The main component of achieving exercise goals like aesthetics, health, and athletics is body composition change. This is why workouts mainly focus on growing muscles and losing fat. However, true transformation may not occur during actual workout but during the recovery process.
While exercise hurts the body, it is the recovery process that helps heal the body. During workout, the body is pushed to limits of cellular breakdown to be built back much stronger and more efficiently.
Strenuous exercise causes damage to the muscles or muscle hypertrophy (growth). During the recovery process, the body repairs the damaged fibers by fusing them. This helps to increase the overall muscle mass. Below are key strategies to effective recovery.
Sleep
Sleep is very important to muscle recovery and is one of best recovery strategy after workout. Research shows that lack of sleep can impair the immune, hormonal and cognitive systems. Although cognitive functions may not be involved in the recovery process, both hormonal and immune functions play a very critical role in cellular repair. They also help in the removal of wastes, toxins, and improve growth.
Massage
Message is the quickest way to recovery, especially in professional settings and sports. You develop a lot of sores during strenuous exercises. Message helps improve soreness by increasing lymph and blood circulation and supplies extra blood to areas that do not have constant supply like ligaments and tendons.
Drink More Water
Water is the most important component of the body. Water is needed in many processes like digestion, nutrient absorption, transportation, and consumption. In addition, water is important for joint lubrication and energy production.
You lose a lot of water during workout through sweating. Losing 2% of body weight due to lack of water can lead to heat-related illness and can even lead to severe death cases. Having enough water after workout can help improve performance in the coming games and recovery. It is advisable to have enough water before the game and another round of water after the work to maintain the right fluid the level in body.
