How to best recover after hard physical work. How to quickly recover after a workout? How to understand that muscles have recovered

A process that should be perceived as a natural necessity. Muscles begin to grow only after its completion. In order for this process to go much faster and without consequences, it is important to be able to properly relax and restore the strength necessary for the next workout.

What you need to know about training?

Proper exercise is the key to ensuring that recovery after training will be quick and painless. The basic rules for playing sports include:

  1. Limit the duration of one workout to one and a half hours.
  2. One day a week you need to give your muscles rest.
  3. Alternatively, a minimal amount of exercise may be performed on this day.
  4. Every day it is necessary to give the body rest, not only at night, but also during the day. One hour of sleep at lunchtime will be enough.

Rehabilitation after training

How to properly restore the body after training? The main means of rehabilitation include the following:

  • passive rest;
  • well-chosen diet;
  • massage;
  • bath;
  • water procedures.

Massage for athletes is one of the most effective recovery methods. By removing waste products from the muscles during this procedure, they become more elastic. As a result, their level of performance increases.

You should also pay attention to such a remedy as a steam bath. It promotes muscle relaxation, which is achieved by increasing thermoregulation and activating sweating.

When visiting, you should adhere to some rules. For example, while you are in it, it is unacceptable to douse yourself with cold water. This procedure should be done after the session is completed.

Passive rest is a normal night's sleep. Its duration should not be less than eight hours. This time is quite enough for muscle recovery.

Water therapy makes it easy to relax your muscles. In addition, it relieves muscle tension. The most effective way is to visit the pool.

Post-workout recovery: nutrition

Among the products that have a positive effect on the recovery of the body after sports training, the following should be highlighted:

  1. Eggs. They will always be number one on an athlete's menu. Their protein has the highest value compared to other food products that must be present on the table during the recovery period.
  2. Salmon. Due to the proteins and omega-3 fatty acids contained in salmon, the recovery process occurs much faster. This occurs due to a decrease in protein breakdown products in the muscles.
  3. Water. Impaired fluid balance in the body can reduce the rate of muscle recovery.
  4. Beef. It is an excellent alternative to creatine. Meat contains large amounts of iron and zinc.
  5. Yogurt. This is a product that combines proteins and carbohydrates. For quick muscle recovery after training, this is the best solution.
  6. Almond. It contains large amounts of alpha-tocopherol. It is a form of vitamin E.

Post-workout recovery medications

Antioxidants occupy a leading position among drugs that promote muscle recovery. They are responsible for suppressing free radicals. This reduces muscle pain and suppresses the development of inflammatory processes. Antioxidants include vitamins A, C, E and others.

You should also pay due attention to amino acids. The body does not produce them itself, so it needs help. Amino acids are presented in the form of "L-isoleucine", "L-valine" and other substances. Thanks to such supplements, the immune system will always be protected.

Another drug that promotes rapid regeneration is Inosine. It removes lactic acid from the body, which, in turn, contributes to muscle fatigue.

How else can you stimulate recovery after training? Immediately after its completion, it is recommended to take up to 5 grams of BCAA. This complex stimulates production. In addition, it inhibits catabolic processes.

You also need to take 3 grams of creatine and the same amount of glutamine. Creatine will restore the lack of energy, and glutamine will increase the production of growth hormone.

It is equally important to drink at least a liter of clean still water immediately after training. It will help restore water balance.

Additional Information

Each workout should end with a mandatory cool-down (light exercises). In addition, special attention should be paid to professional massage. By stimulating blood and lymph flow, rapid recovery after training is possible.

Taking anabolic steroids will have a positive effect on the general condition of the body.

How to define recovery?

Two hours after training, you need to measure your pulse. If the indicator is less than 75 beats/min, it means the recovery process has been successfully completed. An indicator of more than 75 beats/min is a signal from the body about overtraining or about the occurrence of problems in the cardiovascular system.

Sound sleep indicates an intensification of the process of restoring vitality. If an athlete is accompanied by anxious dreams, as well as morning and daytime sleepiness, then the training regime should be adjusted.

Pain in the chest area is a signal that the body has not yet completed recovery processes after past training.

