Best Posture For Recovery

“Get your hands off your knees!”

If you played any type of sports, I’d be shocked if you hadn’t heard that phrase. But why? The coach doesn’t like the way it looks. Instead, we’ve been told to rest with our hands on our heads.

Which frankly, I’ve always thought was an odd thing to do. Anytime I saw my opponent with their hands on their head, I knew I had them right where I wanted them. They’re on the verge. Their coach has literally been telling them to put their hands on their heads when they get tired. It’s drilled into their subconscious, they can’t help it. Now they’re telling me, the enemy, that they are there, the verge.

The verge of quitting. Literally the exact spot where coach has been telling them that games are won and lost. They’re stand there, toeing the line. Should we push them over? I would! Run the ball that direction again! Yes, NASCAR one more time. Don’t let them sub. Abuse them! Adios amigo!

Why on Earth would you televise your level of fatigue. It always blew my mind. Still does. Speaking of blowing minds, try this on for size.

That very position; yes, hands on the head posture, that position. That position in particular will actually leave you under recovered and less capable the next play.

Wait what?

Yes, placing you’re hands on your head is a terrible recovery strategy, your intuition was correct!

There’s actually research that shows that placing your hands on your knees is a better recovery strategy than placing your hands on your head.

Lets dive right in.

The Research

A 2019 study shows that athletes resting with their hands on their knees (HK) had a significantly faster decrease in heart rate in between intervals over the group that rested with their hands on their head (HH).

The study sampled 20 female D2 soccer players (18-22 years old) during their winter training season. All kept their current training program (Strength & Conditioning for their sport) and were familiar with HIIT style protocols.

This point, is important because they are trained athletes that aren’t trying something new for the first time. Many times, doing something new for the first time can alter results.

The athletes didn’t preform any high intensity the day before or consume any caffeine the day of testing. They also had at least 7 hours of sleep.

This is important because all of the above can alter heart rate.

The Test

The athletes performed a total of two treadmill sessions of HIIT separated 1 week. The test consisted of 4 min of running with a 3 minute recovery period for four times (4 × 4 min), assuming one of the two recovery postures (HH or HK) during the recovery period. The athletes ran at 90-95% of MaxHR. This mirrors the intensities of the sport and training.

During the 3-min recovery, each athlete was fixed with nose clip and a two-way breathing mouthpiece valve interfaced with the metabolic cart. “V˙CO2, V˙E, and fb were measured every minute over the recovery period. VT was calculated by dividing V˙E by fb. The averages of the respiratory variables during the 3-min recovery were determined and averaged over the four intervals.”

Heart Rate Recovery is simply how fast an athlete’s heart rate drops after exercise. HRR is commonly measured after 1 and 2 minutes post exercise.

Results

The findings won’t shock a single person who’s every pushed themselves in training. The HK posture group had a significant decrease in HR between intervals over their counterparts, the HH posture group. The HK group saw a decrease of 53 bpm and the HH group saw a decrease of 31 bpm. THAT’S A DIFFERENCE OF 22BPM.

That’s MASSIVE!

The HK group also had a significant increase in tidal volume (essentially how much air you can take in) versus their HH counterparts. This shows that the HK group’s posture facilitated better air exchange than the HH group. I feel this is fairly obvious to anyone who has played sports or pushed themselves to the point of feeling like they want to quit, I’d much rather be in a position that allowed me to receive more air than not!

But It Looks Mentally Weak

We’ve all heard this before. Hand on knees looks like a sign of mental weakness. Even if it were true (I don’t believe it to be), but for the sake of an argument, let’s say it is true. Would you rather look tired and be better recovered or still look sloppy and also put yourself in a sub-optimal recovery position?! At the end of the day, research proves one position to be superior. So if you still choose to have hands on the head, you’re essentially saying the way something looks is more important than actual performance.

Now back to if it actually looks like a sign of mental weakness.

Coaches everywhere would say that it looks like a sign of mental weakness. I don’t believe it does. I believe posture is everything. Hands on the knees with the head hanging low with the eyes down does in fact, look like a sign of mental weakness. I can very well see how this is a defeated posture. I wouldn’t choose it.

Now if we take the same posture but the athlete has their eyes up and head high. That’s a different story. Example, Michael obviously doesn’t look like he’s defeated. On the contrary, he looks alert and ready to go. In this very moment he was probably leading his team and simultaneously trash talking the opponent. Far from mentally weak.

More food for thought. If the entire team adopted this resting posture in between plays, in the huddle, when the coach is speaking, etc. Does the perspective from the stands change? Does the entire team look tired, or do they look like they are attentive?

Personally, I’d rather have a better recovered team. If everyone on the team adopted this MJ posture as the default resting position, you not only would put yourself in a more optimal position to recover (lower HR and optimize air exchange) but the opponent has no idea if you’re tired or not. The whole team looks this way. They did it after the 1st play. They’ve been doing it all game, etc.

Versus, a team puts their hands on their head, signaling to their opponent that they are on the verge of quitting.

Sources

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-tj/fulltext/2019/02150/effects_of_two_different_recovery_postures_during.1.aspx

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25267694/