- April 27, 2022 |
- Strength Training | General Health and Wellness | Muscle Recovery
Did you know that your recovery days are just as important as your training days? It's true! To maximize your gains, it's crucial that you take care of yourself. It's important to take time off from working out, but it can be hard to know what you should do during your recovery days.
You might think that the best thing for your body is a day of rest, but this isn't always the case. They are opportunities to give your muscles some extra love and attention so they're ready for their next workout.
In this post, we'll be talking about its benefits and how you can make the most of your recovery days.
Recovery Days
So, what are recovery days? It's the time where you allow your body to heal from all of its hard work. You must have a good rest and take care of yourself. It is just as important if not more so than training, but we often neglect it and try to push through an injury or illness.
They are essential to your physical and mental health. Your body will thank you for giving it the time it needs to heal and recover, allowing you to reach your fitness goal in a much shorter amount of time.
Take care of yourself by listening to what your body is telling you- listen closely to signs that you need a rest or recovery day.
Benefits of Recovery Days
Recovery days are used for a variety of reasons, but the main one is as a way for your muscles to recover. It gives your body time for rebuilding muscle fibers that were broken down during a tough workout session. In addition to this, it can also be used for cross-training- doing other activities will help you keep up with your fitness goals without overtraining.
Helps prevent overtraining
Overtraining can happen to anyone, no matter how experienced you are. They are crucial and provide the opportunity to rest without pushing your body too hard. Overtraining can lead to plateaus in your fitness progress.
Helps prevent injury
If you're not careful, training too much can lead to injury. It'll give your body time to repair and rest so that it doesn't get overworked.
Can boost your immune system
If you're exercising a lot, your immune system can take a hit. It allows for increased rest and downtime so that the body has more time to heal and recover from any potential illnesses.
Allows for better sleep quality
A restful recovery day often leads to better quality sleep. It allows for a cooldown that's not spent training so the body can relax and recharge for good sleep.
Mental rejuvenation
One of the coolest benefits of recovery days is that it's a time to allow your body and mind to rejuvenate. So much of our day is spent on working, training, and trying to make headway in the world. It'll give you a buffer from doing anything strenuous and let you actually spend some time with your thoughts.
Speed up muscle recovery
There are a lot of reasons to add recovery days to your training regimen. One of the most important is that it can help speed up muscle recovery! Recovering from a tough workout session will give your body the opportunity for rebuilding muscle fibers, which can lead to fewer injuries and greater gains in both strength and size.
10 Ways to Maximize Your Recovery Days:
1. Get enough sleep
This seems like a no-brainer, but getting enough sleep is the most crucial component to maximizing your recovery days. According to research, an inability to sleep and sleep well is a pervasive health concern.
Try aiming for at least seven hours of quality sleep every night. It sounds hard, but it's worth it!
2. Drink lots of water
Hydration is a key factor in recovery. Drinking plenty of water will also help with your general health, alertness, and performance during training.
3. Don't skip meals
Skipping meals is a big no-no for those on the recovery diet. Skipping meals will only rob you of energy and make it that much harder to get a quality workout!
4. Take a day off
Taking a day off from training can be a great way to help you maximize your muscle recovery. A day of rest, even if you feel like you can't stand missing a workout, is really important for your general well-being and helps speed muscle recovery in the long run.
5. Use ice
Using ice to soothe sore muscles is a great way to speed up recovery. It's been proven that using ice in addition to other methods of taking care of your body after training can help you recover faster and reduce pain!
6. Stretch
Stretching is a great way to reduce soreness and ward off injury. It will also give you a great mental break from the stresses of training!
Here's a great article on how stretching can improve muscle recovery and performance.
7. Massage
Massages can help you maximize your recovery days. Studies have shown that when people who trained muscles and massage in the same 24-hour period saw a benefit for muscle growth, flexibility, and function. Try a Hydromassage lounger out at a Vim + Vigor Fitness near you!
8. Foam roll
Foam rolling can help you to work out the knots and tightness in your muscles that are built up from workouts. It can be an excellent recovery strategy for anyone who exercises by helping them recover faster.
Using a foam roller will just take a couple of minutes, but the benefits are felt long after as it releases "knots" in the muscle and increases blood flow to those areas.
9. Eat a balanced diet
Don't forget about taking care of yourself nutritionally - too many people place this last on their list of priorities when they really need to be number one!
Eat well! Eating healthy will help you fuel up training and provide important nutrients that can speed up muscle recovery in between sessions.
10. Stay active with low-impact exercises
Active Recovery refers to the act of doing light exercise during your rest day, like yoga or gentle stretching. It's important to give your muscles time to recover and active recovery is one way you can do this.
The saying "resting the mind, rests the body" couldn't be more true! Getting out for a brisk walk will not only make you feel better by relieving stress, but it'll also help with muscle recovery.
How Important Are Recovery Days?
Your recovery days are just as important as your training days, and it's crucial that you take care of yourself to maximize the gains from your workouts. The 10 tips we've provided should help you make the most out of your rest days--whether they're spent sleeping or stretching!
If all this information still seems daunting, let us know. Our team is ready and waiting to help you reach your fitness goal.
Citations:
Dolezal, Brett A et al. “Interrelationship between Sleep and Exercise: A Systematic Review.” Advances in preventive medicine vol. 2017 (2017)
Lateef, Fatimah. “Post exercise ice water immersion: Is it a form of active recovery?.” Journal of emergencies, trauma, and shockvol.
Dupuy O, Douzi W, Theurot D, Bosquet L, Dugué B. An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. Front Physiol. Published 2018 Apr 26.