The speed of muscle recovery directly depends on the degree of load, so it may not be the same on different days. If the load was insignificant, the muscles will recover within a day. It will take two days for them to recover from a moderate load.

Full recovery after training is possible only after a week. In some cases, two weeks after heavy physical activity.

As soon as you leave the gym, the body switches to recovery and muscle growth mode. Optimize these processes to prepare for your next workout!

Many bodybuilders pay close attention to every aspect of training - from choosing the best exercises to specialized training protocols and the smallest details in the process - and then consider it done as soon as they step into the gym. But to get results—or more accurately, to optimize them—you need to treat your post-workout protocol with the same attention as your workouts themselves, otherwise you won't reach your full potential.

“In my opinion, this is the most underrated aspect of the entire mass-building cycle,” says Mike Kundla, competing in the Men’s Physicist category. - Your body needs adequate rest and recovery. He needs to repair muscle fibers damaged during training, replenish muscle glycogen stores, and allow the central nervous system to recover.”

Fitness trainer Brandon Strong says that's not the only reason to optimize recovery. “You want to go into your next workout 100 percent ready, and recovery plays a very important role in preparation,” he says.

We decided to draw on the knowledge of two successful athletes and asked them to share their post-training protocols to determine which recovery strategy was most effective. What steps help them train at their best every day?

1. Start with stretching and cooling down after your workout.

The path to optimizing recovery begins before you even leave the gym. First stop after your main workout: static stretching and cool down.

If you don't work on your flexibility, your muscles will shorten and lose their elasticity over time. Static stretching increases the range of motion in your joints, which is critical to minimizing the risk of injury.

To pave the fastest path to recovery, Strong stretches for at least 10 minutes after each workout and uses a Pilates cylinder on leg days. “I also devote 15-20 minutes to cold water treatments after an intense leg workout; I've noticed that it helps me reduce muscle inflammation,” says Strong.

Kundla doesn't like the cold, although he does ice his knees for an hour after practice to relieve pain from old football injuries. His recovery protocol varies depending on the specifics of the workout. Some days he has purely strength training: he works with heavy weights and combines them into supersets, such as variations and. Other days are auxiliary: the athlete does, for example, and, and at the same time cardio and exercises for general physical training.

“Strength days require more intense recovery, which takes longer,” says Kundla. “I do a lot of stretching using three pieces of exercise equipment that every athlete should include in their recovery arsenal: kettlebells, a lacrosse ball (or tennis ball) and a Pilates cylinder.”

On accessory training days, Kundla does more classic-style static stretches. “Also these days I do 100 jumps on two legs, 100 alternating legs, and another 50 jumps on one leg,” he says. “This strengthens the muscles and ligaments of the foot and ankle, which helps reduce the risk of injury.”

Mike Kundla's Post-Workout Protocol for Strength Days

  • 10-15 - camel to remove stiffness in the back and shoulders.
  • , muscles of the back of the thigh and back on a Pilates cylinder; Alternatively, you can use a barbell for your legs.
  • Working the trigger zones of the shoulder, pelvis and calves with a lacrosse ball: 30 seconds of pressure in 2-3 sets for each zone.
  • 10-15 with your own weight (for each leg).
  • 20 circular movements with your arms in each direction.
  • 3-5 minutes cool down on an exercise bike.

2. Water isn't just for hydration

Water plays an important role in recovery, and both athletes emphasize the importance of water. Not only should you drink water to maintain adequate hydration—which is critical for achieving peak physical performance—but you should also use water for active recovery.

“I train in the pool once a week for active recovery. I either swim or run in shallow water, combining it with pelvic and leg exercises, says Strong. - The resistance of the water helps relax stiff muscles, which is especially effective after a hard leg workout. At the same time, cold water helps normalize body temperature after exercise.”


3. Break your post-workout “nutrition” into two doses

Both athletes use a two-step post-workout nutrition approach that consists of covering immediate needs and post-workout nutrition. This approach not only speeds up recovery, but also begins preparation for tomorrow's training.

