Eat regularly and avoid skipping meals, which may hinder the benefits of your workout by causing muscle loss. Building muscle helps to speed up your metabolism, which helps with weight loss. To burn fat, select foods that promote weight loss. This includes low-fat dairy products, hot peppers, and whole grains.

Protein options include fish high in omega-3 fatty acids , such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna. Or opt for lean meats such as turkey, pork tenderloin, or chicken breast. Include a stretching routine after your workout while your muscles are still warm. This helps to elongate muscles, relieve tension, and enhance flexibility.

Stretching also helps prevent muscle soreness, relieve tension, and increase your range of motion. This improves mobility, promotes good posture, and enhances muscle relaxation.

Take a cool or cold shower to encourage healing, prevent inflammation, and ease muscular tension. You can even try out an ice bath , which may relieve muscle soreness and inflammation. It may also help you to experience a night of peaceful slumber.

Other options to alleviate or prevent sore muscles include taking an Epsom salt bath, having a massage, or foam rolling. If you feel tired, experience pain, or have any type of injury, rest completely until you feel better.

Strike a balance with your food choices. Make sure you fuel your body without taking in too many calories. Avoid skimping on calories or cutting out meals altogether. Resist the urge to overexert yourself by pushing yourself too quickly or past your current level.

This can lead to strains and injuries. It can also cause nausea , especially if you do an intense, bouncy, or heated workout. Or if you end your workout abruptly. Restricting your breath or forgetting to breathe during and after exercise can lead to dizziness or lightheadedness.

This is due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. Practice deep breathing exercises at rest before incorporating them into your workouts. This will help to develop healthy breathing patterns and breath awareness. This allows you to stay healthy physically and mentally.

Plus, it may be more difficult for you to stick to an exercise plan or have the energy to complete your daily tasks. You may occasionally deviate from your post-fitness routine due to lack of time or other commitments, but overall you should follow the appropriate steps as often as possible.

To perform at your optimum level that next time you work out, you must ensure your body is restored and revitalized. This allows your body to function at its maximum capacity, making it easier to go about your daily activities with greater ease.

Consider working with a trainer if you are new to fitness or have underlying health conditions, including injuries. As you progress, a trainer can make adjustments to your routine so you can continue to improve. A dietician can assess your individual needs by looking at your current eating habits, workout routine, and intended outcomes.

They will design an optimal eating plan that complements your fitness program, dietary restrictions, or health concerns. Checking in with a dietician can also help you to feel motivated and supported as you work toward long-term improvements.

You must utilize the recovery process after a workout to gain the most benefits and give your muscles a chance to heal. In addition to these suggested steps, get plenty of sleep, which will help to boost your performance and the recovery process.

Give yourself the chance to fully rest anytime you feel you need it. Turn walking into a cardio workout by paying attention to your pace, raising your heart rate and boosting your health. What is body-positive yoga? We chatted to inclusivity pioneer Donna Noble about how her yogapractice changed her life and why diversity is so important in fitness spaces.

Think again! How have gyms changed in recent years? And have those changes made some of us more or less anxious about using them? Why do we need to allow time for muscle recovery? How long does muscle recovery take?

What helps muscle recovery? Passive recovery As the name suggests, passive recovery is when you give your body a complete break, doing as little physical exertion as possible. Active recovery While it may seem contradictory initially, active recovery is when you do light exercise the day after an intense workout.

Myofascial Release Often referred to as soft tissue therapy, this form of recovery includes massage and foam rolling. Compression garments Another popular form of recovery among athletes involves wearing form-fitting clothing often made out of elastin and nylon to increase blood flow to muscles affected by your workouts.

Cold and heat therapies This form of recovery involves a variety of different techniques involving water temperature. What to eat for muscle recovery Eating healthy food is essential for muscle recovery.

Opt for something easy to digest, like a hard-boiled egg, nuts, or greek yogurt. Post-workout: protein and carbohydrates should be your go-to meal after exercise. Protein will enhance your capacity to repair muscle damage, and carbs will top up the glycogen stores in your muscles, your primary energy source, which are depleted during intense workouts.

