Nothing works without regeneration – especially if you want to improve your athletic performance. But what is essential for our body to recover? And how can we successfully manage the "regeneration project" after exercise in our everyday lives? We put these questions to sports coach, ultra-runner, and endurance training specialist Sandra Mastropietro.
About the person:
Sandra Mastropietro came to running late in life. What once started with strenuous "lamppost-to-lamppost" intervals and alternating walking and running has become a burning passion that the mother of two describes as a "vacation from everyday life." Sandra is a running and mental coach. She also writes for various running and fitness platforms. @running.sandra
Ambitious amateur athletes are currently in what could be called a "season." People are setting themselves athletic goals; they want to thoroughly enjoy the summer, stay healthy, and therefore train outdoors in the mountains.
And it is not uncommon for people to forget to support their bodies afterwards to recover from all of this. Of course, one might ask: "How can this be done?" A question our interviewee today is asked quite frequently. Because Sandra Mastropietro is not just an endurance coach; she is an author, an ultra-runner herself, and has been a Medicom brand ambassador for years.
I am all the more pleased to be able to gather important tips for myself—and therefore for all of us—below. From the perfect sleep and proper nutrition to the nutrients that are indispensable for regeneration after exercise.
Medicom: Sandra, what does regeneration mean in general, and what does it mean to you?
Sandra Mastropietro: From a sports science perspective, regeneration is generally understood as the processes that lead to the restoration of a physiological state of equilibrium. This means they are always related to a preceding load and have a replenishing function.
I would say regeneration after exercise means the recovery of expended energy. Our depleted stores in the muscles and liver are replenished as quickly and effectively as possible, and this ensures that any damage incurred doesn't become a concern, right?
The microstructures of the muscles are repaired, and our functional systems are restored to their original performance level. It's okay that this involves a bit more than just sleep.
Medicom: How can I best support regeneration after exercise and recovery in everyday life? What do I need to do?
Sandra Mastropietro: Regeneration is elementary, if not the most elementary factor for training success. In addition to sufficient rest periods, nutrition plays a very important key role. It can be said that only a rested and well-nourished body can perform, allowing for effective training stimuli for people focused on their training.
Regeneration is best achieved immediately after training.
Regeneration is best achieved immediately after training. In the half hour after training, an anabolic window opens, also known as the "open window" effect. In this half hour, you should efficiently supply good nutrients—that is, protein. Protein is essentially the building block of cells and helps with growth and repair. And then you should also incorporate vitamins in the form of fruit and Omega-3, for example with a dash of flaxseed or nuts. That, along with fluids containing electrolytes, is also very important after training.
Medicom: Can you break that down into specific foods or products that I can consume for this purpose?
Sandra Mastropietro: I am personally a big fan of hemp protein. I love mixing it with a bit of quark, a few nuts, and then fresh fruit—banana is a favorite. That’s what my regeneration looks like after exercise. It’s not always possible to make a quark bowl with powder and fruit right after training.
Sometimes, for everyday practicality, it has to be a quick, classic shake that I mixed at home beforehand. That works just as well.
Medicom: What else should I know about the anabolic window, or the open window effect, which one should utilize as best as possible after training?
Sandra Mastropietro: 15 to 30 minutes after training, the anabolic window opens. During this period, the nutrients consumed are particularly well absorbed by the body. Furthermore, fluid replenishment is necessary because you sweat during training. Here, I highly recommend Medicom's electrolytes or electrolytes in general, because they restore the balance to our fluid levels after or during training.
Important: Our immune system is weakened for up to 72 hours after strenuous physical exertion or intense training. Everyone should be aware of this. For easy recovery runs or walks, this period is, of course, not as long.
Because of this anabolic window, viruses and bacteria can penetrate our bodies more easily, which can lead to illness. That is why the intake of proper nutrition, nutrients, and fluids is all the more important during the period of the anabolic window.
Electrolyte Active
Electrolyte powder for rehydration
Medicom: That also happens in summer, so it's not just in the autumn and winter that viruses can lay us low.
Sandra Mastropietro: Viruses are floating around in the summer and all year round. But we are more susceptible to infections in the cold season.
My tip: Anyone who is currently doing many strenuous training sessions and generally has a lot of stress—because stress is a "system killer"—should simply take an Immune Tonic Shot every now and then. It contains traditional medicinal plants like sea buckthorn and elderberry. It simply helps to maintain the immune system.
As an alternative, I can also recommend the Vitamin C Shot. It has a very high dosage and is simply good for the body, especially in stressful times or during very training-intensive periods.
No sleep, no regeneration.
Medicom: When we talk about regeneration after exercise, we can't avoid the topic of sleep, can we?
