The key to getting peak physical fitness or a chiselled body is to work out intensively and regularly. On the other hand, if your goal is to have a good shape and to avoid injuries, you need to let your muscles recover.
By using the right approach, you can speed up the recovery of your muscles after working out which will greatly improve your fitness.
1. Drink Enough Fluids to Stay Hydrated
All fitness buffs know how important it is to be properly hydrated before, during and after an intense workout. This fact is also backed by science too.
Drinking lots of fluids during workout is key to staying hydrated because the moment you start feeling dehydrated, there’s every chance you’ll suffer from muscle fatigue. Dehydration causes reduced performance together with several other complications.
Hydrating properly also reduces the danger of heat illness in the course of working out in warm weather.
However, several gym-goers often drink water before starting their session and they don’t remember to do it after they are done. For some, they only drink water the moment they feel thirsty which is a bad habit that should be kicked.
For those that love sports drinks filled with electrolytes – other types of recovery drinks are allowed too – you can pop open any of these drinks as they are quite beneficial too.
In addition to that, recent research has shown that chocolate milk – which is quite rich in electrolytes, water, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins – is a good drink for post workout recovery.
On another note, don’t forget that nothing beats your regular clean water.
2. Rest Well
The importance of getting enough rest cannot be understated and it has been backed by years of research.
Resting well is vital to both your physical and mental health. On the other hand, not getting enough rest can hamper the progress of your muscular recovery. Worse still, it can hinder your athletic performance.
A research carried out in 2018 showed that sleep extension plays a major role in several aspects of the recovery and performance of athletes.
For that reason, it is important to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night to avoid training related problems.
3. Take Note of Your Protein Intake
Protein is basically the major nutrient that repairs muscles so you need to add foods rich in it to your diet. Rather than adding several supplements to your favourite smoothies, pay more attention to eating more proteins from natural foods. You can get your daily fix of protein from lean meat, cottage cheese, Greek yoghurt, and eggs. These foods are great for snacks or it could be a full meal which can help you a great deal in your path to recovery.
4. Plan Rest Days
As a general rule, you need to create and maintain a gap of forty-eight hours between intense workouts. Obviously, this rule does not apply to everyone, but it’s a recommendation that you can stick to or modify to suit your recovery needs.
