With hands holding your chest and your heart rate beating, you gasp for breath and reach out for water. For the past 2 hours, you have been on the run, stretching your hands and legs on the road. And now you have decided to take a break and gain some energy.
The above scenario describes the exercise routine of the average athlete (or anyone who exercises regularly).
How often do you exercise? Exercises are a great way to stay healthy, fit, and lose excess fat from the body. But most people think that the most critical aspect of a workout is that moment when you feel as though you have lost some weight.
Getting results for your exercise regimen is a good feeling, but it is not the most important. Instead, it is recovery. Recovery gives room to improve your performance, allows your body to heal entirely then prepares you for subsequent training routine.
This might seem insignificant, but without recovery, your exercise effort may yield fewer results, and your body may be giving out more than what it takes in most times. Your muscles are stretched so hard during exercise they need to heal and adjust.
Most athletes realize the need for recovery after a workout—little wonder why many opt for CBD oil for pain. But how does it aid muscle recovery?
In this article, you will learn one of the best ways to keep your workout routine working for you – recovery.
Why Recovery is a Necessity in Your Workout Regimen
The sad truth is that exercise hurts our bodies. But we expect it to transform into our desired state during exercise. This may likely not happen as the ‘real’ transformation occurs while the body heals.
During a workout, our bodies reach a point of cellular breakdown. That is why recovery is highly significant and should be encouraged after each exercise. It is healthy for the body and crucial to the effectiveness of every exercise program.
How Body Transformation Occurs During Recovery
After a workout, we feel sore and pain in different parts of the body. This is necessary for muscle building and to make the desired changes in the body. The muscle-building process helps you to lose fat because it requires excessive energy.
During this process, the body releases two important byproducts: water and carbon dioxide. We release the water through sweat and urine while we exhale carbon dioxide.
While the body burns fat and builds muscles, we feel excessive tiredness and pain. Therefore the body focuses on rebuilding itself and repairing damaged tissues. Most athletes take many painkillers to reduce the inflammation and discomfort they feel from the intense workout. But do you know that these drugs could reduce your workouts’ effectiveness and even hinder proper healing?
The Best Ways to Optimize Recovery after Workout
Are you ready to start recovery? Here are five proven strategies to optimize your workout and make it more effective.
CBD for muscle recovery
According to studies on CBD and exercise, CBD could help with muscle recovery or healing after an intense workout. Many athletes use CBD products to recover faster from the pain and discomfort they feel after an exercise.
When we say ‘recover faster,’ we mean they are back to the gym sooner and feel like they were not there earlier. Here are the various ways many experts have opined that CBD oil for pain could help with recovery after exercise.
- Improves sleep quality
- Supports the muscles’ protein synthesis
- It relaxes the muscles
- Alleviates inflammation and soreness
- Relieves muscle pain and tension
- Eat the right food
Fueling your body with the right food is necessary for adequate muscle recovery. Protein is essential for muscle building and repair. Therefore, it would help if you add enough protein to your diet each day, especially after sweating under the hot summer sun.
Another good way of refueling your body is by consuming enough carbohydrates after each workout routine. As you may know, carbohydrates are a good source of energy. It would help if you recovered the energy you lost during the exercise to strengthen your body for another workout.
Do you know that water makes up to 60% of the body? During exercise, we lose so much water as sweat from the body. They need to be replenished so the body can function optimally again. Therefore it’s necessary to drink plenty of water during and after each workout.
Avoid waiting till the end of your workout regimen before you consume any fluid such as water. Many athletes take a bottle of water along with them or keep them in close range, where they could quickly grab them at intervals and quench their thirst.
- Give your body some time
If you workout regularly or go out for a walk daily, it may be necessary to skip a day or two in a week for rest. During this time, you will not indulge in any strenuous activity that weakens the muscles. This will give your body time to heal. And if you must engage in sport, you could practice yoga.
- Breathing
Like we mentioned earlier, breathing allows us to exhale a byproduct which is carbon dioxide. That is not all; it also supplies the oxygen the body needs for an effective workout. According to experts, practicing deep breathing techniques for as little as 60 seconds could trigger muscle relaxation and help the body release stress hormones.
- Leverage the cold water therapy
Many athletes swear by this therapy to alleviate muscle tension and aid workout recovery.
Little wonder why it’s common to find people submerging themselves in ice water after an intense exercise. However, it is essential to know that this is not yet a proven muscle recovery method, even if it worked for most people.
It is not compulsory to practice all of these recovery strategies after a workout. The key is finding the one that does the magic for you. When you do, you will discover how practical your workout sessions can be subsequently.