Here are 7 things you can do after your workout to help you recover, repair and get ready to do it all again:
1. Stretch
It’s an obvious one but quite often people skip stretching because they have to rush off to get to their next destination. Stretching your muscles after your work out is key by staying flexible it will help prevent injuries and chronic pain. After a work out you are already warm so it makes it easier to increase your flexibility and to improve range of motion. Make time to Stretch no matter what.
2. Roll it
Rolling across a foam roller, you can target the muscles you’ve just worked, increasing blood flow and decreasing the likelihood of developing myofascial adhesions — potentially painful areas where connective tissue becomes “glued” together and limits or alters a muscle’s ability to contract. As Sarah Jane Parker, an ACSM-certified personal trainer explains, “Foam rolling keeps your fascia and tendons flexible and elastic.” Like stretching, this helps keep you healthy and capable of continuing to see results. Everyone who works out should have a Foam Roller if you don’t than now is the time to get one and get rolling.
3. Take a Shower
It’s such a basic one but when people are in a rush this is another post workout step they can choose to forget. However if you skip the wash-down and allow your sweat to dry on your skin, you’re basically turning your body into a petri dish for bacterial growth. This is especially concerning if you experienced any chafing during your workout (around your sports bra and between your thighs are the primary culprits), because even micro tears of the skin can leave you open to staph infections and other bacterial illnesses. So what’s the verdict: simple have a shower after any workout.
4. Rehydrate
I bang on about it all the time by Rehydrate….Rehydrate…if your workout involved lots of heavy breathing and loads of sweat, you need to grab a bottle of H2O to rehydrate after your work out sweaty session. If you don’t drink water post-workout, your metabolism won’t work at full capacity, and you’re bound to feel sluggish and fog-brained. So if you’re feeling tired it might not be just from the workout the chances are you need to drink a lot more water.
5. Eat a snack
A post-workout snack is so important when it comes to exercise recovery and muscular development. Consuming a post-workout snack within 60 minutes of your fitness routine helps restore muscle glycogen — the source of energy your body taps into when exercising — essentially helping you to recover for your next workout. At the same time, a well-planned snack can put you into a state of positive nitrogen balance, which is the optimal state to grow muscle. The key here is to make sure you’re consuming a snack that delivers a balance of carbohydrates and complete proteins to ensure you’re getting the right allotment of amino acids for muscle repair and growth.
7. Get some rest
During sleep, your body is able to reset itself, engage in muscular repair and assimilate new experiences to enhance neural pathways for future bouts of exercise. Listen to your Body, Mind, Spirit if it’s tired rest get enough sleep so you can rest, repair and recover. If you are finding you are exhausted during your gym session than that is a pretty good indication you need to build in a rest day. Remember a Rest Day is not you being lazy or slack it’s about giving your muscles and body enough rest and recovery time to repair. Getting enough rest and finding the balance is just as important as working out.
Spa it girl xoxo
pic: running bare