You have dedicated your life to fitness. Exercise is a part of your daily routine. You feel great getting into the gym or before you start your bike ride, but after you are done, are you recovering well?
Athletes have often discussed how they often feel “washed out” after that heavy workout. No question that during that time, the body is pushed to its limits. You are dehydrated and your muscles are overworked. But there are still many fundamental interventions you can do to hasten your recovery from that heavy workout. Here are some tips:
Hydrate
Hydration is key to recovery. Infusing your body with proper amounts of fluids replaces the water lost during workouts and determines how fast you recover from it. It also increases the blood flow to your muscles, washes away those reactive oxygen species (damaging elements) and lactate created during the exercise, and allows for a faster recovery. Hydration should accompany workouts and should not be at the end of the activity. Delay in hydration delays recovery and leaves the muscles sore.
Stretch
Stretching your muscles after the workout is one of the easiest mechanisms by which your body tends to relax afterwards. Toning exercise is defined by significant contraction of muscles (imagine the squats and the bicep curls). Stretching allows for muscle recovery after a workout by extending those very muscles you push to contract.
At a microscopic level, stretching allows for the inflammation to disperse and lessens the tenderness where the muscles insert into tendons. This is why stretching is one of the paramount workout recovery tips advised by all coaches.
Sleep and rest
Not enough can be said about adequate rest after exercise. After all, the body goes through a feat when you push it to its limits. But rest is equally important to allow those injured myofibers to heal.
A short nap in the afternoon when possible (at least on your Sunday) can make a huge difference. Adjusting your sleep cycle is also one of the keys to recovering from your workout early. Try getting a good 8-hours sleep every night at the least when you are exercising on a regular basis.
Replenish your lost electrolytes
When you workout and sweat, you lose electrolytes. There are three vital electrolytes that are involved in muscle function – sodium, potassium and magnesium.
Sodium is lost in significant amounts in the sweat and the other two are required for muscle contraction as well as relaxation. Deficiency of these nutrients can cause cramps and soreness after exercise.
To recover from your workouts, try hydrating yourself with a blend of electrolytes using a dry mix such as MAGNAK® that provides for all of those in the exact proportion you need. Magnesium allows for a faster recovery, helps build protein in your muscle, and reduces inflammation. In short, a magnesium-rich diet or hydration mix allows you to recover faster from your workouts.
Try a massage
Athletes often use massages to relax their overworked muscles. There is some science to it and it works. Excessive muscle activity not only depletes the nutritional sources in the muscles, it also injures them.
Massaging the overworked muscles allows for a relaxed phase of recovery. Try incorporating a deep tissue massage once or twice a week after those heavy workouts!
Go easy on the alcohol
Alcohol is a dehydrating agent. That occasional glass of wine in the evening with your friends is likely OK but avoid using alcohol on a regular basis if you want to recover quickly from your workouts. Dehydrating agents delay recovery by preventing perfusion of muscles.
Try some caffeine
There is much controversy over use of caffeine in hydration of athletes. Caffeine in small amounts is not a dehydrating agent. A study on athletes showed that caffeine ingestion allowed them to recover their muscle stores of glycogen faster than those who did not consume caffeine.
Caution is needed, however, in using caffeine during an exercise. Caffeine can accelerate your heart which is already pumping at a much higher rate. High doses of caffeine can dehydrate you by losing more water in the urine. Thus, caffeine should truly be reserved during the recovery phase of the workout – after the activity is complete and hydration has been optimized.
Continue your workout rhythm
Recovery allows you to get back into the rhythm early. Workouts are supposed to be uncomfortable but recovery does not have to be.
A prolonged time to recovery often leads athletes to take longer breaks, increasing the time of soreness. To recover faster, try to continue your activity without long breaks, but at a slower pace. Diversify your exercise regimen – a gym workout, a jog the day after, and maybe even stretch it out with that yoga class you always wanted to do. Continuing to use your muscles allows you to get back quickly into the ring!
Dr. Kharait is an MD and a practicing Nephrologist in Northern California. He completed his Residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Nephrology from the University of California, San Francisco. He has a PhD in Molecular Physiology from the University of Pittsburgh and specializes in treating patients with electrolyte disorders and kidney diseases.
