The day after a gruelling workout can be difficult with stiff, sore muscles and a lack of mobility that will have you questioning how to improve and speed up muscle recovery in future. However, there are several steps you can take when recovering from exercise. Continue reading our guide on how to speed up muscle recovery to prevent further post-workout stiffness or soreness. How to speed up muscle recovery There are a lot of things you can do post-workout when trying to recover from exercise, like stretching and having a bath. But here are four things that you must do when trying to figure out how to speed up muscle recovery. Drink plenty of water Eat nutritious food & supplements Get the right amount of sleep Massage Drink plenty of water Ensuring your body is properly hydrated is integral to performance and health in general. You must drink plenty of water during your workout (aim for approximately 500 mL per hour during exercise with higher amounts recommended in hotter conditions), and afterwards, to give your body the best chance of recovery. To ensure you are rehydrated to train again, aim to replace 150% of the fluid lost through sweating during exercise. Weighing yourself immediately before and after your training session with consideration for how much you drank during the session and how long you exercised for can be used to calculate your estimated sweat rate. Water provides lots of benefits for your body, including carrying nutrients and oxygen, and regulating body temperature. Without proper hydration, it’s difficult for your body to normalise blood pressure and stabilise your heartbeat. You’ll reap the rewards of a workout if you drink plenty of water. Adding electrolyte tablets or powders to your water such as Hydro or GO Electrolyte can further promote your hydration levels as it includes essential electrolytes that are often lost through sweat. Eat nutritious food & supplements Eating the right types of foods in the correct amounts at the correct time is essential for building muscle and helping you recover from exercise. Pre-workout, during exercise and post-workout, your diet has to contain the right balance of nutrients and minerals with enough carbohydrates, proteins and fats included. How much food you should be consuming depends on many factors, including your aims in traning. A bodybuilder, for example, will eat almost 4,000 calories in one day, while somebody just looking to build lean muscle will typically require around 300 to 500 more calories per day than they may usually eat. When it comes to recovery it is important that you consume both carbohydrates and protein for muscle replenishment and repair. Foods like pasta, rice, potatoes and breads are high in carbohydrates and are essential for replenishing your energy stores after exercise. High protein food examples are meats, eggs, dairy, seafood and tofu, all important for muscle recovery and repair from exercise. It’s therefore essential that you give your body foods that will provide energy and nutrients that facilitate muscle building and recovery. Eating the wrong foods will leave you with that stiff and sore feeling in your muscles for several days after exercise which can restrict you from performing optimally in your next exercise session, so always try to keep up with a healthy well balanced diet alongside your exercise schedule. In addition, muscle recovery supplements are a simple and effective way of accelerating your recovery post-workout. Products like REGO Recovery Powder and REGO Clear Recovery provide the vital nutrients your muscles need to recover quickly. Containing a mix of carbohydrates, protein and a blend of vitamins and minerals, REGO Rapid Recovery is everything you need to recover quicker and get back out there sooner. In certain scenarios also having Tart Cherry Juice like SiS REGO Cherry juice immediately after intense exercise can further aid your muscle recovery by reducing the onset of muscle soreness, reducing joint inflammation and pain, and even improving the quality of your sleep by increasing melatonin levels. Get the right amount of sleep If you’re wondering how to speed up muscle recovery after exercise, sleep is especially important. Getting the right amount of sleep (eight hours per night) is one of the most effective ways of recovering from exercise. The reason for this is that sleep allows your body to repair its muscle tissue. Hormones and testosterone increase during sleep, which helps you perform better the next day. If you’re somebody that struggles to sleep well, try to set up a routine with a regular bedtime every night. Put your phone down or turn screens off earlier than usual and avoid caffeine and sugary foods late in the day. Massage Another effective way of recovering from exercise is massage. This is a great way of offsetting muscle soreness after a workout. A massage increases blood flow, which speeds up the recovery process. The increase in circulation helps to reduce the feeling of fatigue. A massage can be used to help recover from all kinds of workouts, whether you’ve completed a long-distance run or lifted weights for a couple of hours. The massage will focus on the muscles and parts of your body that require it most, helping you to recover quicker. Protein for muscle recovery at SiS At Science in Sport, we have a wide range of muscle recovery supplements that contain a combination of ingredients that are fundamental in terms of your body’s recovery, and all contain at least 20g of protein per serving which can help drive a quick recovery process. If you’d like to know more about how Science in Sport can help you when recovering from exercise, browse our range of recovery powders, bars and gels today. Written By aimeejones