Eat something that mixes complex carbohydrates like quinoa, brown rice, or whole wheat bread with a healthy protein option like tofu, fish, or beans. Before bed: studies have shown that a small protein snack before bed can also positively affect your muscle protein synthesis.

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Read next. Pick Up Your Walking Pace to Boost Your Fitness Forget counting steps. Workout Cardio Workouts Walking. Celebrating Diversity and Inclusivity Through Body-positive Yoga With Donna Noble What is body-positive yoga? Why is Building Muscle So Important as We Age?

Workout Strength Training. How Social Media and Covid Have Changed Gym Anxiety How have gyms changed in recent years? Workout Mental Health Strength Training. Research has found that 20 to 40 grams of protein, or roughly 0. Eating protein before your workout may help increase muscle protein synthesis.

As with post-workout recommendations, research has found 0. Your muscles store carbohydrates in the form of glycogen for energy. During short-duration and intense exercise, your muscles use this glycogen as their primary form of energy. If you need to rapidly restore glycogen levels in less than four hours, such as when performing back-to-back workouts, the International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends consuming 1.

White rice , potatoes , and sugar are three examples of carbs in this GI range. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking 16 to 24 ounces of fluid for every pound you lose while exercising.

Research has found that drinking tart cherry juice after exercise may reduce inflammation , muscle damage, and muscle soreness from exercise. More research is needed to fully understand its effects, but many studies published to date look promising.

A typical dose used in research is milliliters per day about 1. Creatine is one of the most widely studied supplements. Research consistently shows it can help improve muscular strength when combined with resistance training. Protein powder is a convenient way to add more protein to your diet.

Many types of protein powders contain a complete spectrum of essential amino acids. Whey and collagen powders are two popular choices.

Sleep gives your muscles time to recover from exercise. People who exercise intensely need even more rest than the average person. Some professional athletes allegedly sleep 10 hours or more per night. Many athletes incorporate massage in their training to reduce muscle soreness.

A review of studies found that massage has a small but significant effect on improving flexibility and decreasing delayed onset muscle soreness after exercise. Wearing compression garments has become common among athletes over the past several decades.

But a small study found that they lowered time for body muscle recovery in German handball players. In the study, the athletes wore the garments for 24 hours and then alternated between hour breaks and hour periods of wearing them for a total of 96 hours.

Contrast bath therapy involves alternating periods of submerging in very warm water and very cold water. This change in temperature stimulates the contraction and dilation of your blood vessels and changes your heart rate. Research has found that contrast bath therapy may help reduce muscle soreness post-workout.

The results are limited and may only be relevant for athletes. Cryotherapy is the technique of exposing your body to an extremely cold temperature for a few minutes. Research has found that it may be able to speed up recovery by reducing pain, inflammation, and muscle tiredness after strenuous activity.

Consuming alcohol is damaging to many aspects of your health. Alcohol also impairs protein synthesis in your muscles. Smoking tobacco negatively impacts your musculoskeletal system. Smoking tobacco is also associated with an increased risk of developing joint disease and an increased risk of fracturing a bone.

The amount of time it takes for your muscles to recover from exercise depends on your fitness levels and the difficulty of your workout. The volume, intensity, and duration of your workout all play a role in determining how taxing it is on your body. After a relatively light workout , your muscles may be able to recover in 24 hours, whereas a more challenging workout might take two to three days.

Blood lactate clearance during active recovery after an intense running bout depends on the intensity of the active recovery. Journal of Sports Science, 28 9 , — Miyamoto, N.

Effect of pressure intensity of graduated elastic compression stocking on muscle fatigue following calf-raise exercise. Journal of Electromyographical Kinesiology, 21 2 , — NASM National Association of Sports Medicine.

