Maximizing your workout isn’t just about what you do in the gym. All that time and energy you put into weights, the spin bike, or even Zumba class won’t do you any good if you’re not smart about what you’re doing afterward—specifically, rehydrating, getting a balanced post-workout snack, and making sufficient rest a priority.
The American Council on Exercise goes so far as to emphasize that the time you don’t spend exercising is just as important to your fitness goals as the time you do spend exercising. That’s because exercise involves stimulating the muscle tissues on your body, and when those muscles recover, they are stronger and able to handle more stimulus.
But there are right ways and wrong ways to recover from exercise, and the last thing you want to do is let your workout go to waste. Instead, here are five ways to treat your body right:
Rehydrate: You’ve lost a lot of fluid during your workout—even if you aren’t soaked in sweat, it might be because your sweat evaporated off of you. Weigh yourself before and after exercise to give yourself a rough idea of how much water you’re losing during your routine, and be sure to consume at least 16 ounces of water for every pound lost. You will also want to replenish your electrolytes—minerals that are necessary for your body’s fluid balance—through your diet. Be sure to get sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. You don’t necessarily need to drink a sports beverage like Gatorade—getting these nutrients from food will be sufficient. Rehydrating is important because of the role water plays in the rest of your recovery. Water will help your body absorb certain nutrients and carry them to your cells, it regulates your body temperature, and it can help stabilize your heartbeat.
Get a good massage: You might notice that your muscles feel tight after an intense workout, especially if you don’t cool down properly. This is because collagen builds up between contracted muscles, leading to adhesions and knots that make it difficult to move the muscle without restriction. To reduce this tightness and take your muscles back to a full range of motion, you need to massage the muscle and break up those adhesions. You don’t need to have a professional masseuse on standby—a foam roller, rolling stick, or even a compression ball can do the trick for you.
Improve your circulation: Healthy circulation plays two important roles in recovery—it removes metabolic waste from your cells, and it carries oxygen to your tissues to help repair them. Most healthy individuals have good circulation and don’t need to do anything special to support it; however, if you want to give your circulation a boost, you can try exposing yourself to heat in a sauna or hot tub, which opens up your blood vessels. You can also wear compression clothing, which puts slight pressure on your body and boosts your circulation, according to studies published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
Eat right: Some fitness enthusiasts try to gorge themselves on protein after a workout, thinking that this will help them build more muscle. While protein is important for repairing damaged muscle tissue, it’s not the primary source of calories that your body needs (plus your body can only use about 25 to 35 grams of protein at a time, so there’s no sense in having any more than that in a single sitting). Instead, you should refuel with a 3:1 balance of calories from carbohydrates to calories from protein. So, if you have a 100-calorie snack, 75 of those calories should come from carbohydrates (approximately 18 grams of carbohydrates) and 25 calories should come from protein (approximately 6 grams of protein). The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends low-fat chocolate milk, turkey on whole-grain bread, or yogurt with berries.
Enjoy active recovery: Recovering from your workout doesn’t mean being a couch potato. Instead, experts such as those at the National Academy of Sports Medicine encourage active recovery, both in the short term (between sets during the same workout) and long term (in the days between workouts). Light physical activity will help stimulate recovery in your body without adding unnecessary stress—so hop on the elliptical while you rest up for your second set, or try swimming some laps on your off days. Active recovery can even be an easier, less intense version of your workout of choice. If you’re a runner who typically does long distances at high speeds, then a short, moderately paced jog could be an ideal active recovery exercise for you.
That’s not to suggest, of course, that passive recovery doesn’t have its place—it does! Make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep at night, as it’s during the deepest parts of your slumber that your body does the most repair on itself.
Be smart about your recovery and keep the gains going!
