The top 10 recovery tips after exercise routines
Your goal is a fit body; your passion is to work harder.
But everything can go futile when there is no proper recovery after the exercise routine. According to ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), you must allow your muscles to rest for 48 hours to recover from the high-intensity workout. Efforts at the gym can go waste if there is no recovery to it. Did you know your muscles strain, tear, and have muscle soreness and damaged muscle tissues during a workout? Such a situation disables you from performing better. How many times have you felt lethargic and immunity low? You must have felt guilty for not pushing yourself. The truth is you need some time for your body to recover. You require scheduled rest, pneumatic compression, sleep, and massage to help you perform better.
You damage your muscle tissues when you pick up weights or have intense exercise. The tear of muscles gradually increases with no time to recover. The good news is you can recover strained muscles by following simple recovery methods after a workout as using of pneumatic compression device, foam roller, or cool down exercises or any other routine suitable for your body.
Ten recovery activities after exercise routines
The idea of sharing ten recovery activities after exercise routines is to make your body feel energetic, recover muscles, and have increased blood circulation for better workout performance.
- Cool-down exercises- These are cool-down exercises or active rest not limited to walking, swimming, breathing exercises, or less intense exercise. Give 5 to 10 minutes to cool yourself down. It will boost mobility and increase blood flow. The cool-down activity will assist in the repair and recovery of the muscle tissues, providing you with the energy to hit the workout session.
- Keep yourself hydrated- Sweat is inevitable when you exert too much. Hydrate yourself with a sufficient water supply to replenish it. When you sip water, it promotes faster recovery muscles after a workout. It regulates the body temperature. Water prevents muscle cramps and dizziness. Carry enough water along with you to the gym and keep yourself hydrated to lubricate the joints and prevent the ward off of the pain. Drink before, between, and after the exercise.
- Massage-A massager is a must-do activity. If you can get a massage roller, it will remove all the muscle soreness in the body. The roller helps the blood to flow back to the tight areas. You can use a foam roller to reduce muscle soreness. You can opt for a lymphatic drainage massage to relieve lymph swelling. There are many types of massager devices you can opt for available in the market.
- Compression garments- There is no better way to recovery muscles than getting fitted into a pneumatic compression device. You will find compression garments for most body parts as legs, arms, and calves that have muscle strain during the workouts. These garments are easy to use as you can browse your mobile while getting into compression garments. They remove the lactic acid that gets accumulated after an intense workout. If the lactic acid stays, you are bound to have pain.
- Give yourself a timed- rest- Timed resting or scheduled rest means allotting yourself a day or a week when you do not do vigorous exercise. You can do recreational activities such as going for outdoor games, trekking, hiking, rowing, or other activities that are not bothering your muscles much. By giving yourself rest from regular workouts, you are giving active rest time for the muscles to breathe and recovery muscles.
- Eating right- How often do you urge to eat something immediately after a workout? Every day, right? Workouts trigger the anabolic responses that are responsible for muscle growth. You must eat after 1 hour of your exercise to accelerate muscle recovery and growth. The eating time is the best when you can include healthy carbohydrates like whole grain croissants or toast, healthy fat like peanut butter, and lean protein like salmon, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and more. Always include a fruit or two to replenish the electrolyte lost during the workout.
- Sleep well. You cannot deprive yourself of sleep. A good laugh and proper long sleep are the cures for anything. We are sure you are getting your laughs at the gym working out! Take care of your sleep. Sound sleep of 8 hours every night is good for your health.
- Contrast water therapy- As the name suggests, contrast water therapy is where you immerse yourself in a hot tub and immediately in a cold tub and this is the process you follow many times. Hydrotherapy helps to decrease pain, and reduce lactic acid buildup and swelling.
- Things to avoid – As a regime, avoid alcohol and tobacco. There is no denying how consuming alcohol can damage your health. Consumption of alcohol after workouts impairs the muscles' ability to refill glycogen. While tobacco hurts the musculoskeletal system. No matter what massager one uses, there comes a high risk of developing joint diseases if one continues consuming tobacco.
- Cryotherapy- It is a therapy where liquid nitrogen is in a cold chamber. After workouts, you can spend 2 to 3 minutes. This method helps the blood accumulation in one place to flow and eases the blood flow. It restricts to lesser cytokines and prevents inflammation and swelling. It will ease the muscle tension just like a massager.
Final thoughts
Workouts reflect results when there has been a proper recovery for the muscles and the body. Thanks to the new technologies comprising pneumatic compression, or electric massagers, to cryotherapy, it has become easier for faster recovery. The significance of recovery after rigorous workouts is emerging, and people should be aware of it. Every aspect of the workout regime is significant; rest, muscle recovery, and sleep too. It is time to imbibe the best culture after a workout to reap the benefits of exercising.