You work hard during your exercise sessions. You lift, run, pull, push and sweat to ensure you get the most out of your muscle-making routine. The truth is that what you do after your workout is just as important as your exercise program. If you’re experiencing decreased performance, increased resting heart rate, sleeplessness, or muscle soreness, it is time to review your post-workout recovery plan.
Types of Post-Workout Recovery
Recovery can be passive or active.
- Passive recovery requires little action or involvement on your part, but it does not mean you sit on the couch
- Active recovery, on the other hand, includes stretching, foam rolling, or light exercise to facilitate tissue repair
Here are our top suggestions to maximize recovery, strengthen your body, and meet your fitness goals.
6 Post-Workout Recovery Strategies
Cool Down
Always cool down when you finish your workout, which allows gradual heart rate recovery (HRR).
Your HRR is important to monitor after a workout. Your heart rate recovery measures the heart’s ability to return to its normal resting pace after you finish a workout.
Heart rate recovery indicates how well your heart recovers after stress. If your heart doesn’t recover well after exercising, it could mean a poor fitness level and even potential health problems.
Stretch it Out
While your muscles are still warm, focus on stretching. According to published studies, stretching will add multiple benefits to your post-workout recovery, including:
- relieving tension
- enhancing flexibility
- reducing muscle soreness
- increasing your range of motion
Knowing which stretching exercises will be most beneficial to you is best done with guidance from a certified coach.
Hydrate, Hydrate, and Hydrate Some More
It is essential that your post-workout process replenish the fluids your body lost during your exercise session.
As you sweat, your body loses fluid. Dehydration can lead to muscle cramping, soreness, fatigue, and headaches. It may also result in poor physical performance the next time you workout. That’s why a strong recovery involves keeping yourself hydrated.
Eat Well
What you eat post workout can help (or hurt) your recovery process.
Choose foods high in protein to support muscle growth, rebuild muscles, offset muscle damage, and promote recovery (think lean chicken, turkey, and salmon).
This food choice is especially important with Fit Body Boot Camp small group classes since our workouts trigger the Afterburn effect. This Afterburn effect allows your body to continue to burn calories long after you’ve stopped exercising.
Recently, research has promoted the benefits of low-fat chocolate milk as a post-exercise recovery aid. Its 4:1 carbohydrate: protein ratio mimics other sports nutrition recovery drinks and could be the optimal beverage for supporting your muscles. However, research does not give you permission to gulp down a quart of this yummy favorite childhood drink.
Get Your ZZZs
Optimal recovery requires sleep. This period of rest is the time that your body restores and recovers from all activity. Numerous studies reveal that proper sleep is essential for optimal cognitive, motor, and physiological functions.
One study even suggests that lack of sleep can lead to muscle deterioration, putting all your hard work to waste. It is impossible to perform, recover, and meet your fitness goals without adequate sleep.
Other Recovery Strategies
Several other post-recovery processes are being researched to determine if they can benefit recovery.
These include Cryotherapy to potentially and temporarily reduce inflammation and Hydrotherapy (water immersion) to support cardiovascular health and decrease muscle soreness. At this time, much more evidence is needed to see if these techniques actually benefit post-workout healing.
However, if you want a reason to book a relaxing massage, published scientific data reveals that massage effectively reduces muscle damage, soreness, fatigue, and inflammation.
Get Post-Workout Support
Whether you want to get bigger, stronger, faster, or slimmer, your post-workout routine impacts your overall results. Unfortunately, even the most dedicated people skip their recovery or don’t take the time to track their heart rate after exercise.
That’s where Fit Body Boot Camp can help. Our small fitness classes are personalized, results-driven, high-energy sessions that respect the post-workout process. We understand that recovery takes time and dedication, but it often gets pushed aside.
Our signature 30-minute Afterburn workouts combine HIIT with Active Rest Training. During our sessions, you will burn twice the calories in half the time. Post workout, you’ll keep your metabolism running at a higher rate for up to 36 hours.
Then, our proven Active Rest Training will fill in the gaps between sessions with exercises targeting different muscles. This keeps your heart rate high while giving muscles time to rest and recover. The result is a faster post-workout recovery.
A Final Thought
At Fit Body Boot Camp (FBBC), our small group classes offer exceptional support:
- A certified coach leads every session to give you the best workout, build muscle, burn fat, rest and recover, and stay injury free.
- We welcome all fitness levels in a community-driven atmosphere.
- Our boot camp sessions combine science, coaching, and technology to reach your desired outcomes.
Of course, we want to ensure that you are comfortable before you buy, so we offer FREE Fat-Burning Workouts to get you started.
Visit your local Fit Body Boot Camp today and see the difference! Contact us now and join us in result-focused full-body workouts!