Before leaving the gym, Kundla takes care of hydrating the body by adding 1.5 scoops to a shaker of water. “It gives me a great combination of and which helps speed up recovery.” After an hour, he prepares 1.5 cups of egg whites with 30-60 grams of young broccoli or green vegetables, or takes about 40 grams, which contains no more than 5 grams of fat. “If I need to run errands, I stir one and a half scoops of 100% Combat Isolate MusclePharm into water.”

Strong's post-workout fueling starts with MusclePharm products, which he takes right away: Amino 1, which adds 5 grams of glutamine to aid recovery, and a Combat Crunch Bar, which provides 20 grams of protein and 25 grams of carbohydrates. An hour after training, Strong prefers food rich in nutrients: his favorite dish is a delicious burrito salad loaded to the top with protein.

When 24 hours in a day are no longer enough, many people begin to sacrifice sleep. But from the point of view of muscle recovery, we must do exactly the opposite; Its special role in the secretion of hormones and the overall replenishment of the body's strength makes sleep one of the most important aspects of recovery. Both athletes say that getting real sleep is always difficult.

Everyone has developed a specific evening ritual for themselves. Kundla begins by soothing sore muscles. “I often use evening myofascial release by applying ice or warm compresses to specific areas that are painful or inflamed. In addition, after 6 pm I reduce my fluid intake so as not to wake up again at night.”


Strong is an avid fan of a relaxing cup of hot tea before bed. He also takes from MusclePharm, which contains , magnesium and , to support natural levels and improve sleep quality.

According to Strong, meditation is another effective way to relax after a stressful day, and he devotes 10-15 minutes to it every day. “I started meditating in college to help me cope with stress, and I found that calming my mind and focusing on the goals I still had to achieve helped me a lot.”

5. Continue to fuel up in the morning.

Most guys think the recovery mission is complete when they go to bed, but Kundla says proper post-workout nutrition continues right up until you pick up the dumbbells again. This period of time includes further fueling your body with the right foods and nutritional supplements. Immediately after waking up, Kundla has breakfast and takes. “It has an excellent balance of vitamins, minerals and natural substances, as well as probiotics for the immune system and a complex for the heart and blood vessels.”

Then he goes into the hall. But before she tackles any serious weights, Kundla begins a pre-workout warm-up and performs a series of flexibility exercises that are similar to the post-workout exercises, but in a different order. "You should spend time stretching and flexibility both before and after your workout," he says. - This is useful both for the training itself and for post-training recovery. Stretching helps prevent injury and improves the quality of your workouts.”


Mike Kundla's Flexibility Pre-Workout Program

  • 3-5 minutes of warm-up on an exercise bike.
  • 10-15 walking lunges with your own weight (each leg).
  • 10 stretches in the cat-camel position.
  • 20 deep with its own weight.
  • Stretching the quadriceps and back on the Pilates cylinder; As an alternative for your legs, you can use a barbell.
  • Stretching and kneading calves with a barbell.
  • 20 circular movements of the arms (in each direction).
  • with a 13 kg kettlebell.

Strong believes in continuing his recovery the next day, so he starts his morning with a glass of water. "There's a saying that water makes you stronger," he says, meaning that even minimal dehydration can dramatically impair physical performance. After breakfast, Strong uses another pre-workout tool, MusclePharm, a pre-workout energy drink and psychostimulant. “It gives me energy and helps push the pace of my workout,” he says. “I stir 1 scoop into water and drink the drink either while stretching before a workout or during a warm-up run.”

He also takes BCAAs before training - about two scoops - to fuel his muscles and greatly facilitate recovery by providing the body with substances that are depleted during intense training.

    Success and achievements in any sport depend on three components - nutrition, training and recovery. And if you will find a lot of information about nutrition and training in any magazine dedicated to fitness, then they usually talk about recovery more than succinctly. “Be sure to recover in order to avoid” - that’s all the “expert” recommendations.

    But how exactly to recover? What are the criteria for quality restoration? How does recovery after training affect athletic performance? Can it be accelerated or made more effective? You will find answers to these questions in our article.