McGill, E. NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training 5th ed. Burlington, MA: Jones and Barlett Learning. Effect of elastic compression on venous hemodynamics in postphlebitic limbs. Journal of the American Medical Association, 25 , — Pocari, J. Exercise Physiology. Philadelphia: F.

Schaser, K. Prolonged superficial local cryotherapy attenuates microcirculatory impairment, regional inflammation, and muscle necrosis after closed soft tissue injury in rats. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 35 1 , 93— Shin, M.

Effects of Massage on Muscular Strength and Proprioception After Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29 8 , — Wiltshire, E. Fabio Comana, M. An international presenter at multiple health and fitness events, he is also a spokesperson featured in multiple media outlets and an accomplished chapter and book author.

org Fitness CPT Nutrition CES Sports Performance Workout Plans Wellness. American Fitness Magazine Recovery Exploring the Science of Recovery. Recovery is a huge part of the following NASM courses: NASM Health and Wellness Coach Certification CPT Personal Trainer Course Corrective Exercise Specialization Sports Nutrition Coach Stretching and Flexibility Coach Specialty.

Understanding Recovery We eat, sleep, train, repeat—constantly striving to get bigger, stronger, faster or slimmer—but is there a point where too much becomes harmful?

Homeostasis is a state of balance within the body that occurs when the variables in a system e. In this article, we will focus on stress related to exercise, which includes physiological e.

Other common types of stress are environmental e. Types of Recovery Though recovery is a critical phase of the exercise-adaptation cycle, it is among the least understood and most under-researched components of training.

Monitoring Recovery Usually, an evening of restful sleep coupled with good nutrition and hydration will restore homeostasis and full recovery Pocari et al.

Active Recovery Two studies highlight the value of active recovery, which typically uses movements ranging from spurts of anaerobic activity to very light-intensity activity e. Read more: Active Recovery - Rest Days, Workouts, and Exercise Examples Massage Advocates of massage say it decreases muscle soreness, pain and stress, improves circulation and lymphatic flow, and creates an enhanced perception of recovery.

Compression Delivered via clothing or through inflatable devices e. Cryotherapy Cryotherapy temporarily reduces muscle temperature, stimulating vasoconstriction and reducing inflammation and pain.

Hydrotherapy The cardiovascular system responds to hydrotherapy water immersion by changing heart rate, peripheral blood flow and resistance to flow.

Sleep The fields of health and medicine recognize the importance of sleep upon overall health and wellness. Sleep and recovery depend on two vital data points: Basal sleep, which is the amount the body needs every night to recover Sleep debt, which accumulates if we do not get our basal sleep every night If sleep debt piles up, rising stress and cortisol accumulation in the body will impair recovery and threaten our health.

From RICE to CAM It is interesting to note a small paradigm shift in the suggested protocols following injury and exercise, with some practitioners moving away from the traditional RICE practice rest, ice, compress, elevate and toward CAM compression, activity, massage.

At end of one normal breath exhalation , start a stopwatch. Sit quietly until the need to take another normal breath occurs. This cannot be a deeper breath or gasp. Stop stopwatch. The point at which another normal breath is needed should occur at approximately 40 seconds, though many people tend to overbreathe, resulting in a score of only 15—25 seconds.

Monitoring Heart Rate Monitoring Resting Heart Rate RHR can be done simply by having the client take his pulse manually or by using a wrist device or heart rate monitor.

The Future of Recovery Technology to measure and encourage recovery is under development. Sapolsky, R. New York: Holt Paperbacks. Seyle, H. The Stress of Life New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. The Author. Fabio Comana Fabio Comana, M. Related Posts. American Fitness Magazine Recovery Different Recovery Methods to Recharge.

American Fitness Magazine Recovery Does Compression Really Help with Performance and Recovery? There have been a variety of research into the effectiveness of these different types of therapy, with many pointing toward the significance of cold and heat therapies in reducing muscle soreness and overall tiredness after intense exercise.

