Best Recovery After Workout
Killing your workouts in the gym is great. Just as important is the post workout recovery. When you workout you break down muscle fibers and provide the body with a stimulus to recover stronger. Adaptation to your workout happens in the recovery period. As a result, you should take recovery just as serious as your actual workout.
Keys To Recovery
1.Sleep
Sleep is very a big portion of muscle recovery as a lot of muscle re-building will happen when you are sleeping. If you don’t provide your body enough rest it can greatly hinder the benefits from your workout. A study on young athlete’s found that individuals who are always sleep deprived tend to have an increased amount of injuries. Additionally, the study Sleep Deprivation and the Effect on Exercise and Performance found that decreased levels of sleep led an increased perceived level of exhaustion during exercise and activity.
Struggling to get enough sleep?
Life gets busy, there are steps you can take to help ensure you get enough sleep each night. You can set up a sleep schedule, carve out screen time in your life in front of devices like the television, computer and cell phone. Additionally, you can also stay away from caffeine in the evening which may make it harder to fall asleep.
2.Nutrition
Nutrition is key when it comes to recovery. Food is the fuel that supplies your body with energy for activity. Furthermore, food provides the recovery formula that will help your body rebuild. Protein is essential when it comes to rebuilding muscle. Our personal recommendations include getting in protein within 30 minutes after your workout. Intense workouts will deplete your body of important nutrients, the right diet is important to provide enough macronutrients and micronutrients. When sweating the body loses electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium). Fat and carbs are used as energy during exercise depending on intensity and type. Make sure you have a balanced diet which will help to fuel your workout and speed up the recovery.
Quick Guide
- Eat carbohydrates before your workout to supply the body with energy. Examples of fast snacks include trail mix, fruit, and greek yogurt.
- Branch Chain Amino Acids can be taken during the workout for very long sessions if required
- Post workout is either with whole foods or supplements consume protein and carbohydrates. Foods with potassium are also great for after your workout like banana’s. After high intensity workouts potassium levels will drop, make sure to replace them shortly after the workout.
3.Active Recovery
Active recovery is light activity with the purpose of sending more blood to the muscles in-order to recover faster. Some examples of active recovery include
- Self myofacial release – there are multiple tools you can use including a foam roller, lacrosse ball, massage stick and more. Spend more time on areas that are overly tight and stay away from joints and bony areas.
- Walking – Depending on fitness level walking can be a great activity for active recovery. It is light intensity and gets blood moving through your legs.
- Lifting weight with lighter weights than normal – use weight 30-40% less than what you normally lift and do not go to failure.
- Swimming (low intensity) – swimming is very low impact and can be great for your joints. This will very depending on fitness level and will also provide a cardio workout.
- Yoga– is a form of exercise which helps with mobility. Mobility is great for active recovery it can be done daily. When doing forms of mobility like yoga your joints are actively taken through safe ranges of motion. This can also help to decrease the risk of energy during exercise.
- Stretching – stretching can be lumped in with yoga and mobility. We will look at static stretching where you elongate a muscle during a specific amount of time as opposed to mobility moving joints through various ranges of motion
- Cycling (low intensity) – another aerobic form of exercise which can be great for active recovery. The intensity will be based on fitness level, do not turn it into a workout.
The key to active recovery is low intensity, if you work your body too hard it will turn into a workout instead of active recovery. Sometimes it is not good to follow all the motivational posters telling you to push your body past your limits. Understand your limits and know when to use active recovery on your rest days.
Learn how to address common muscular imbalances in your body.
4.Supplements
Supplements can play a strong role with recovery as-well. There is a plethora of different supplements out there. Additionally, it can be very hard to choose the right supplement and get caught up in all the new supplement trends. You can stick to the basics like protein and omega 3’s. That would be enough for the majority of individuals and athlete’s. A balanced diet will usually give your body the nutrients you need to recover.
Hydration
Your body is mainly made up of water. So it is safe to say hydration will play a key role in recovery. Water helps with a lot of functions from joint lubrication, temperature regulation, delivery of nutrients (blood) and wast disposal. The American College of Sports Medicine says to drink 8-12 ounces of water before activity. Next, 3-8 ounces of liquid containing electrolytes for every 15-20 minutes of activity over 60 minutes. Lastly, 20 -24 ounces for every pound of water lost from exercise.
Closing Thoughts
High intensity workouts will break down your muscle and bring on a response where your body will have to compensate in order to get stronger, fitter or faster. Your body requires the right amount of rest, and nutrients in order to effectively recover. Take care of your body, be conscious of rest days and when to utilize active recovery. Lastly also be conscious of stress, Acute stress like what happens when you workout is fine. Chronic stress from factors such as work deadlines can inhibit your recovery, so take active steps to also decrease chronic stress in your life.
