Contrary to popular belief, how heavy you lift or how long you train aren’t the most important aspects of building muscle. It’s actually the rest and recovery period where the magic happens. Post-workout recovery is when your muscles rebuild themselves after strenuous exercise and become stronger in the long-term.
So, perhaps you’re wondering what is best for post workout recovery? Check out our simple guide to get an inside scoop on the secrets of muscle recovery!
Stay hydrated
Keeping on top of your water intake is important for your muscles as it allows them to work harder for longer. Hydrated muscles are healthy muscles! Being dehydrated can lead to muscle fatigue, reduced performance, and other complications.
A recent study found that chocolate milk (which contains protein, carbohydrates, fats, water, and electrolytes) may actually be a great post-workout recovery drink. Bet you didn’t think you’d hear that one!
Protein intake
As many of us know, protein is the number one muscle repairing nutrient. Protein bars and drinks have become a popular staple in the world gym but these can be pricey and could be setting you back quite a bit of money. You can’t beat getting your daily intake of protein the old fashioned way, from whole foods such as eggs, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and lean cuts of meat.
Top tip: try eating a protein-rich snack before bed to help your muscles repair during the night.
Stretching exercises
The best time to stretch is when the muscles are warm and flexible, which is typically after exercise or during yoga. Stretching after exercise allows the body to cool down and for your resting heart rate to resume at a normal pace.
If you don’t stretch after exercising, you could be doing yourself some damage and causing yourself an injury as the muscles tighten when they aren’t stretched out. In order to avoid setting yourself back, try to do at least 10 minutes of stretching after exercise.
Sleep it off
Lack of sleep can hugely impact your muscle recovery. Sleep helps to enhance muscle recovery through protein synthesis and human growth hormone release. This basically means that you need to get roughly between 7 - 9 hours of sleep per night to give your muscles time to recover.
There’s no harm in taking a 20 minute power nap during the day as well! Everyone loves a power nap.
Muscle recovery tools
Using muscle recovery tools before and after exercise work by helping to increase blood flow. Increased circulation in the body means that your muscles will repair themselves faster.
If you’re wondering how to know which is the best muscle recovery equipment, you want to choose products that enhance your recovery and provide your muscles with the best treatment possible. Try using a foam roller or a muscle massager gun as part of your recovery routine to help ease muscle soreness and get you back up and running with less chance of injury.
The Pulseroll vibrating foam roller uses vibration technology which gets deep into the muscle tissue so you don’t need to physically roll as much. Even better, if you frequently suffer with knots in your muscles, using a massage gun for knots is a sure and effective way to ease some of that pain!
