I love a good sweat session! There’s nothing like moving your body as a means to take care of yourself and knowing that all the sweat your building up is because you’re being physically active. Not only does this feel so good mentally and physically, but emotionally as well.
For a while now exercising consistently has been my greatest source of release. Especially when I’m feeling super stressed and overwhelmed! There’s nothing like releasing all that tension and built up negative energy in a workout that is going to make you sweat. Especially when you sweat, because sweating means that you really are putting in the work.
Now don’t get me wrong. There are many moments when I would much rather not sweat. Like when I’m going on nice walk, I’m sitting outside reading a book, or even when I’m just at home watching a movie. In very simple moments like that I do not like to sweat. In my mind there’s no rhyme or reason.
And yes, I will go to great lengths to prevent myself from sweating as a result of lack of physical activity. However, when I’m sweating because I’m being physically active, I embrace it completely! This is because I know for a fact that I put in a lot of effort to achieve some small goal, and the sweat is validation for me to know that it was 100% worth it.
But this post isn’t about sweat. I know you’re wondering where I’m going with this topic so let’s not stall any longer.
With sweat, especially after a workout, may come some pain. The good kind of pain though, the type of pain I encourage you to embrace. I’m talking about the pain you feel when you know your muscles are tightening because you just crushed your workout.
For so long I never really knew how to get rid of that pain. After a workout I would literally just lay out on the bed and wait for the paid to subside. However, earlier this year I made a commitment to myself to better my health in all aspects. That included the way in which I recovered after a workout.
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Since beginning my health and wellness journey a couple of years ago, I’ve experimented with many different forms of exercise. I’ve found the things I enjoy doing, as well as what I don’t enjoy doing. Naturally I kept what I liked and let go of what I didn’t.
Guess what. Your recovery routine after a workout operates in the same way. You have to experiment with different options until you find something that works for you. Once you find something stick with it for a while. After a good trial run keep what you loved and get rid of what you didn’t.
This is so important because we don’t often think about the before and after process of exercise. We often just think about the exercising process itself. I was there once before and from time to time I revisit this mindset. However, I have gotten much better and more disciplined with being aware of the preparation and the aftercare of my workouts.
Specifically, the many different ways in which I recover after a workout session.
Are you at a lost about what to do after a good workout session? Do you need a little bit of guidance about how to best recover? Well no worries, I’ve got you! Like I said I was you once before and it took a lot of trial and error before I found something that really worked for me.
While I encourage you to still go through the trial and error process of finding a solid recovery routine that works best for you, I also want to help point you in the right direction. So, without further a-do, here are 5 ways that you can recover after a workout session.
5 Ways to Recover After A Workout Session
1. Stretch
I cannot stress this enough! Guys, when we’re exercising, we are contracting our muscles. We are constantly manipulating them to lengthen and shorten within seconds of each move and without proper aftercare this can take a turn for the worse really quick.
Whether you exercise for 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour you are putting your muscles to work. Which means that they need to be stretched out to help release the body of any tension that may build up as a result of it.
Depending on what exercise day it may be (leg day, ab day, etc.), or what particular area of the body you are focusing on, you have to be mindful that you’re really putting to work all the muscles in that specific area. This not only helps with form and ensuring that you are doing the exercise move correctly, but it also helps to strengthen that muscle area as a whole.
Therefore, it’s extremely important that after your workout you take the time to stretch so that your muscles aren’t cramping up.
Stretching can help to loosen your muscles, relieve yourself of any pain you may be feeling, and it’ll definitely help prevent you from experiencing muscle spasms. My best advice when it comes to stretching is to focus mainly on the area(s) of your body that got the most use of the workout for that day, and then do a gentle stretch for the rest of the body.
This will help ensure that you are taking the time to stretch all your muscles so that you can engage in other activities and actually enjoy it.
2. Massage your body
This is probably the second-best thing that you can do after a workout session. Massaging your body is very much like stretching it. The only difference is that instead of lengthening your body as a way to relieve yourself of pain, you’re rubbing (massaging) it away. And yes, the deeper you go the better it will feel.
What’s great about massaging your body after a workout is that you’re getting to know your body a lot better. Often times when we experience muscle strains, we don’t give much thought about where that pain is coming from. Sometimes we just acknowledge the pain, feel the spasm throughout that entire body area, and just assume that we did something wrong. In reality it may just be a specific place in that body area that is causing all the nerves to be sensitively activated.
