biology question #3294

Marie, a 40 year old female from Rochester asks on February 27, 2006,

Q:

My whole family plays hockey. We have frequently discussed how long of a shift should be and with how long of recovery time in between. If a 30 second shift is taken with full out skating, how long should one rest before the next shift? If a player plays 1 minute does it take the body longer to recover. If the player gets stuck out there for 3 minutes will the body completely recover before games end?

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the answer

Wade Parkhouse, Kinesiology Professor, Simon Fraser University answered on February 28, 2006, A:

To answer the first question, one should rest for 1.5-2 minutes. It takes that long to almost fully replenish the major fuel used during the shift.

The answer to the second question depends upon the intensity. It probably does not take the body longer to recover as the player wouldn't be able to go at a high tempo for the whole minute.

To answer the third question, the body never fully recovers from a metabolic perspective until after the game regardless of how long they are stuck out there.

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