Recovery is an incredibly important part of your exercise routine. If you do not allow your muscles and joints enough time to recover, you increase your risk of injury, so you need to make sure that you take it seriously. The only problem is, you can’t workout when you are recovering and some people get impatient because they are eager to meet their fitness goals. Ignoring recovery and working out every day of the week is never a good idea because you are going to hurt yourself. But the good news is, there are ways that you can speed things along so you still recover fully and you can get more workouts in. These are some of the best ways to speed up your recovery times after a workout.
Maintain Good Form
Before you start thinking about how to recover, you need to consider your form when you are exercising. If you have bad form, you will put unnecessary strain on your muscles and joints and that means your recovery times will be a lot longer. If you are unsure about how to do a certain exercise, spend some time watching videos online or even consider hiring a personal trainer to help you out. As long as you can maintain good form while exercising, you will find that your recovery times are a lot shorter.
Warm Down and Stretch
When you have just finished an intense workout and you are exhausted, it’s easy to rush your warm down and stretches or even skip them entirely. But if you don’t pay enough attention to your warm down, you risk injury and your recovery times will be a lot longer. You need to make sure that you do 5 minutes of light exercise to gradually bring your heart rate down and then do a thorough full body stretch if you want to shorten your recovery times.
Get Your Diet Right
Your diet is so important if you want your body to recover. Your muscles are damaged during exercise and you need protein to help you repair them. It is best to eat in the first half an hour after you finish your workout, and make sure that you eat plenty of protein. Meat and fish are the most obvious sources of protein, but if you are vegetarian or vegan, things like beans are a great source of protein.
If you are struggling to get enough protein through food and you are doing a lot of intense muscle building workout, you may need to supplement with a protein shake. Often, people notice that their muscles are sore after working out and this is because they are not eating enough protein. If you regularly get sore muscles, try adding protein shakes to your diet and see if it makes a difference or not.
It is also vital that you hydrate yourself properly before, during, and after the workout. Dehydrated muscles will quickly become sore and achy, so make sure that you are drinking at least two liters of water a day when you are working out.
Improve Your Sleep Patterns
Getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep every night is so important for your overall physical and mental health, and sleep also has a big role to play in recovery. Your muscles do most of their recovering during the night when your body is not expending energy elsewhere, so if you are only getting 5 hours a night, your recovery times will be a lot longer. You can improve your sleep patterns by getting into a regular routine, avoiding caffeine in the afternoons, and staying away from screens for a few hours before bed. When you start sleeping better, you will notice that you have more energy during workouts and you recover a lot quicker.
You can boost the benefits of sleeping by wearing recovery sleepwear. This sleepwear uses revolutionary technology that is designed to reflect far infrared light back into your skin, which reduces inflammation and improves recovery. It is not clear how much impact this has, but it is worth a try if you are struggling with your recovery times.
Cold Bath
Inflammation is one of the main reasons that your muscles and joints are sore after a workout. If you can find ways to reduce inflammation, you will recover a lot faster. Cold baths are one of the most effective ways to reduce inflammation after a workout, and they have other health benefits as well. If you wait a few hours after you finish working out, and then soak in a cold bath for a while. You will find that any soreness in your muscles and joints goes away very quickly. Cold baths have also been shown to boost your immune system and improve your metabolism. So they help you to improve your overall health as well as speeding up your recovery times.
CBD Products
CBD products are another very effective way to reduce inflammation in your muscles. In the last few years, CBD treatments have become incredibly popular. There is a wide range of different products out there to help you with your recovery by reducing pain and inflammation. If you have a problem with muscle and joint soreness, you should find a company like Serenity Store, and use it directly after your workout. You can get some great CBD bath bombs. If you have a soak with one of them for a while, it will make a huge difference to your muscles. You can also get CBD oils or gummies that can be taken orally. There are also creams that can be applied directly to problem areas. People that use CBD products on a regular basis find that their recovery times are much shorter. Further they do not have as many issues with soreness after their workouts.
Foam Rollers
If you are looking for a cheap but effective way to get rid of knots in your muscles and reduce tightness and inflammation, you should invest in some foam rollers. They’re a great piece of equipment that you can use every morning and evening to improve your recovery times and loosen up your muscles. They are particularly effective for people that work at a desk and have stiff leg muscles or people that do a lot of weight training. Check out this great video for some of the best foam roller exercises.
Massage
Sometimes, foam rollers are enough to work out all of the knots in your muscles, but they are not always effective if your muscles are incredibly tight. If you have been working out a lot and there are certain areas that are very tight and sore, you should consider getting a massage. A professional masseur will be able to work out any knots and break down the lactic acid in your muscles, so they recover a lot faster. If you workout a lot, it is a good idea to book yourself in for a regular massage. If you have an injury, you should see a qualified sports massage therapist and they will be able to give you relief and help with your recovery.
Recovery is not the most exciting part of working out, but it’s so important. If you neglect recovery, you will not be as efficient when you are exercising and you have a much higher chance of injuring yourself. If you follow these simple steps, you can speed up your recovery times a lot, so you can still exercise regularly without putting yourself at risk.
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Photo Credits – Person Stretching/Burst from Pexels; Diet – Photo by Trang Doan from Pexels; Sleeping – Photo by Pixabay from Pexels; Cold Bath – Pixabay from Pexels; CBD Products – Laryssa Suaid from Pexels