I can’t feel my legs since yesterday, is my coach trying to kill me?
My back is killing me! What should I do?
My knees hurt, should I take tomorrow off?
Almost 90% of people who start doing some kind of physical activity have been through one of the above scenarios. You’ve probably experienced this whether you are a beginner, a weekend warrior or a pro athlete. Why did it happen? The right answer is that there could be a lot of reasons, but the common factor that we’ve experienced is under-recovery. However, if you suffer an injury at work, recovery may have absolutely nothing to do with it. In this case, you’d be best off having a look at an injury at work rights guide to advise you on what your next steps should be.
There is no such thing as over training if you are on a solid training plan. However, most of the time, you are just skipping what should be done after the workout; yes, I’m talking about that time you skipped stretching because you felt lazy, or that time you skipped a massage because you are tight on time.
Work hard and recover harder, that’s our motto for the day. Let’s start talking about how you can use things like XWerks (Xwerks.com) to help recover and what you should be doing regularly to avoid excessive soreness, discomfort or, God forbid, injuries.
Good Food & Good Sleep
Good nutrition is essential. Eat your proteins and carbs to replenish your body and eat your vegetables and fruits to get your daily intake of vitamins and minerals. This helps your body maintain its vital activity and keep it up and going. Also, don’t ignore a good night sleep because it’s the time where your body repairs itself as a lot of natural hormones are secreted during deep sleep that helps you recover from a tough workout.
Stretching
Never ever skip stretching; it’s the most convenient and easiest thing to do. Spare yourself the pain and stretch 10-20 minutes after your workout. Start from the bottom up and try an exercise or two for each muscle, and try to spend around 10 to 15 seconds in each position. Make sure you feel your muscle being stretched and pause when you feel slight pain. Never overdo it, though. But wait, why is it important?
Stretching is responsible for two things:
- Makes you more flexible, which is an actual fitness attribute that most people should have as a flexible muscle is less prone to being injured and more likely to get stronger than its counterpart
- Flushes some of the lactic acid out of your muscles – lactic acid is what makes you feel sore – that’s why we hate lactic acid!
Foam Rolling
The idea behind foam rolling is simply pressing against the sore muscle in an attempt to increase blood flow into the muscle so the muscle contractions would loosen up. This can be done using a foam roller or any cylinder-like object; it can also be done using a lacrosse or tennis ball. You can find all the gear in the mobility section on the Rogue Fitness website. This should be done on daily basis after your workout.
Massage
The key word is better blood flow! Massages are good for two main reasons: increase in blood circulation and relaxation of the soft tissues including muscle, connective tissues, tendons and ligaments.
Avoid the relaxation massages, you have two options: myofascial release or sport massages. Both types focus on applying pressure to muscle contractions to help in relaxation and pain relief. After your massage, the muscles will be ready for more training afterwards and your capacity to workout will increase.
It’s more like playing a video game where you take a health aid and refill your health bar – sounds cool, right? For serious athletes, it’s recommended on a weekly basis and for amateurs or recreational athletes, a bi-weekly massage will be more than enough.
Ice Bath & Warm Bath
This is usually painful: Fill up the bath tub with cold water and add a lot of ice then jump in! It helps in preventing injuries by reducing inflammation in the muscles and it generally makes you feel fresh.
Usually ice baths are used by serious athletes, but in case you are just doing it for fun or for a better lifestyle or you have a heart condition, then a warm bath might be more beneficial in your case and will reap the same results.
Chiropractors & Acupressure
There are points all over the body that controls different organs and muscles, and when pressure is applied to these points, they can relief muscular contractions. Chiropractors work on the pressure points in the spine only, while acupressure specialists can work on the whole body including hands, feet and elbows. You should visit a chiropractor or an acupressure specialist once a month for maintenance of the body. Acupressure has also been an effective weight loss technique for many people. If you’re interested by the idea of using acupressure to lose weight, you might want to have a look at some ear seeds for weight loss as this should be able to support all of your weight loss efforts.
Blood Donation
Besides the fact you’re giving back to the community and you might be helping a dying patient, this method is the best. When you donate blood, your body has to manufacture more red blood cells to replace the lost ones; the new red blood cells are more active and free of toxins and simply revitalize the body and help with inflammation. This method can be done every 1.5-2 months.
You have to pay attention to recovery to be able to train hard; otherwise you will end up injured. There are different types of recovery methods and you can pick the easiest to do if you don’t have time or you don’t want to spend money, but in this case the more the merrier.
Take care of your body, because if you don’t, eventually you will get injured and you will end up depressed and wishing you could turn time back. Be proactive and respect your body before it forces you!
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss A Guide to Nutritional Supplements.