10 Ways to Recover Faster from Your Workout

You're already doing great things for your body in the gym, but the secret to a truly successful workout is taking full advantage of the time after exercising. Without a productive recovery period, your body remains worn down and has trouble adapting to more challenging workouts.

What Happens after a Workout
After a workout, you're often tired and sore. Contrary to popular belief in the scientific community that muscle soreness is caused by a buildup of lactic acid, soreness is actually the result of microscopic tears in the muscles. Delayed onset muscle soreness ("DOMS") is caused by microfractures in the muscle cells that occur when you exert your muscles more than they are accustomed to. Your body has also used up energy from previous meals and become less hydrated.
We've assembled a list of 10 great tips to aid your body in recovering faster after a workout and help you achieve your fitness goals.
1. Add a Cool-Down to Your Routine
Rather than stopping completely right after a strenuous workout, stay in motion at a lower intensity for a few minutes. There is some debate as to the effect of a cool-down on soreness and preventing lactic acid buildup, but adding a cool-down offers the additional benefit of slowly lowering the heart rate and ensuring proper distribution of blood in the body. This can prevent dizziness from sudden blood pooling, especially in serious athletes with increased blood flow.
2. Stretch
Stretching after a workout is a simple way to increase range of motion, maintain the integrity of your muscles, and keep them functioning well. It also gives you an opportunity to relax and connect with your body's condition and performance.
3. Replenish Fluids
Never underestimate the importance of replenishing lost fluids after your workout. Ideally, you should be hydrating before and during your exercise routine, but replenishing fluids after your workout is an easy way to boost your recovery. Water carries important nutrients where they are needed, flushes out toxins, and can make a big difference in the quality of a workout and recovery period.
4. Massage
Simon Melov, Ph.D., conducted a study on the benefits of massage post-workout and found that massaging improves the body's ability to make the proteins that help rebuild muscles after a workout. Massage also reduces pain and soreness. Unfortunately, professional massages can be extremely expensive and aren't a feasible everyday method of recovery for most people. Luckily, if the price tag of massage therapy is too high, foam rolling is an excellent alternative with many of the same benefits.
5. Use Foam Rollers
This technique refers to the use of foam rollers to reduce muscle soreness after a workout. A foam roller focuses on muscles and soft tissues, helping to prevent non-contact injuries. It's also much less expensive than massage therapy - a foam roller only costs about $20, and using one to massage sore muscles can provide you with many of the same benefits.
6. Give Your Body Proper Nutrition
The body processes foods differently at different times depending on activity, so proper food consumption before, during, and especially after a workout is very important. The main purposes of post-workout nutrition are to:

• Replenish glycogen (replace lost energy),
  
• Decrease protein breakdown (increase muscle size and quality), and
  
• Encourage protein synthesis, which helps repair any damage caused by the workout.
  

It is most important to consume protein and carbohydrates after a workout. Protein promotes protein synthesis in the body, while carbohydrates help to replace muscle glycogen. While consuming an entire meal post-workout can certainly meet these requirements, many athletes use protein shakes as a simple and easy alternative.
The immune system is the recovery engine for your body, and using an immune system-boosting supplement, such as IgY Recovery Proteins, will help your body recover as well.
7. Take Power Naps
Everyone loves a nap, and now you have a good excuse to take one. If you work out in the morning, a daytime nap one to two hours after working out is a great way to get the deep sleep that allows your body to recover. This won't impair your ability to sleep at night, and it will leave you refreshed and energized for the rest of your day.
8. Properly Schedule Workouts
Carefully scheduling your training is crucial to ensure your body has adequate time to recover between workouts. For example, you don't want to train your shoulders five days a week. You should alternate the muscle groups you are training - and how you are training them - to avoid injury. It's also important to schedule days of complete rest where you aren't working out.
Professional athletes schedule their training so they peak at the right time in their season: NFL quarterbacks want to peak at the Super Bowl, while sprinters want to peak at the Olympics. If you have an important athletic event coming up, you can plan your training so you peak at the right time, too.
9. Rest and Recharge
Adequate sleep often gets overlooked by working professionals who train as athletes during their non-working hours. However, sleep is so important to your body that not getting enough of it greatly negates the benefits of your workouts.
Many people say, "Getting eight hours doesn't apply to me. I only need three or four hours, and I feel great," but these people are often operating with such a sleep deficit that they don't even realize how much better they could feel with more sleep. Aim to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night to see how much better you feel.
10. Avoid Harmful Habits and Foods

• Avoid alcoholic beverages after a workout. Research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that more than one or two drinks after a workout will inhibit recovery.
  
• Avoid eating a heavy meal right before working out. If your body is focused on digestion, there is less energy for the workout.
  
• The idea that more is better is prevalent in gyms across America. This simply isn't true. If you aren't making any progress, find yourself getting sick more often, or have trouble falling asleep, you could be overtraining.
  
• Eating high-sodium foods right after a workout can rob your body of potassium, which is more important than replenishing salt after a workout.
  

So many people hit the gym every day with the best intentions, but they fail to take the proper steps to help their bodies recover from a grueling workout. By properly fueling, caring for, and resting your muscles post-workout, you can take full advantage of your recovery period and reap the benefits of your training.

Published by FX Marino

FX Marino is the President of IgY Nutrition. IgY Nutrition's mission is to help athletes perform radically better and provide them with a safe, effective, and legal way to compete at the highest level wi...  View profil