    General information

    Before we talk about how to speed up recovery after training, let's find out what recovery is from a physiological point of view. Any workout for the body is stressful. It can be compared to drinking a bottle of vodka, piercing the liver during a fight, or other serious injury. The only difference is that in the above examples one organ suffers, but severely. After training, damage is distributed among all organs and systems.

    Recovery, or “supercompensation,” is the body’s response to the stress received. From a survival point of view, the body strives to adapt to the stress received in order to make it less stressful. Due to limited resources, processes do not always go as expected.

    There are two types of recovery mechanisms:

  1. Adaptive. This is an ideal case when a person gets enough rest, eats a lot and is not nervous. Due to such restoration, his characteristics improve, adipose tissue disappears, muscles and strength indicators grow.
  2. Optimization. It occurs when the body tries to adapt to the resulting stress using only internal resources. In other words, you will become stronger in one area and weaker in another. For example, with intense drying, the body learns to use fat tissue more efficiently, but in order to survive, it also strives to reduce the amount of muscle. You will become stronger, but weaker and smaller.

How long does it take for muscles to recover?

It's easiest to repeat the popular belief that muscles recover on average within 48 hours from the moment of training. But this is fundamentally incorrect and looks like the average temperature in the ward. The time it takes for muscles to recover after training depends on many factors, including individual ones. Some of them can be influenced, others are beyond our control.

Let's list these factors:

  1. Load intensity. Obviously, if you do light workouts, your muscles can recover within an hour, since they are not under serious stress. The reverse is also true: if you have surpassed yourself and set a record in competitions, then you can avoid lifting weights for a week, or better yet, two.
  2. Availability of sufficient quantity. Nutrition is an integral component for recovery. It determines whether recovery will follow an adaptive path or an optimization path.
  3. Hormonal background. It is usually associated with levels of the hormone testosterone, which is used as a doping agent to speed up and increase the intensity of protein production in the body. In fact, muscle recovery after training is influenced by growth hormone, peptide hormones, thyroid hormones, etc.
  4. Speed ​​. It determines how quickly your body will begin the process of regeneration after stress. The faster the metabolism, the faster the body can cope with the load.
  5. Somatotype. This is where the main division into endo-ecto- and mesomorphs came from. How the body and muscles react to stress, what fibers are involved, and how the body copes with stress depends on a person’s somatotype.
  6. General condition of the body. If you are in a depressed mood or have recently overcome an illness, then it will take you an order of magnitude longer to restore your body between workouts.

How much time does the body need?

How to quickly recover after training in the absence of serious stress in the form of overtraining, artificial dehydration.


The body needs at least two days to fully recover between heavy workouts. This is due to the fact that during training the body must reconfigure its systems to cope with heavy load:

  1. Increase hormone levels.
  2. Optimize resources for recovery processes.
  3. Improve the functioning of neuromuscular synapses.
  4. Compensate for calorie deficit.
  5. Improve the functioning of the heart muscle.
  6. Eliminate the consequences of an adrenaline surge.

Interesting fact: any work with weights ranging from 70 to 90% of a one-time maximal maximum forces our body to produce hormones of the adrenaline group. This is partly why people find it easier to lift lighter weights for more reps. The “striptease” lifting training program is based on this principle, in which a person first works with maximum weight, and after each approach reduces the weight load by 5-10%.

Recovery rates

Indicators of body recovery after training are a large set of biochemical processes and characteristics that cannot be determined independently without a medical examination. But some basic indicators can be determined independently.

  • Pulse and pressure. After exercising at normal intensity for 120 minutes, your heart rate should drop to at least 75 beats per minute (or below the aerobic zone). If your heart rate after training is within a wide range, this indicates overtraining or chronic fatigue.
  • Dream. If the training is done correctly, you should not have problems sleeping. As a rule, problems begin with chronic disruption of the training process. The only exception is if you did your workout less than 2 hours before going to bed.
  • Well-being. If you overtrain or under-recover, you will feel worse and worse with each workout.
  • Progress. Possible only with full recovery. The only exception is a strength plateau.

Techniques to Accelerate Recovery

Do I need to take anything to recover after a workout? With a competent approach using rapid recovery techniques, you will not need supportive pharmacology and. Just look at the table with ways to speed up recovery.

