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6 Ways to Help Your Muscles Recover

Ways to Help Your Muscles Recover

Getting a good workout in is just half of the battle. What you do before, after, and between workouts can have an enormous impact on the results you get. Here are a few tried and true Ways to Help Your Muscles Recover to make sure that you are getting all you can from your workouts.

Protein

Vegan protein sources

Everyone knows that muscles need protein, and lots of it. Usually, however, we think only of loading up on protein after a workout, and most people are fairly good about doing this. A common mistake when it comes to protein intake is to fail to load up on protein before a workout. Having protein already in your system when you begin a workout ensures that it is there right when your muscles need it most.

Hydration

Here is another recovery tool that we all know we should use, but the truth is that most people are not doing it right. In the first place, many people only begin to hydrate after their workout has begun and they begin to feel thirsty. This is like walking the wrong way up a moving escalator. Your muscles need water to recover. However, if you only start drinking water after you start working out and get thirsty, this means that the water you are drinking must go through your stomach to be absorbed, which, in turn, means that your muscles do not get enough water right when they need it. By the time the water you drank reaches your muscles, you have already exhausted them on the next set… and so on and so on.

The key to making sure that the water your muscles need is available for them is to make sure that you are fully hydrated before your workout begins. Start drinking water at least an hour before you begin your workout, and don’t go light on it. It is hard to drink too much water, and you are far more likely to drink too little.

Muscle Recovery Balm

applying Muscle Recovery Balm

If you have been to a nutrition store any time recently, the odds are that you came across more muscle balms than you knew what to do with. Most of the classic muscle balms are designed to help ease muscle pain and soreness. And most do this by using menthol or similar chemicals. These can help ease the pain, but to stop the inflammation look into a CBD muscle recovery balm. It is far safer than taking daily anti-inflammatory pills and has the added benefit of potentially easing stress and anxiety.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is one of the best-studied supplements out there, and research strongly supports the fact that it is both safe and effective. Not only can Creatine help reduce muscle damage and inflammation, but it can also provide an immediate boost to your results if you take it shortly before your workout. Taken after a workout, Creatine helps replenish your muscles’ glycogen levels and helps them quickly repair damage and build new muscle. A word of caution here: if you are training for an event in which you need to make weight, you will want to be careful with Creatine because it can cause you to hold on to more water weight.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is the body’s time to repair itself

Even if you feel that you are the kind of person whose brain can operate reasonably well with 6 hours of sleep, the fact is that when you sleep you are also resting your muscles. Sleep is the body’s time to repair itself so if you are not getting enough the results can have a drastic impact on both your mental and physical health. Without your health you don’t have anything, so make getting 8 hours of sleep a firm part of your routine and one of the Waysto Help Your Muscles Recover.

Use a Foam Roller or Get a Massage

Working out day after day without a good post-workout routine is bound to give you muscle knots, and these knots will only get increasingly worse the more they are left alone. Left untreated these knots can start to diminish your results and even your quality of life. It is important to stay ahead of this by using a foam roller, or, if you do not mind shelling out the cash, by getting a massage. Foam rollers are especially vital for your legs. Lie down on the roller and put all your weight on your leg. Roll your leg up and down until you find a knot. You will know you have found a knot because it will hurt – a lot. Keep it there until the pain goes away.

Article Submitted By Community Writer

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