Sandra Mastropietro: Without sleep, there is no regeneration. Because while we sleep, essential healing processes for regeneration take place. This means our immune system stabilizes during sleep, our cells regenerate, and much, much more.
Also very important: Our brain processes the stimuli we set during training while we sleep and effectively saves them. This means our muscles remember what we did. Furthermore, every listener probably knows that performance and well-being depend, among other things, on how well and how soundly I slept the night before or the nights prior.
There are various studies suggesting, for example, that exercise in the morning leads to restful deep sleep in the evening. So, the appeal here is very important: "Morning exercise is healthy and can even help with sleep disorders."
Medicom: Many people have more time to exercise in the evening. Is that not recommended?
Sandra Mastropietro: Yes, that wasn't an appeal not to exercise in the evening. It is more about high-intensity sessions, as they can disrupt the biorhythm in the evening. When our body is preparing for sleep and rest, and we then ramp up our circulation again through intensive training, the organism is "confused." That is why I specifically mentioned deep sleep phases in relation to morning exercise.
However, there are also little helpers like melatonin. This is a natural substance in the body that regulates our day-night rhythm. Everyone surely knows this in the context of jet lag. When you have traveled and are in a different time zone, it helps, for example, to alleviate the subjective feeling of jet lag. And very importantly: Melatonin helps to shorten the time it takes to fall asleep. Rule of thumb: take about one milligram shortly before going to bed; the body then consciously winds down because this hormone is released.
And another tip is Vitamin B6. Taken during the day, it helps reduce tiredness and fatigue. Regardless of food supplements, a very regular sleep rhythm is important.
The body likes routines. Humans are creatures of habit and adjust accordingly. Hence my appeal to you: regular wake-up and bedtime times support good sleep quality, and then you can certainly exercise in the evening sometimes.
Medicom: Do you track your sleep quality?
Sandra Mastropietro: I check my sleep quality. Yes, I even adjust my training based on it, I have to say. The intensity of my training plan actually varies with my sleep. Usually, you have a pretty good feel for it yourself. How well did I sleep? These are things like respiratory rate, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability that play a role. And if I see that my values are significantly below the norm—meaning worse—then I adjust the intensity and only run at 70 or 80 percent in my training sessions.
Medicom: What about on warm days? Can it be a tip to replenish electrolytes to then go back into training feeling stronger?
Sandra Mastropietro: Especially those who sweat a lot need to pay attention to this. Only drinking water is not the solution there. It sounds extreme, but water intoxication exists. This means that if you drink too much water and flush out all the minerals from your body through sweat, it is really not good for the system, and you feel lightheaded. You feel dizzy, sluggish, and unable to perform. The symptoms are similar to heatstroke. So, keep an eye on it? Exactly. On long days, just dissolve a tablet.
Medicom: In addition to physical regeneration after exercise, there is also mental regeneration for the brain. How are these related?
Sandra Mastropietro: Along with the muscles, our brain also plays a very important role in regeneration, because body and mind are always directly linked. The mind lives here in our body.
Therefore, our synapses in the cells simply need time to recover and relax. And it is in this time that the muscle processes the stimuli we have provided. We set a stimulus with every training session, and as I explained, the muscle builds up, and this stimulus simply needs to be processed—and that takes time. It’s simply a process that happens in the body.
Medicom: What about the factor of stress and training?
Sandra Mastropietro: Stress is actually our body's greatest enemy. Stress is simply unhealthy for our body. Stress hormones are released, which slow down important metabolic processes. Therefore, instead of getting upset over small things, try to take a deep breath and go outside.
And here is a tip for mental training: Ask yourself: "Will I still be upset about this in a week or a month?" How important is this to me for the coming week? And that puts things into perspective again, especially in small everyday situations that annoy and stress you out. Then ask yourself how bad it really is and to what extent it influences you. And unfortunately, people tend to think very short-term in such moments. If you look at the whole thing in the long term, that always helps quite well.
Medicom: Would you like to leave the listeners with a final thought?
Sandra Mastropietro: For me personally, the appeal is always to listen to your own body, to value it, and to feed it "properly." By "properly," I don't mean giving up all treats, but the opposite. What is good for the soul is also good for the body. If you have an appetite for something, eat everything in moderation, not in mass quantities. And if you feel tired, then please rest.
As I said, everything in healthy moderation. Listen to your body; it knows exactly what it is doing. If you exercise a lot, you develop a really healthy sense of your body over time. Trusting that—that has always worked well for me so far, especially when it comes to nutrition.
Medicom: Thank you very much for the conversation.
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Are you interested in the topic of joint problems and movement? Then listen to the podcast with Prof. Wessinghage: Osteoarthritis, Rheumatism & Co – Preventing joint problems through movement.