Method/technique/factor Effect on the body Effect on muscles
Emotional reliefEmotional relief implies active endorphin stimulation. This type of emotional relief allows you to stimulate the production of pleasure hormones: and. This, in turn, will reduce the impact of stress on the body's recovery abilities.Under the influence of endorphins, muscles relax faster, which allows blood to circulate freely in damaged areas, accelerating physical regeneration.
Complete restComplete rest is an ideal restorative method, which, due to the modern rhythm of life, is not available to everyone. With complete rest, the body, as during sleep, optimizes all resources for a speedy recovery.With complete rest, the recovery processes in the body will take place somewhat faster, but the intensity of super recovery, which makes the athlete stronger and more resilient, will be significantly lower.
Massage is a great endorphin stimulant. In addition, the effect on the lymph nodes and nerve points can significantly improve the body's recovery from stress.Physical impact stimulates blood flow to damaged areas to accelerate recovery processes in muscle tissue.
Increasing protein in the dietAn increase in calories and protein in particular is a kind of stress for the body, so it is important to select nutrients that will not overload the gastric system. An excess of protein allows you to quickly stabilize the functioning of most systems in the body.All muscle tissue consists of (which are part of protein). The more amino acids available for muscle building, the faster and better they will recover.
Thermal effectSimilar to massage.Similar to massage.
Increasing the amount of sleepSleep is an integral part of rest and recovery, as it allows you to reboot all systems and direct free resources to a speedy recovery from stress.During sleep, the main and... If there is not enough sleep, catabolism will prevail over anabolism.

Additional incentive

So, it is impossible to radically speed up the recovery process, but faster recovery after training can be achieved through the use of sports nutrition products:


  1. (tribulus, etc.). They increase the natural production of male hormones, which increases the synthesis of building proteins. Allows you to reduce recovery time between workouts by 20-25%.
  2. . When used correctly, they accelerate tissue regeneration. It is important to give a full 24 hours of rest when using nitrogen donors, since the nervous and hormonal systems may simply not have time to recover in such a short period.
  3. Adaptogens. Depending on their class, they can affect both tissue regeneration and the general condition of the central nervous system.
  4. Vitamin and mineral complexes. Supporting the body with essential microelements speeds up the body’s recovery.

Which of these should you drink after training for recovery? First of all, vitamins and minerals. Testosterone nitrogen donors and stimulants are taken in a course, usually in the morning. And adaptogens - only in accordance with the instructions.

How do you know that recovery has taken place?

You can determine that recovery after a hard workout has been successful by one simple sign. This is an emotional state. With the right training regimen, you will want to get more physical activity after some time. You will feel more alert and energetic. In addition, you can determine how your recovery went after your last strength training session using barbell weights. If you can easily lift weights that seemed too heavy for you in the last workout, then your recovery has been successful.

To correctly predict your progress and avoid overdoing your training, keep a training diary, which will help you determine how well you have recovered from your last workouts.

Results

From a medical point of view, professional competitive CrossFit does not allow athletes to progress and recover normally after training. But do not forget that athletes often scale the loads to suit themselves. And even if they train 2 times a day, they do the most difficult training no more than 2 times a week.

At the same time, CrossFit stars use the entire arsenal of sports nutrition and supporting pharmacology. This forces the body to recover faster and better.

Remember simple rules if you want to feel full and develop in CrossFit:

  1. Keep a training diary.
  2. Eat right.
  3. Always focus on how you feel: if you think that you are not ready to perform a particular WOD today, let your coach know.
  4. Use sports nutrition for recovery.

And remember, recovery is related not only to muscles, but also to other systems of the body. Don't take risks and give your body more time to rest - this will allow you to progress much faster.


Any adult spends most of his life at work and returns home after the end of the working day. “like a squeezed lemon”. Working hours can be different: full day, part time, normalized or. A full working day can last from 8 to 12 hours, and a partial day can last up to 8 hours. Under normal working hours, all the employee’s hours are specified in the employment contract. If he has irregular hours, he works when called by his superiors and can be called to work even late at night. Whatever work schedule a person has, he still comes home tired, has no energy left to do household chores, and all he needs is to come home and go to bed. In this article we will look at 5 ways to relax after a hard day at work.

