You’ve heard the saying, “Work hard, recover harder.” Well, that saying didn’t just pop up out of nowhere – there’s some serious truth behind it. If you’ve been increasing the volume and intensity of your training regimen, your body is probably feeling a little worse for wear and sore.
While this breakdown of your tissues and muscles cause short-term residual pain, it is a critical part of growing stronger and getting into better shape. After your body heals from a big effort, your muscles, lungs, and heart get more efficient.
However, it’s crucial to avoid overtraining as much as possible. Overtraining can lead to permanent injuries, an inability to sleep, and extreme lethargy. It’s important to strike the right balance with your training between progression and rest.
If you’ve recently completed an impressive athletic feat or extra tough workout session, it’s important to follow some of the suggestions below to allow your body to properly recover.
Use topical CBD cream
We recommend using a CBD cream by CBDfx because it can help sooth pain and inflammation at specific points on your body. CBD creams works by limiting the signal released by immune cells so that the inflammation is reduced, but the body can still heal despite it. Simultaneously, CBD also increases the volume of pain-relieving endocannabinoids in your body.
The day after a hard effort or workout, take a long shower and after your shower, use CBD to relieve the pain on sore muscles.
Stick to structured rest
Deliberate rest days are essential. Don’t get caught in the mindset that “more is better.” You should incorporate a week of no exercise or seriously limited intensity exercise once every 8-12 weeks of intense exercise, so your body gets to fully recover.
On the other hand, it’s also critical that you don’t take too much rest, because you don’t want to lose all your progress and conditioning.
Focus on sleeping
Athletes need more sleep than a normal person, especially if you’re in a particularly hard training phase. If you don’t get enough sleep, you immediately put yourself at a disadvantage because your body won’t be able to properly recover.
Give yourself an extra hour or so of sleep on days where training is particularly difficult. Track your sleep with a fitness tracker or a sleep app.
Use a recovery tracker
Whoop is a specialized fitness tracker that delivers insight into your recover. According to Whoop’s data, Whoop member experienced a lower heart rate, better sleep, fewer injuries, and consumed less alcohol before bed after using the tracker for four months.
You can use the app to show you what your strain levels should be during a training session. It will also show you how long it will take you to recover from a certain activity as well. This tool is ideal for ramping up your training and knowing when to relax before a big event like a race or competition.
Avoid drinking alcohol
As much as a beer or cider sounds like the ideal treat after hard training, it’s one of the worst things to consume after training. Drinking alcohol limits your muscles’ ability to recover from a hard-athletic effort. To recover more quickly, avoid those beers.
Hydrate properly
Although you may not feel thirsty after a workout, it’s still incredibly important that you hydrate after. Aim to drink at least two liters of water per day, more if you sweat a lot.
Stretch out those muscles
Stretching is critical if you want to continue to pursue your athletic hobbies long into your future. You should stretch both before and after a workout to improve your circulation and stretch out your muscles. Try holding each stretch for at least thirty seconds for the best results.
Ice baths
Although uncomfortable at first, ice baths are a great way to speed up your recovery. Ice baths reduce inflammation by restricting your blood vessels. After your ice bath is done, the blood vessels dilate and help more efficiently flush out metabolic waste after your workout.
Conclusion
Taking it easy as an athlete isn’t always easy, especially when you have a goal in mind. But, with the right recovery, you can become bigger, stronger, and faster.