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If you enjoy a bit of physical exercise every week and are wondering how to recover from training, then this post is for you!
Consistency is the key to working out. And training regularly without overdoing it is important.
Results don’t come overnight. The hardest part of staying fit is having the motivation to do it consistently.
Day in and day out.
Every single week.
Yet we have all been through phases where we haven’t done anything for 8 weeks and then we suddenly get the urge to make up for lost time by working out twice a day.
You feel great.
You want to repeat it tomorrow, and the next day etc.
But then muscle stiffness and soreness sets in.
It’s a shitty feeling, and one that will halt your workout schedule immediately!
Your body will adapt and after a week or so you will feel more comfortable, but this is not a good way to train, and is not sustainable long term.
So we need to try and make sure we can recover well enough from our exercise sessions in order to be able to continue working out efficiently!
So if you want to know how to recover from training in the best way possible, then keep reading!
3 Common Mistakes That Cause Muscle Aches & Pains
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If you feel sluggish, fatigued and overworked then I suggest you pay attention to these 3 common mistakes mentioned below.
Lack of Sleep
Your body produces glycogen when you sleep. The more sleep you get, the more glycogen your body produces and vice versa.
Whats happens when your body doesn’t get enough glycogen?
You become fatigued and your recovery stalls. It’s that simple.
Lets look at a study done in 2011 where they had 2 groups who followed a standard diet and exercise schedule.
The one group slept for 5 and a half hours and the other group for 8 and a half hours a night.
The end result?
The group that slept less stalled muscle growth. But by how much?
The group that slept for 5 and a half hours a night had 60% less muscle growth than the control group, and those who slept for 8+ hours a night had 40% more muscle growth than the control group.
Sleep is definitely one of the best topics that come to mind when discussing how to recover from training, especially if you workout a lot.
Not Enough Hydration
Being hydrated before and after your workout is super important!
Dehydration causes your muscles to lose power and control.
Not enough water will cause muscle breakdown while also starving your body of the vital nutrients and electrolytes. These are needed to build muscle that you’ve shredded in the gym.
Keep drinking water before and after workouts, and make an effort to constantly consume liquids throughout the day!
Overtraining
At The Bald Brothers we mainly do bodyweight exercises which incorporates full body training in short, sharp bursts.
I highly recommend that you give yourself at least a 24 hour break in between bodyweight workouts.
Its a good idea to incorporate stretching and yoga in between workouts, and remember that your body needs some rest too!
This will also prevent major injuries from occurring, and make sure you are good to go in the future.
Listen to your body, it never lies!
How To Recover From Training
OK, so we all want to know easy ways to recover from working out and how to prevent injuries from most likely happening.
Below are a few good pointers on how to recover quicker, get stronger and stay healthier!
1. Get Enough Good Sleep
Sleep deprivation will destroy all the hard work you put into exercising and working out, as you don’t allow for muscle repair and building.
Allow yourself a decent amount of time every evening to rest up.
There’s nothing worse than going through your days without the right amount of sleep!
When you get enough sleep, you give your body time to reset its muscle building hormones. And by falling into a deep sleep, you send more blood to your muscles, allowing for rapid growth and regeneration of muscles.
Hence more sleep will result in more muscle growth.
But how much sleep is sufficient?
The general recommendation is between 7 – 9 hours.
You will have to decide what works best for you.
2. Proper Diet & Nutrition
Exercising and working out is 90% nutrition and 10% actually working out. You are what you eat, and this will greatly benefit your recovery process.
Like so many people say – the biggest gym is in the kitchen!
All our bodies differ, so we need to figure out what works best for us individually through trial and error.
One thing is for sure, it’s important to take your nutrition seriously and seek advice from a professional if you are none the wiser.
Personally I discovered what works for me and how my body reacts to it through trying out different diets etc. I also practice things such as intermittent fasting, which is helping me!
3. Active Recovery at The End of Your Workout Session
When you tear muscle through working out, your body produces lactic acid which is why you feel sore and stiff. Active recovery has proven to help clear blood lactate from your system.
So what is active recovery?
Active recovery can take many different forms like jogging, swimming, cycling, stretching and using resistance bands.
If you don’t have a treadmill or swimming pool then you will need to improvize and use whatever surface area you have.
Below’s a video showing a good example of active recovery stretching!
How long should your active recovery be?
I recommend taking 5-10 minutes after you have completed a workout to do a cool down session.
The point is not to go nuts and kill yourself. We are trying to get our muscles to build and recover quicker by releasing blood lactate.
4. Ice Bath or Cold Showers
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An ice bath or cold shower helps reduce inflammation, which in turn helps reduce stiffness and soreness.
You’ll end up recovering quicker and will feel a lot better!
The cold exposure is also a very good tool for building mental toughness, as the cold water will make you feel super uncomfortable.
If you have never been exposed to cold water or ice baths then I recommend easing into it. Start off slowly by doing 30 seconds of cold to medium warm showers, and then slowly increasing the time you are exposed to cold water.
The long term benefits of cold water exposure are infinitive, and will even boost your immune system tenfold!
Conclusion
I have found out how to recover from training through trial and error.
These 4 tips I mentioned above seem to work for me, so I hope they work for you too!
I’ve played sport my whole life, done different boxing and martial arts training, dabbled in yoga practice ,and earlier in my life did loads of weight training.
And it took me a long time to realize the importance of rest and recovery when it comes to working out.
Recovery should become a key ingredient in your workout process.
Stay healthy,
Will