Fatigue or overwork

At first glance, it seems that fatigue and overwork are the same thing, but this is not so. If a person is tired, he or she will not be able to cope with it on his own, and requires mandatory consultation and assistance from a specialist. In the morning you have no desire to go to work, you feel that you won’t be able to work, your productivity is at zero - these are the first signs of fatigue. Overwork, unlike fatigue, is not such a serious illness; the employee will only need to rest a little and he will regain his strength. Most often it appears after an active working day.

Before we dive into ways to recuperate after work, here's some good advice: Don't go straight to dinner after work. Any meal consumes energy, and if you are already exhausted, then immediately after dinner you will begin to feel sleepy, and you will not be able to do household chores. Bring yourself to your senses a little, drink tea and only then sit down to eat. Have dinner about half an hour after returning from work.

Now we can talk about the ways to relax after work:

1. Method one - give your legs a rest.

One of the reasons fatigue at work– wearing tight clothes, this mainly applies to the fair half. Women who like to wear high heels, tight underwear and tight clothes are thus trying to hide their shortcomings and thereby attract the attention of their colleagues. But how do they pay later, after work? Their legs are aching, their backs hurt, their heads are pounding, they bring all this home, and take out their fatigue at work on their loved ones waiting at home.

Buy bright house slippers and place them at the entrance, and when you return home they will be waiting for you, like a faithful dog, and right from the doorway their appearance will lift your spirits and set you in the mood for relaxation. First of all, when you come home, go not to the kitchen, but to the bedroom. Lie down on your bed and elevate your legs for five minutes to allow blood flow away from your legs. This way you will give your legs a little rest from a hard day at work. After you lie down and rest a little, go to the bathroom. Give yourself two baths of water. One with hot water and the other with cold water from the tap. Place your feet in each bath one at a time for 30 seconds. Massage your feet and toes in the water. You can add salt or pine aromatic oils

2. The second way is to give your body rest.

Another effective way to relax after a hard day at work is to take a bath and add sea salt, aromatherapy oils or herbal infusions that soothe the body. Lie in the bath with fillers for no more than five minutes, the water should not be warm, but closer to hot. If the water is too warm, it will relax you and you will want to sleep.

After lying in the bath, take a shower, again with hot water, and gradually bring it to cold, this way you will allow the muscles to tone up and begin their work again. Dry your body until it's red and apply after shower to moisturize your skin. Do self-massage, stretch your arms and legs.

We all know that a person’s eyes are the mirror of his soul, and reflect all the emotions experienced during the day. If the eyes are a mirror, then the face itself is a reflection of the day experienced. Everything that happens to us is reflected on our face every day, be it anxiety or joyful moments or sad ones. Likewise, after work, all problems are reflected on the face. When you come home from work, make cosmetic relaxing masks for your face and neck. You can buy masks in stores, or you can make them yourself. There are a huge number of recipes for homemade masks: cucumber, lemon, potato, and oatmeal, you can list them endlessly, just go to the Internet and choose the right one. Before applying the mask, the face must be cleaned of makeup and dirt and steamed so that the skin of the face begins to breathe.

The mask must be done while lying down, with the window open. If you make a mask and start walking, firstly, it will run off your face, and secondly, it will not give any result. You need to keep the masks on for at least 15-20 minutes. After using the masks, the skin on your face feels relaxed and there is no trace of fatigue left.

Fatigue affects not only the face, but also the head. To relax your scalp, comb your hair using combs made from natural materials. There are also special massagers that have a relaxing effect on the nerve endings of the scalp.

4. The fourth way to restore strength after work is a little activity.

Another way recuperate after work, load yourself up a little with housework to speed up blood flow throughout the body. Sit on the edge of a chair or bed, stretch your legs, pull your toes towards you. Raise your arms up, open your palms and stretch. Then bend over and try to reach your toes with your hands. By doing this exercise, you will stretch your back muscles and spine. Such bends are good prevention for back pain.

