Recovery after workouts is essential to reduce muscle soreness, support healthy metabolism, and prevent injuries. It includes replenishing glycogen stores, fueling muscles and hydration. Active recovery involves low-intensity exercise, such as walking or swimming. You can use your regular exercise routine, but keep the intensity low — a walk or jog at a pace you can talk while is a good example. Many people confuse the terms “resting” and “recovery.” However, resting is a physical activity that involves lying down or sitting without any intense activities. It is not active recovery, which is a light activity or workout performed after a high-intensity workout.
Rest And Recovery
Resting and recovery are a big part of a workout plan to help your body process and benefit from the changes you’re making in your fitness routine. These changes may include muscle growth, fat loss, reduced inflammation, improved insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular health. However, these improvements are not immediate and require time to happen, which is why exercise recovery is such an important aspect of your fitness plan.
There are different types of workouts and different training methods, but all workouts must incorporate rest and recovery for the best results. The most popular way to recover from a workout is with a recovery session, which can include exercises, stretching and foam rolling. These sessions can help increase blood flow, which is essential for muscle healing and repair.
Active recovery can be anything that keeps your heart rate below your maximum, such as a brisk walk or yoga class. This form of recovery increases your blood circulation and helps the muscles get rid of waste products and deliver nutrients to the tissues that have been broken down during a workout.
A recovery drink or meal can also speed up the recovery process. A smoothie made from fruit, yogurt or milk and a scoop of protein powder can be both refreshing and nourishing after a workout. It can also help to prevent muscle soreness from a tough workout. Another way to speed up the recovery process is with compression garments, such as socks and shorts that are designed to increase blood flow to muscles. This is a popular recovery technique among athletes who train in long distances and are at risk of developing tight muscles that can slow down performance.
A longer-term recovery strategy may involve reducing the intensity and frequency of your workouts. This is often done after an injury or when your body feels overtrained. For example, if you have been running long distances or doing heavy lifting, it’s important to let your body recover for a few weeks before returning to those same activities.
Active Recovery
Active recovery is a movement-based form of recovery that turns the old belief that rest days are necessary for muscle growth on its head. It involves partaking in a low-intensity workout, like walking or swimming, which moves the body and stimulates blood flow but doesn’t put extra strain on muscles. It’s been found to help athletes achieve physiological homeostasis faster than passive recovery and can be beneficial when used between intense exercise sessions, says Alberta-based kinesiologist and exercise physiologist Dean Somerset, C.S.C.S.
Matt says he recommends adding an active recovery day to your weekly routine, especially after a big workout or race. A small study by the American Council on Exercise and Western State Colorado University, for example, showed that participants who did an active recovery workout after an intense run or cycling session were able to perform three times as long the next time they ran or cycled, compared to the group that focused on passive recovery.
You can also add an active recovery workout into your routine as part of a cooldown or as light exercise between intense sessions, Leanne says. “We incorporate an active recovery interval into our indoor cycling classes where Members can take their heart rate down to a recovery zone during one of the harder intervals,” she says. This helps to reduce soreness and break up the lactic acid that has built up in the muscles. Similarly, you can use it as part of a yoga session—but keep in mind that yin or restorative yoga is more appropriate than power yoga, as the latter would be too intense for a recovery workout. Leanne also suggests incorporating it into interval training, as many of these workouts use short bursts of high-intensity exercises followed by brief recovery intervals.
Other examples of active recovery include going for a walk or light jog, a leisurely bike ride or a swim. For some people, the best option is simply to get out of bed and move around. The key is to find the activity that works best for you and your body.
Passive Recovery
During passive recovery, you give your body a complete break from any physical exertion. This might include a nap, sitting on the couch to watch TV or simply relaxing with a book and letting your muscles rest. Typically, this type of rest doesn’t last more than 48 hours and fits best immediately or shortly after a particularly challenging workout.
For the most part, this recovery method is a necessary part of reaching your fitness goals because it allows your muscles to heal and prevents over-training, which can lead to injury and slowed progress. However, incorporating both active and passive recovery strategies into your exercise routine is best. Active recovery involves using non-strenuous physical activity to keep your body nimble and fluids, like blood and lymph, flowing throughout the body. It’s similar to a light cardio session after lifting weights or taking a low-intensity yoga class.
The goal is to get the blood flow going again to eliminate accumulated blood lactate, which can impede performance if you let it build up too much, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE). This type of recovery can also aid in muscle repair and reduce swelling. Passive recovery, on the other hand, is more like a full-out rest day. This might involve nothing more than lying down for a nap or doing some light stretching. It’s important to note that resting too often can backfire and reduce your motivation to get moving again, so it’s important to incorporate this method of recovery strategically into your exercise routine. Ideally, you should try to incorporate passive recovery at least once or twice per week and aim for a total of 8 hours or more of sleep. It’s also recommended to find a consistent sleep schedule that allows for the best quality of sleep, which can help you feel refreshed and ready for your next workout.
