In the world of fitness, most of the spotlight shines on training intensity and perfect exercise form. However, there’s a critical element that often gets overlooked – recovery. Not having adequate recovery can lead to systemic over-fatigue and increased risk of injuries. Ever wondered what’s the best way to recover after a workout? In this blog, I’ll discuss several strategies that can significantly enhance your recovery between workouts or before leading up to a big competition. They can be split up into these main few categories: nutrition, rest, active recovery and using recovery adjuncts.
Nutrition
As simple as it may sound, ensuring that you have sufficient hydration during exercise and eating a balanced diet does have a big influence on your body’s ability to function and subsequently recover. Water plays a vital role in transporting nutrients throughout the body, removing waste products, regulating body temperature and keeping joints lubricated. Dehydration will hinder these functions and also hamper recovery after a workout. Ensure you properly hydrate yourself before, during and after a workout! Eating the right foods after exercise can also influence your recovery. Proteins are important to aid in muscle repair and building. Research shows that the amount of overall dietary protein intake per day is more important than taking protein at specific timings (i.e. ~60 minutes post-workout). Eating carbs helps to restore your glycogen stores. Glycogen is an important fuel source for exercises and the primary energy source during high-intensity anaerobic exercises. The amount of carbs you should take depends on your body composition and your type of exercise. As a general guideline, individuals who engage in exercise should consume 1-2g of protein per kg of bodyweight and 8-12g of carbs per kg of bodyweight daily.
Rest
Getting sufficient rest will also be a game-changer to maximising your recovery. Rest can come in the form of proper sleep and taking off-days from exercise. Lack of sleep can impair muscle recovery. Longer hours of being in ‘deep sleep’ regulates different hormones in our bodies; which are responsible for controlling inflammation and body repair. Ideally, adults should get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Of this, 13-23% should be in deep sleep, which amounts to 60-110 minutes. Taking 1-2 off-days from training WILL NOT affect your gains! Over-training will definitely run you into a wall that makes recovering from it even more difficult. Persistent muscle soreness and decreased performance are clear signs that your body needs rest. In some cases, taking an off-day can help prevent mental burnout too. Be sure to intersperse off-days into your regular workout routine. If you’re the type of person who can’t sit still, then an active-recovery day would be ideal for you! This is further explained in the next section.
Active Recovery
Getting involved in light exercises has shown to enhance physiological recovery after a workout, sometimes it may even be better than a complete day of rest. How exactly does it help? Engaging in submaximal exercise like a leisure cycle or a jog helps improve blood circulation. Oxygen and nutrients get delivered to our muscles faster, toxins and waste products also get eliminated quicker. This promotes more sustainable fitness gains. Having active-recovery days in your weekly training routine also helps keep you consistent and prevent you from losing momentum. Note that active recovery doesn’t always have to be a lighter version of your normal workout. It could also come in the form of mobility work (i.e. pilates, yoga, stretching) which keeps your muscles relaxed and your body flexible! You could also go for a hike with friends, try out new sports for fun or play a team game, the possibilities are endless! There’s no need to push yourself during active recovery, just have fun and take it easy!
Recovery Adjuncts
Recovery adjuncts are good-to-have modalities that can further enhance your recovery. Some examples are: compression clothes, foam rolling, myofascial massage guns, cold baths, sauna or sports massage. All these have good effects on stimulating increased blood flow, reducing inflammation, maintaining joint range of motion and preventing muscle tightness! There is still ongoing research on the most superior recovery modality, but using either method has been shown to be more effective than none at all!
In conclusion, putting the same emphasis on recovery as training is vital to ensure we can continue exercising without risk of injury. The recovery strategies mentioned in this blog have all been shown to greatly enhance our body’s ability to bounce back after a workout. Always remember, train hard and recover smarter!
References:
Chennaoui, M., Vanneau, T., Trignol, A., Arnal, P., Gomez-Merino, D., Baudot, C., … Chalabi, H. (2021). How does sleep help recovery from exercise-induced muscle injuries? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 24(10), 982-987. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2021.05.007
Cintineo, H. P., Arent, M. A., Antonio, J., & Arent, S. M. (2018). Effects of protein supplementation on performance and recovery in resistance and endurance training. Frontiers in Nutrition, 5. doi:10.3389/fnut.2018.00083
Kerksick, C. M., Arent, S., Schoenfeld, B. J., Stout, J. R., Campbell, B., Wilborn, C. D., … Antonio, J. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Nutrient timing. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1). doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4
Li, S., Kempe, M., Brink, M., & Lemmink, K. (2023). Effectiveness of recovery strategies after training and competition in endurance athletes – an umbrella review. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3167354/v1
Ortiz, R. O., Sinclair Elder, A. J., Elder, C. L., & Dawes, J. J. (2019). A systematic review on the effectiveness of active recovery interventions on athletic performance of professional-, collegiate-, and competitive-level adult athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33(8), 2275-2287. doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000002589
