A fit life is all about results and gains but these two goals wouldn’t be possible without good rest and recovery. Keep in mind that the exercises you do when working out are taking your body and all of your muscles and joints to their limits. Without allowing them proper recovery, you could produce terrible consequences to your body. Instead, take your time and allow a good recovery before your next workout. Here are some great tips to care for yourself and prevent an injury from working out. You will be surprised how simple some of them are!
1. Protect your joints: It doesn’t matter what kind of exercise program you follow, almost all of them require you to take your joints to their limits. This can produce long term consequences if they are not allowed to rest properly. To prevents this, use an ice bag at the end of your training and rest it on or tie it to your knees. This will help to reduce swelling and will help with the recovery. After a few minutes, you can use a knee sleeve to make sure that your knee, which is weak due the extra effort, doesn’t make a false movement. The sleeve will keep it strong and firm until it gets fully recovered.
2. Use a muscle recovery beverage: Amino acids are the most popular elements to add to drinks to help you recover. Using them after a heavy work out will help your muscles to rest. There are many brands in the market, so research the products available near you and make sure that you use a reliable brand. At the end of the day, it is our body that we are talking about and putting a random substance in it is definitely not a good idea.
3. Use the sauna, the jacuzzi and the cold tub: If you go to a full gym that has these facilities, take the time to use them everyday. The extreme temperature change is always good for muscles that are tense and tired after a heavy workout. After you work out, get into the sauna for a couple of minutes to relax your body. After that, change to the hot jacuzzi and lay there for a few minutes. To finish this circuit, get into the cold water. These temperature shocks will help to relax your muscles and will help with a quicker recovery.
4. Consume food that aids your recovery: The food that we ingest after working out is very important. Be sure to drink a lot of water to reduce soreness in your muscles/ Also eat meat and fish with high protein content to help with recovery and also add to your gains. Blueberries and dark colored fruits help to reduce muscle soreness and green vegetables help with the stress cortisol hormone. Almonds and nuts help to recover the tissues damaged by the effort of weight lifting, however, you have to consume them in small quantities because they have high-fat levels.
5. Stretch and sleep properly: Once you finish a heavy work out session, take the time to stretch your muscles properly. This will help you to prevent injury and cramps. It will also help to relax the muscle and help it to recover fast. Another very important thing is to have the correct amount of rest. Make sure you sleep about seven to eight hours daily. This is very important in your fitness routine because without resting, results will be delayed and you will be feeling more tired than you should be.