For example, whenever I work out my arms, I always feel the burn on my biceps. If I don’t massage that area, I’ll start to feel that burning sensation travel throughout my whole arm, and this makes it very uncomfortable to do anything that involves moving my arms.
Massaging your body can help you identify places you may be tense, there may be knots, or you may be sore. This gives you the chance to really massage that area so that you don’t feel any pain or discomfort not just for that place specifically, but also so that it doesn’t travel and bring discomfort everywhere on your body.
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3. Take a bath
Who doesn’t want to revisit this old childhood love? While I personally do not tend to do this…at all, I have heard that it can be helpful. But not just any old bath where you fill the tub up with warm water and as much bubbles as you can make. Oh no, no, no.
I recommend two different types of baths to take advantage of as part of your recovery routine after a workout session. Either take an Epsom salt bath or a good old ice bath.
Epsom salt is great for relieving yourself of muscle pain. The trick to actually getting it to work is that you have to soak in it. While I personally have not taken an Epsom salt bath in years, I do know someone who takes them regularly and she praises all the good it does for her body all the time.
All you need is about 10 minutes for it to really get activated. I’ve also heard that this method works best if you use warm to hot water when doing it. Soaking in this water can help loosen and relax your muscles, as well as take down any swelling you may experience.
An ice bath we’re all no stranger to. While this sounds like the perfect way to cool off on a super-hot summer day, that’s not what the main purpose of this bath is for. Sounds crazy I know but there are some positive health benefits to submerging the body in cold water.
Athletes do it all the time and it turns out there’s a reason for this. Ice baths are great for relieving your muscles of soreness, aching pain, and to overall make your body feel good. While I personally do not like to be submerged into cold water, this may be a recovery tactic that you may find to be extremely beneficial for you.
4. Do some gentle yoga
Y’all know I love yoga. Yoga has so many great benefits for our health. While I strive to practice yoga at least once a week the reality is that it doesn’t always happen. However, if and when needed I have found that doing some gentle yoga can be a great way to recover after a workout session.
So, what is gentle yoga? It’s exactly as it sounds. Gentle yoga is a slower pace of a yoga routine that often has alternative moves for others to be able to engage in it. It’s really more on the beginners’ side of yoga and its main purpose is to help you become familiar with the yoga practice.
The point of gentle yoga? Just like yoga in general, gentle yoga can help to relieve the body of stress, tension, and calm the nervous system. There’s so much that happens to us when we workout. As a result of this we often times don’t pay attention to the extent we’re activating our entire bodies.
Doing some gentle yoga after a workout routine can help to slow your heart rate, loosen your muscles, calm your mind, and essentially get your body back to a resting state quickly. While this may not be something everyone would be into, it’s something to consider. Not only because of the benefits mentioned above, but mainly because of the bonuses that come with gentle yoga, stretching and caring for your mental health all at once.
5. Get some rest
Of course, the most important thing we can all do is to rest. This may already be your go-to after a workout (I know mentally it is for me) but find other ways to rest that don’t necessarily involve the bed.
Sleeping is great and very much essential as part of your recovery routine, but you don’t want to immediately go to bed after you exercise (unless you’re someone who like to work out at night, or the workout session completely took a toll on you physically).
Some ways that I like to rest after a workout session is to go on a short walk, just move around in the space I’m in while my heart rate slowly comes down, or just sit and focus on my breathing. Doing these things helps to ensure that I’m still being somewhat active by not just laying down and letting my muscles pulse their way to relaxation, while my heart frantically beats making it that much harder for me to breathe.
Instead I’m taking control of the situation and I’m slowly relaxing my muscles, and decreasing my heart rate, while also still training my body to build that resistance against the pain and discomfort.
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Conclusion
While there are a ton of different things that you can do to help you recover from a workout session the reality is that it’s much like shopping. One shoe doesn’t fit all. and what is perfect for you is not going to jump out the second you begin the search. Instead you have to find what works for you, what you enjoy, and what has the most impact on your health personally.
While this may seem tedious it will prove to be very beneficial in the long run. These are just a few ideas that you may find to be extremely beneficial for you as part of your recovery routine. However, keep in mind that the most important part about any recovery routine is to keep an open mind about everything.
Some things may work well for you, others may not. However, you’ll never know if you never try. So, keep an open mind, experiment, and slowly begin to craft the recovery routine that works best for you.
What do you do to help you recover after a workout session?
-Xo
Kimora