To get rid of neck pain, do the following: sit up straight, straighten your shoulders, and tilt your head alternately, first to your right shoulder, then to your chest, then to your left shoulder. This way you stretch the tired muscles of your neck and it stops hurting you. After all the exercises completed, shake your shoulders, arms and legs. Yoga is considered a good option for relaxation.

In the morning after waking up, be sure to do 15 minutes of exercise. You will be less tired and have more energy to do your work.

Using the fifth tip, you can quickly restore your strength after a hard day. It is very simple and consists only of taking a portion of vitamins. You can buy a complex of vitamins or multivitamins at the pharmacy, or you can make yourself freshly squeezed juice. Fresh juices can be different: carrot, citrus, apple, tomato, berry. If you are a lover of carrot juice, then it is advisable to add cream to it, so the vitamin A contained in carrots is better absorbed by the body.

After work, you can drink tea with soothing herbs: chamomile, mint, sage, lemon balm, bergamot. You can also add a teaspoon of cognac, it dilutes blood vessels and blood flow increases, as a result you will feel invigorated faster. Only after fifteen to twenty minutes can you sit down to dinner.

We've looked at all the ways to regain strength after work. Which one to choose is up to you. All five methods are effective and efficient, but if you don’t have the strength to devote even half an hour of time to yourself, you can go and go to bed. Sleep is also a great solution to fatigue.

Olya Likhacheva

Beauty is like a precious stone: the simpler it is, the more precious it is:)

Mar 29 2017

Content

Proper physical activity is the key to faster recovery of almost all muscles after training. Although behavior during a break from classes is no less important. You cannot neglect it completely, otherwise the result will only be chronic fatigue and stress for the body. Find out more about how to recover muscles after a workout below.

Muscle recovery after training

The workout itself is stressful for the muscles. During the exercise, they get micro-tears and sprains. Their body begins to gradually heal. In general, muscle recovery after training occurs in four stages:

  1. Fast. Continues for half an hour after training. During this period, the heart rate will be restored. The levels of stress hormones such as insulin, adrenaline, and cortisol become normal. The reserves of fast “energy drinks” used up during training - ATP, creatine phosphate, glycogen - are also replenished.
  2. Slow, or compensation. Reparation of damaged cells and tissues begins. Here protein is synthesized with amino acids and enzymes. It is very important that these nutrients come from outside, so at this stage they consume carbohydrate foods and use sports nutrition to restore strength.
  3. Supercompensation, or super-recovery. It occurs 2-3 days after the last workout and lasts about 5 days. In many ways, it is similar to the previous phase, but here the muscle fibers thicken in order to be able to withstand the volume of load the next time. During this period there should be the next workout, because after it the body returns to its original state.
  4. Delayed recovery after training. If there is no new load, then all the previous work was done in vain. The muscles will return to their pre-training level of development, which is typical for their usual lifestyle without the gym.

Muscle recovery time after training

There is a direct relationship linking the speed of muscle recovery with their size. The supercompensation period may vary. For example, biceps recover in 48 hours. The chest muscles require 3 days, and the back or legs – as much as 5 days. The calculation of the terms of super compensation is individual. It is impossible to give an exact answer to the question of how long muscles recover after training. If they hurt, it means the recovery stage has not yet ended. The indicator here is an increase in working weight. If there is no progress, rest is extended by 1-2 days.

Nutrition for Muscle Recovery

One of the important criteria for successful muscle recovery is a balanced diet. It can be represented simply by a well-composed daily diet, although in bodybuilding they often additionally use professional sports nutrition. Products for muscle recovery should be predominantly protein, and of animal origin. Carbohydrates are also important at this time - without them, you will feel much worse after training.

Water is also needed. It reduces the load on the heart and the muscles themselves. In addition, it reduces temperature, which is important for recovery. Green tea enriched with antioxidants is very useful in this case. You need to consume the following products:

  • fruits, vegetables, berries;
  • fats from whole sources, such as nuts or avocados, fish, vegetable or flaxseed oils;
  • Potassium-enriched foods - potatoes, bananas.