Eating healthy food is essential for muscle recovery. Without the proper diet, your body will lack the necessary nutrients to repair and develop muscle mass. Macro eating , which includes a balance of carbohydrates, proteins , and fats, is a great way to ensure your body is fuelled for recovery and primed for building bulk.

Staying hydrated is also essential for muscle recovery. Your body requires a lot of water to build the proteins in muscle tissue.

So, pay attention to your hydration, especially when working out in hot or humid weather. Sports drinks are an excellent option for any type of endurance event, like a marathon , as they help replenish electrolytes which contribute towards muscle repair that you lose through sweat. Another drink that can boost muscle recovery is tart cherry juice.

Studies have shown that this juice has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which can accelerate recovery and reduce muscle soreness.

Interestingly, to benefit from tart cherry juice, you should consume it days before an event and days afterward. As mentioned above, consuming protein before and after a workout can significantly assist with the recovery process.

Drinking chocolate milk of both the cow and soy varieties is another excellent option for this easily-digestible protein boost. While listening to your body is an integral part of the recovery process, monitoring it can also provide valuable insights.

The Cardio Load status provides a rating for your overall recent exercise, measuring your strain vs. tolerance to let you know if your training has been productive or overreaching. Are you ready for high-intensity training? This simple fitness assessment can tell if your leg muscles have the necessary power for this type of workout by comparing it with your day average.

Plus, this test has been backed by a recent study , confirming its effectiveness. As we have seen, factoring in time for your recovery is essential to any training schedule. So, make sure you get the most out of what you put in by allowing time to rest and repair — then get ready to go again.

Or give it a thumbs up! I like this article You liked this article Thanks! Please note that the information provided in the Polar Blog articles cannot replace individual advice from health professionals. Please consult your physician before starting a new fitness program. Think rest is for the weak?

Working out but not recovering properly is counterproductive. Here's why sleep and muscle growth go hand in hand. Forget counting steps. Turn walking into a cardio workout by paying attention to your pace, raising your heart rate and boosting your health.

What is body-positive yoga? Your body stores the carbohydrates you ingest as energy glycogen in your muscles to help power through a workout and repair tired and fatigued muscles during recovery. No matter your fitness goals, it is important to eat a carb-filled snack after your training session. The recommended amount of carbohydrates varies based on the intensity of your workout and body weight.

However, studies show that eating a high-carbohydrate diet for 24 hours after a workout will restore over 90 percent of your muscle glycogen. Your body can then use this newly stored glycogen to perform in your next training session. Research suggests eating a mix of carbs and protein within an hour of finishing a workout will kickstart your recovery.

A balanced meal typically includes fruits and vegetables, a grain and protein. That's also going to adjust what you want to [eat]. If you want to maintain muscle mass, but lose a little bit of fat mass, then you need to have more protein.

If you want to maintain your weight, then you're probably going to follow the recommended guideline. If you want to lose, like lose total weight, then you're going to have to decrease just about everything," she says. Vitamins and minerals are natural micronutrients that are essential to perform many bodily functions.

We get them from our food, but chances are not all of us have a perfect diet and may be missing some minerals. A multivitamin can help fill in the gaps, but sometimes individuals need more specific supplements to target a certain vitamin or mineral deficiency.

An iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Iron plays a crucial role in blood health because it is a significant component of hemoglobin.

Kelly says that calcium is another common deficiency, and it has an important role in bone health, muscle contractions and nerve function. A shortage of calcium can lead to bone injuries and muscle cramps during a workout.

If you are deficient in calcium, iron or another specific vitamin or mineral, it can have a devastating impact on your performance. Luckily, there are supplements that can help replenish your lack of nutrients.

If you suspect that you are lacking specific vitamins and minerals we recommend consulting a medical professional to ask about which supplements you should incorporate into your routine. They might suggest different vitamins that will probably also help with your recovery," Kelly said.

Related Post: The Best Workout Recovery Supplements. Your body is in a fully parasympathetic state, and it can actually recover from that point," said Kelly. Your body uses sleep to rest and repair itself to continue working the next day. While your body is in a parasympathetic state, blood circulation increases, which also increases the flow of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles.

