am sharing this with all of
you as somewhat of an experiment. I want
to see if this works for others and if it does, I think we should all be doing
this after our workouts. Please leave
your feedback below – thanks!
Core Cooling AVAcore
Addendum:
I have been
trying a few new things and wanted to share them with you. I started using a 64 oz. bottle that is
smoother allowing the water to stay cooler longer and to keep more of the
bottle’s surface area in contact with the palms of my hands. I have tried using the refrigerated water
fountains for water and I see similar results with them as well. Last night, for the first time, I hopped in
the sauna after an exhaustive set of shoulders (DC training style) and after a
half completed chest set. Before getting
in, I did the Hammer Strength shoulder press and got the weight 7 times, then a
rest-pause (basically a deep-breathing 15 second pause), 2 reps, rest-pause and
1 final rep. I finished that off with
one 30 second static rep. Then I warmed
up and did one set to exhaustion on the Hammer Strength bench press. After that, I sat in the sauna holding my
bottle for only about 3 minutes, because I didn’t want to sweat too much before
getting back onto the equipment. When I returned
to the shoulder press, the same weight felt much lighter than I expected and I was
able to press the weight 5 more times.
The problem is that I don’t know my baseline, because I am usually so
exhausted after the initial DC training set that I would never even attempt
another set. I can honestly say that
just because I had to muscle strength to even attempt the exercise (and be able
to press it 5 times, when I can only press it 7 times fresh), I definitely
noticed a difference.
Your "home remedy" seems to take the same concepts into account as does the actual device. A suggestion I may make to increase your versions efficiency is to shake the cool water or possibly find a cool gel substance to "massage" with your palms. This will get distribute the cooler temperature evenly across your palms. Also certain people don't shut down circulation to their AVAs until varying low temperatures so some may want to take slightly iced water into the sauna or experiment with different temperatures of water to get the best results. Thanks for the closest thing I could find to a "Home Version" of this device!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew, thanks for the feedback and I hope this works for you! I like your suggestions, thanks! I will definitely give them a try
ReplyDeleteYou are missing one of the key points of the glove: you can use it intra workout to reduce recovery time between sets!
ReplyDeleteI know.... that is a missing component. You could do it during a workout but not conveniently. But the benefits of this are fantastic none the less
ReplyDeleteThen again... I would not lug that thing around the gym anyways now that I think about it
DeleteI don't understand where the vacuum effect is taking place, maybe I didn't read your wall of text correctly. The process requires a vacuum to bring the blood to the surface of the palms. Also being in a sauna does not aid cooling your core temperature...
ReplyDeletehttp://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/august/cooling-glove-research-082912.html
The sauna brings the blood to the surface very quickly. The core temp is cooled through the AVAs and saunas don't raise the core temp very much at all- mostly it raises surface temp.
ReplyDeletehow would you recommend this technique if there is no sauna? some cold gel packs in both hands and on the back of the neck perhaps?
ReplyDeleteHello, I'm actually not aware of any other way to get the blood to come to the surface of the body other than the vacuum chamber in the machine that this mimics or the sauna… If I find another way, I will def post it. You can try the cold packs on your hands, they should work to a certain degree as long as they are not so cold that they cause the AVAs to constrict. The back of the neck probably won’t give the same effect, because I don’t believe you have any of these specialized veins there.
ReplyDeletei have access to a (cheapo) infrared sauna at home - would this "work"? i am trying to hack this. usually i just do some contrast showers when i get home from the gym, and then wear some recovery/compression tights during sleep. i plan on incorporating an ems machine to pump the lymph soon as well...
Deleteam i right i thinking that the main reason this is helping recovery is just getting heat out of the body? if this is true, then how would a sauna help because i am much hotter after a sauna session...
From what I can tell, this may work. It sounds like the big difference between infrared and regular saunas is that the infrared radiant heat is absorbed into the body instead of heating the body though hot air or steam. I am not sure if this would increase the surface blood flow in the same way, but it's worth a try. Let me know if that works for you. This is really more activating the specialized veins that we all have to go to work for you. They cool key parts inside your body, but not your skin. But don't think that just because your skin get's hot that your muscles and core do too. Saunas usually raise your surface temp to around 105 degrees and your core to about 100 degrees (not much above normal). I would like to see how cooling the AVAs affects the core temp in the sauna... but I don't have the equipment to test that. Give it a try, see if it works.
DeleteWould a hot shower work instead of a sauna?