The Necessity Of Rehab After Workouts
Whether you’re an elite athlete or just beginning your fitness journey, everyone needs to recover from workouts. This is a necessary component of the exercise process that can help prevent injury and overtraining. Recovery from workouts involves a combination of activities. This includes psychoeducation, group therapy sessions, individual counseling, leisure time, and meals.
Stretching: Stretching is the movement of your muscles into positions that increase their range of motion. When done correctly, it helps prevent injury and improve flexibility. It is also important for overall body health. Stretching both before and after your workout helps your muscles recover faster and avoid injuries. It is also an effective way to relieve stress and improve your mood.
Whether you are an elite athlete or just someone who likes to be active, stretching is essential for your recovery. It not only reduces muscle soreness and decreases the risk of injury, but it also improves your ability to perform your regular activities. For example, it can help you walk up and down stairs or swing your arms when carrying a heavy object. It also allows you to sit and stand in a proper posture for longer periods of time, which can help alleviate neck or back pain that may occur from sitting at work all day.
A recent study found that stretching improved both short-term (less than 24 hours after exercise) and delayed recovery makers, such as strength and range of motion (ROM). The researchers looked at supervised randomized controlled trials, where participants performed some form of post-exercise stretching, either static or dynamic. They did not include any co-interventions. They used a PRISMA-compliant search strategy, searching eight databases for randomized, controlled trials on the effect of post-exercise stretching. The results were analyzed with an inverse variance random-effects model.
Before exercising, it is recommended that you do a light warm-up before doing any kind of stretching. This is because your muscles are the most pliable when they are warm. Dynamic stretches are the best option, as they are more effective for warming up your body and preparing it for physical activity.
Another benefit of stretching is that it improves circulation. This helps your muscles get the oxygen they need to repair themselves after a workout and it reduces the build-up of lactic acid, which can cause muscle fatigue. It also helps your heart rate return to a normal pace after your workout.
Compression: Compression has been shown to dramatically reduce the negative impact of exercise and recovery on muscle fatigue, DOMS and lactic acid buildup. This is primarily due to compression garments improving the active oxygenated blood flow from the heart to the area of the body, which removes lactic acid and allows muscles to recover faster. This is why some trainers and coaches are moving away from the RICE protocol (rest, ice, compress, elevate) and towards CAM (compression, activity, massage).
It’s not only effective, it’s also quick and easy to implement into your workout routine. Check out our range of sports and athletic compression garments here.
Cold Water: Whether you’re an elite athlete or just getting started, cold water therapy is a key component to muscle recovery and performance. Besides the obvious benefits like decreasing soreness, plunging can help boost your immune system and mood, as well as increase energy levels. Cold water immersion also has been shown to improve sleep quality and reduce fatigue and tension. It can even reduce symptoms of fibromyalgia and asthma.
In one 2022 study, engaging in a 10 minute cold water immersion after high-intensity exercise improved muscular power and reduced delayed-onset muscle soreness, self-perceived feeling of fatigue, and inflammation (although shorter durations of immersion at lower temperature worked best). Athletes should always consult a physician or sports medicine specialist before trying cold plunging, especially those with risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Adding cold water to your recovery routine is especially important for high-intensity workouts, since the body can’t cool down as effectively on its own afterward. It can also prevent the risk of exertional hyperthermia, which occurs when the core temperature exceeds 40oC/105F and disrupts the central nervous system. Exertional hyperthermia can lead to nausea, dizziness, and loss of consciousness. Immersing the body in cold water can reduce the core temperature by up to 10 degrees, allowing the athlete to perform at full capacity while avoiding the potentially fatal condition.
Rest: If you continue to work out intensely without giving your body a chance to recover, you risk overtraining. Overtraining can cause muscles and joints to become irritated and overstressed, which may lead to injuries such as iliotibial band syndrome or patellofemoral syndrome (runner’s knee). Aim to rest 3-5 days per week. This allows your muscles to repair, rebuild and refuel, so you can push your workouts to the next level.
Resting is important for all people, but it is especially critical to those who are recovering from an injury. Avoiding recommended rest periods can increase healing time and can also lead to secondary injuries. This is because the body will often compensate for injured muscles and joints by overusing other areas of the body.
There are two types of rest: passive recovery and active recovery. Passive recovery involves a complete cessation of exercise, such as taking the day off. However, it is best to do some form of active recovery on rest days – such as walking or yoga – because this keeps blood flowing and prevents the buildup of waste products from muscle breakdown. Talk to your Kinematics Physiotherapist if you are unsure how much passive recovery you need and what type of active recovery is appropriate for your needs.