Growth hormones that help repair muscle damage and grow muscle tissue are also released. These are two of many examples of recovery-promoting body processes that occur during sleep. The consequences of sleep deprivation can have staggering effects on your performance and recovery process.

The average adult needs seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Sleeping under the essential amount can cause fatigue, headaches and slowed reflexes—all of which could detrimentally affect future training sessions. If you have trouble sleeping, changing your sleep habits or taking a sleep supplement can help improve your sleep quality.

Easy ways to improve your sleep hygiene include staying away from blue light the light emitted by electronics like your phone or TV before bed, keeping a sleep schedule and developing a consistent bedtime routine.

Sleep supplements like melatonin and magnesium can also help improve your sleep quality and help you fall asleep faster. Delayed onset muscle soreness is not only painful, but it can interfere with everyday life. I know that I am often still struggling to walk days after a heavy squat workout.

One of my favorite—and most relaxing—ways to prevent this soreness is by getting a massage. Studies show just a minute massage after a workout can decrease delayed onset muscle soreness by over 30 percent. The pressure and movement from a massage increase blood circulation, which can decrease muscle stiffness and inflammation.

And, if you have back-to-back workouts, it helps your muscles recover faster so that you can be ready to go in no time. A cheap and easy alternative to getting a massage is investing in a foam roller.

Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release SMR ; a self-massaging technique that helps relieve muscle tightness and soreness. You can use a foam roller to target particularly tight and sore muscles to reduce muscle inflammation and increase blood circulation to ease pain and aid in muscle recovery.

While stretching may be one of the most well-known recovery methods, it is important to do it the right way and at the right times to see results. A common misconception about stretching is that it should be done before a workout, as part of the warm-up.

However, to see the best results, it is best to stretch after a workout when your muscles are already warm. Additionally, stretching cold muscles could actually lead to injuries and harm your performance by weakening muscles.

The Mayo Clinic advises individuals to be careful when stretching injured muscles because strained muscles can be further harmed if stretched incorrectly.

When done correctly, stretching can help prevent injuries and improve future performance by increasing your mobility and flexibility. Personally, I have never been a fan of taking an ice bath, but the benefits of the freezing water after an intense exercise motivate me to take them multiple times a week during a hard training cycle.

Ice baths can help ease sore muscles and reduce inflammation by constricting your blood vessels and reduce your body temperature to help you cool down after a workout. If you want to take an ice bath, you can use a cold plunge tub or an ice barrel, or you can create your own ice bath at home with a bathtub and bag of ice.

Whichever way you decide to use cold water immersion therapy, the water should be no colder than 53 degrees Fahrenheit and you should stay immersed for five to 10 minutes for optimal results. Although there is little evidence that ice baths increase muscle performance in subsequent workouts, the evidence of its effectiveness in decreasing muscle soreness makes it far worth it.

Plus, if you build your own ice bath at home, it is a cheap way to ease soreness. The other side of temperature therapy is heat therapy, and one of the easiest and most common ways is the sauna. Complete heat immersion is an effective way to expedite neuromuscular recovery, especially after endurance workouts.

Studies show that infrared saunas in particular can decrease muscle soreness because infrared heat can penetrate deeper into fat tissue and the neuromuscular system. By visiting a sauna for a few minutes prior to training, you can decrease exercise-induced muscle damage and delayed onset muscle soreness by effectively warming up the muscles before a strenuous exercise.

If you choose to use a sauna, experts recommend keeping heat therapy sessions under 30 minutes to avoid putting too much stress on your body. If you can't decide which temperature therapy to use, consider contrast therapy, which alternates between hot and cold baths to promote muscle recovery.

Contrast therapy has been shown to increase the blood flow to and oxygenation of muscle tissue. Compression garments can include anything from tights and compression socks to a compression wrap.

Compression increases blood flow, bringing more nutrients and oxygen to your muscles.