Rest and recovery is an essential part of any exercise routine. At the end of the day, your after-exercise recovery routine will have a huge impact on the results you are able to see. Unfortunately, most people do not have a good exercise recovery plan. If you want to change that, then let me help you!
Why Recovery is Important
Recovery after your workout is so important if you want to be able to repair your muscle and your strength. This is critical if you have had a very heavy weight-training session. Your muscles will need up to 48 hours of time to repair. This means that if you workout again too soon, you may find that you’re actually breaking down your tissue as opposed to rebuilding it.
The best way to avoid this from happening is to never workout the same muscle groups two days in a row. With many methods of recovery, exploring as many as possible will definitely be beneficial to you. And if you want to gain an even bigger level of understanding about how the body adjusts to exercise and recovery, then you can always check out how to become a doctor of physical therapy.
Replace Lost Fluids
You really do lose a lot of fluid when you work out. Ideally, you should be trying to replace it during exercise, but drinking it after works too. This will also help you to boost your recovery. In fact, water will support your metabolic function as well as the nutrients transferred throughout your body. Adequate fluid replacement is also very important if you are an endurance athlete, as they are the ones who tend to lose the most water during their hours of sweating.
Eat Recovery Foods
After exercising depletes your energy store, you then need to focus on re-fueling. This is very important if you are doing endurance exercises day after day, or if you are trying to build muscle. Try and eat within 60 minutes after the end of your workout. It’s important to include some quality carbohydrates and protein in these meals so you can replenish what you lost during your workout, as well as to help nourish your muscles as they rebuild.
Rest and Relaxation
Resting after a hard workout gives your body the chance to repair and recover at its own natural pace. Sometimes doing nothing is the best way for you to recover. Trust me, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is for you to reap the benefits from this.
Stretch
After you have had a very tough workout, it’s a good idea for you to do some gentle stretching or even myofascial tissue release. This is a very fast way for you to get your muscles to recover. If you are not quite sure how to stretch out your muscles after a hard workout, just look online! There are tons of guides that help you get the most out of this time, all of which eventually will lead you to get the results from your workouts that you are looking for!