Ointment for muscle recovery

Very often, many athletes use ointment to restore muscles. Its effect is to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and reduce swelling. There are ointments with a warming or, conversely, cooling effect. Among the most effective are the following:

  • Apizartron;
  • Viprosal;
  • Sanitas balm;
  • Heparin ointment;
  • Heparoid;
  • Ethkamon;
  • Nicoflex.

Muscle recovery drugs

There are different drugs for muscle recovery. Three main groups can be distinguished:

  1. Plastic. They help speed up protein synthesis and cell rehabilitation, and prevent overtraining. These include the drugs Carnitine, Lipocerebrin, Cobamamide, Potassium Orotate.
  2. Adaptogens and general tonics. Promotes resistance to sudden physical stress, increases performance.
  3. Energy. Accelerates the replenishment of spent resources. These are Methionine, Glutamic acid, Panangin, Asparkam.

How to understand that muscles have recovered

Only sensations help to accurately understand that the muscles have recovered. The pain may not be felt on the first day, but often becomes severe on the second. At this time, the body is just gathering strength. The next day, the discomfort decreases again, but is still felt when tense. When it practically ceases to be felt, the recovery is almost complete.

Restoring breathing after physical activity

The permissible heart rate is 75 beats per minute a couple of hours after exercise. How can you reduce it immediately after training or when resting between exercises? It is recommended to inhale and exhale slowly in a position with your hands resting on your knees. This reduces the heart rate by 22 beats. There is another option for restoring breathing after physical activity. You need to straighten up, put your hands behind your head and breathe calmly. This method of how to quickly recover after training is less effective than the first. Although it will also be easier to catch your breath.

Recovery of the central nervous system after training

If energy, muscles and hormonal levels have already returned to normal, then recovery of the central nervous system after training may take much longer. Symptoms of her exhaustion are loss of strength and mood, lack of progress and reluctance to go to the gym. To avoid this, it is necessary to give the body rest for 1-1.5 weeks every 1.5-2 months. It is recommended to sometimes change the principles of training.

Recuperation after training

The main factor for full recovery after training is rest. In this case, most athletes only need 1-2 days without physical activity. At this time, it is important to eat a nutritious diet, drink the required amount of water, and maintain a sleep schedule. To make the process of replenishing strength easier and faster, it is important to finish the workout correctly. You can't do this abruptly. The training should end with a cool-down, i.e. loads in the form of stretching the upper and lower body or light cardio.

How to recover after a workout

The focus of recovery should be less on speed and more on productivity. Constant lack of rest can cause overtraining. This is a condition when the load injures the body much more than it can recover. The lack of desire to exercise already indicates that you do not have time to rest. Many activities help you recover after a workout - a contrast shower, a sauna or hot bath, nutrition, including sports supplements, quality sleep, walks in the fresh air, massage and even listening to your favorite music.

Hot bath after workout

A sauna or hot bath after a workout can serve as gentle cardio or just an active form of relaxation. They increase blood circulation, lightly load the cardiovascular system, and everything else, on the contrary, relaxes. It is recommended to add about a glass of sea salt to the bath. It relieves muscle pain and helps eliminate all toxins from the body. You only need to take a bath for 20-30 minutes.

Sports nutrition for recovery

Don’t forget about sports nutrition for post-workout recovery. It is designed to specifically supply the body with amino acids. After the lesson you must take:

  • BCAA – 3-5 g to suppress the destruction of muscle tissue;
  • glutamine – 3-4 g for energy production and activation of growth hormone synthesis;
  • creatine – 2-3 g for complete restoration of spent creatine phosphate;
  • whey protein – about 20 g for women and 30 g for men to accelerate and optimize recovery processes.

Sleep after workout

Evidence of replenishment of strength is also a sound, healthy sleep after training. Fatigue can be expressed in weakness during the day, especially in the first half. At night, sleep remains restless. To recover, you need to sleep 7-8, or even better, 9 hours a day. It is important to maintain the same time of waking up and going to bed, for example, getting up at 7 am and going to bed at 10 pm. Sleeping immediately after training is not recommended. The body needs to be given time to “cool down”.