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried a hot shower, but I think that it should increase the circulation to the surface in a similar way to the sauna. If you try that, please let me know if you see results. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking an even cheaper version might be: get a bucket/basin of cold/ice water and one of hot water. Soak hands(and feet when convenient) in hot water for a few minutes, then into the cold, rinse/repeat a few times. (rinsing not necessary)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think?
I think the problem here may be that when you plunge your hands into ice water, this may shut your AVAs down too quickly. With the sauna (or possibly a shower) you get a gentle and sustained increased blood flow to the skin, while the water cools the AVAs without letting them get too cold, causing them to shut down. Give it a try and let me know if it works though, def would be an easy method if this works.
ReplyDeleteThe avacore uses only one hand to get the core down to the right temp. Do you feel that it would be beneficial if both hands were in the Acacore. Yes, That would increase the cost 100% but it's a question of efficiency and if it would make the time between sets a bit shorter. They claim that one needs to keep the hand in the Avacore for up to 3 minutes. That's a bit of time. I'm wondering if the time could be cut down if two devices were used.
ReplyDeleteNext question. What does the vacuum do again? It forces the blood to the surface of the palms?
Last question for now. It seems the a very regulated temp is needed at the palms. What temp do you suppose that may be. I see that they use ice water running through a tube which offers some degree of insight.
instead of a sauna can't u just sit in a car with the heat at full power...the car actually gets pretty damn hot
DeleteI think that you have this a little confused.... if you read my blog, you will see that I'm not Avacore. But I can answer your questions to a certain extent. I do believe that 2 hands is definitely more efficient than just cooling one hand. With my method, when I want to really kill it, I will go and sit in the sauna for 3-5 minutes while holding my water bottle, then get back to my workout. My method naturally uses 2 hands though, so I can't say if it works better than one hand alone, I just know that it does work. Yes, the vacuum draws the blood to the surface of the palms, allowing the AVAs to stay open and active during the cooling process. You don't want the water to be too cold, so I don't use ice water, just cold water from the tap or refrigerated water from a fountain at the gym is what I use.
DeleteAs far as using the car goes, if it get's hot enough it should work. Hot enough specifically means hot enough to greatly increase your circulation to the surface of your body. Give it a try and see if it works, it definitely has merit and is worth a try.
DeleteI have a Sauna right next to my gym, so I can definitely give it a try. The idea is to finish the full routine and do the method? Or to jump in and out between excercises? Or to jump in and out in between sets?
ReplyDeleteYou know, this method is much cheaper than the machine, but not as convenient to use. I do jump in between sets and I definitely notice a difference in my energy level when I return to an exercise that I have already completed my usual number of sets for. But when I do this after a workout for a few minutes, it dramatically reduces how sore I am the days following the workout.
DeleteI see. But how would it help to performance if we do it after the gym? Or is this method only to minimize soreness? Wasnt the whole purpose of the process to increase performance and gains? (Not that I am discrediting minimizing muscle soreness which is great too.)
DeleteIt only works for performance the day of if you get in the sauna during your workout for a few minutes, then go back retry a heavy set on a few exercises. I do that sometimes, but it is inconvenient. Not being sore is the side-effect benefit, but with this method it's also the only convenient benefit. I do notice that I have much better workouts because I am never sore when it's time to workout a muscle group. In fact, I sometimes have to force myself to not workout on days that I'm not supposed to because my muscles feel ready to go a couple days after a workout.
DeleteI think your approach definitely is something I will try out. I actually found your blog post in the comments on this website. Here they lay out a method of building an AvaCore type of system for under $150. I plan on trying out your method as well as this one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.instructables.com/id/CoreControl-DIY/
JD. Thanks for brainstorming on this. As a competative tennis player in Florida, the Corecontrol piqued my interest because we have a few minutes between sets to regroup. Given that we often play in 95 to 110 temps with high humidity, don't you think we have the body warmth part covered? Just sinking hands into cool water during the break should do it right? Have to wait until next summer to try out though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a wonderful post. I really like the information which is shared in this blog.
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You are doing very hard work. I also do some exercises regularly at home to maintain my health and stay active and strong. Nice article!!!
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ReplyDeleteDo you suggest doing this a day after a workout? when your muscles are already sore?
ReplyDeleteHi Isabelle, actually you do this immediately after your workout, before you ever get sore. I do this after every workout to prevent soreness
DeleteAlright, thanks :) I'll definitely be trying this!
ReplyDeleteThese are very useful set of exercises to treat sore muscles. You can consume 60 ml of Organic Noni Juice to relax your muscles after exercise. Thanks for sharing the information.
ReplyDelete