Effect of passive and active recovery on the resynthesis of muscle glycogen

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of passive and active recovery on the resynthesis of muscle glycogen after high-intensity cycle ergometer exercise in untrained subjects. In a cross-over design, six college-aged males performed three, 1-min exercise bouts at approximately 130% VO2max with a 4-min rest period between each work bout. The exercise protocol for each trial was identical, while the recovery following exercise was either active (30 min at 40-50% VO2max, 30-min seated rest) or passive (60-min seated rest). Initial muscle glycogen values averaged 144.2 +/- 3.8 mmol.kg-1 w.w. for the active trial and 158.7 +/- 8.0 mmol.kg-1 w.w. for the passive trial. Corresponding immediate postexercise glycogen contents were 97.7 +/- 5.4 and 106.8 +/- 4.7 mmol.kg-1 w.w., respectively. These differences between treatments were not significant. However, mean muscle glycogen after 60 min of passive recovery increased 15.0 +/- 4.9 mmol.kg-1 w.w., whereas it decreased 6.3 +/- 3.7 mmol.kg-1 w.w. following the 60 min active recovery protocol (P < 0.05). Also, the decrease in blood lactate concentration during active recovery was greater than during passive recovery and significantly different at 10 and 30 min of the recovery period (P < 0.05). These data suggest that the use of passive recovery following intense exercise results in a greater amount of muscle glycogen resynthesis than active recovery over the same duration.