The one thing that differentiates a good athlete from a great one is the way they recover. Recovery is one of the most important aspects high-performing athletes should invest their time in to reduce fatigue and enhance their performance.
Often, people believe that they need expensive supplements to achieve visible results from their workouts. Although some supplements do have benefits, you’ll not be able to maximize your performance unless you’re already taking care of the basics to recover better.
Here are a few basic tips to maximize your muscle recovery from your workout sessions.
Tips for Faster Post-Workout Muscle Recovery
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Stretch it Out
Consider stretching out gently after a tough workout session. This is an easy and fast way to help recover your muscles. Studies show that stretching can help reduce muscle stiffness and prevent injuries. For best results, consider doing active or dynamic stretches (high knees, arm circles, and walking lunges) before exercise and static stretches (holding a stretch for 15-30 seconds) after exercise.
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Get More Sleep
Studies show that not getting enough sleep can have a negative impact on training performance and recovery. After all, sleep affects your whole body — including your brain, heart, and lungs. It also plays a major role in metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. So, getting an uninterrupted sleep of at least 8 hours every night after a tough workout session can do a lot to speed up your body’s recovery.
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Drink Lots of Water
Consuming a volume of water equal to the fluid deficit from your body won’t be enough to restore fluid balance entirely after your workout sessions. Among its many other functions, water helps remove the metabolic waste that a heavy workout produces in the body. Athletes typically need to drink a volume equivalent to 125-150% of the post-exercise fluid deficit to restore sufficient fluid balance in the body.
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Have Enough Protein
When you exercise, your muscles go through wear and tear, and the proteins that make up your muscle fibers get damaged, too. Consuming a sufficient amount of protein after your workout sessions can give your body what it needs to repair this muscle damage. Research shows that consumption of at least 0.4-0.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight after your workout is ideal for optimal muscle recovery.
Also, having protein before your workout may help with better muscle protein synthesis. The recommended size of a protein recovery snack is 10–20 gm of high-quality protein. With a 10 gm protein serving, protein synthesis significantly increases, but the reaction tends to plateau around 20–25 gm.
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Carbohydrates Post-Workout
Your body stores carbohydrates primarily in your muscles in the form of glycogen for energy. During short-duration and intense exercise, your muscles use this stored glycogen as their primary source of energy. Therefore, adequate carbohydrate intake is essential for efficient glycogen storage.
Muscle glycogen can be stored roughly at the rate of around 5% per hour under ideal circumstances. To quickly replenish glycogen levels when performing back-to-back workouts, it’s recommended to consume 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per hour, prioritizing carbohydrates with a glycemic index (GI) exceeding 70.
Things To Avoid
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Alcohol
Research has found that alcohol consumption after endurance exercises negatively impacts your muscles’ ability to replenish glycogen. Alcohol also hinders the synthesis of protein in your muscles.
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Tobacco
Although more research is required on the effects of tobacco on muscle recovery, some evidence associates smoking with an increased risk of muscular injury. Smoking tobacco has also been associated with a higher possibility of developing joint diseases and bone fractures.
How Long Can Muscle Recovery Take?
The amount of time it takes for your muscles to recover depends on your fitness levels, the duration, and the intensity of your workout sessions. After a relatively light workout, your muscles may be able to repair and rebuild in 24 hours, whereas with a more challenging workout session, your body might need 2-3 days to fully recover. Working it again too soon can lead to muscle breakdown instead of building them.
Are There Any Complications From Insufficient Muscle Recovery Time?
For weight training sessions, you should never exercise the same muscle groups two days in a row. While you’re exercising, it creates damage to your muscles. It’s only during the recovery period that your muscles repair these tiny tears formed during exercise.
Repeated stress from exercises causes small tears (called microtears) that lead to muscle soreness and inflammation. An accumulation of these tears puts you at risk of developing torn muscles (also called muscle strains or pulled muscles), thus leading to a risk of getting injured later.
Muscle strains can vary from mild, uncomfortable ones to complete ruptures that may need surgery to repair. If you’re not recovering well after your workouts, you’ll also likely notice your athletic performance decline over time.
Conclusion
Rest and recovery are an important part of any exercise program for better muscle repair and strength development, especially for high-level athletes. If you are not seeing visible improvements in your fitness level or experiencing constant muscle soreness, you may need to spend more time recovering from your workouts instead of challenging yourself more.
Whether you’re training to boost your fitness levels or are a competitive athlete, the best way to boost your muscle recovery is with a healthy diet and a good night’s sleep. No other recovery tips can make up for neglecting these two important aspects of recovery.
References:
Sports Nutrition INFS, Chapter 10_Nutrition for Resistance, Power, Sprint Training
Patrick, Y., Lee, A., Raha, O., Pillai, K., Gupta, S., Sethi, S., … & Moss, J. (2017). Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive and physical performance in university students. Sleep and biological rhythms, 15, 217-225.
Parr, E. B., Camera, D. M., Areta, J. L., Burke, L. M., Phillips, S. M., Hawley, J. A., & Coffey, V. G. (2014). Alcohol ingestion impairs maximal post-exercise rates of myofibrillar protein synthesis following a single bout of concurrent training. PLoS One, 9(2), e88384.
Al-Bashaireh, A. M., Haddad, L. G., Weaver, M., Kelly, D. L., Chengguo, X., & Yoon, S. (2018). The effect of tobacco smoking on musculoskeletal health: a systematic review. Journal of environmental and public health, 2018.
Aragon, A. A., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2013). Nutrient timing revisited: is there a post-exercise anabolic window?. Journal of the international society of sports nutrition, 10, 1-11.
Schoenfeld, B. J., Aragon, A. A., Wilborn, C., Urbina, S. L., Hayward, S. E., & Krieger, J. (2017). Pre-versus post-exercise protein intake has similar effects on muscular adaptations. PeerJ, 5, e2825.
Kerksick, C. M., Arent, S., Schoenfeld, B. J., Stout, J. R., Campbell, B., Wilborn, C. D., … & Antonio, J. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. Journal of the international society of sports nutrition, 14(1), 33.
Torres R, Pinho F, Duarte JA, Cabri JM. Effect of single bout versus repeated bouts of stretching on muscle recovery following eccentric exercise. J Sci Med Sport. 2013;16(6):583-8. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2013.01.002
Author – Ankita Mondal (Content Writer, INFS)
