The Importance of Recovery

The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity as well as 2 days of strength training a week. This is at a minimum. It actually adds up to about 30 minutes a day. But wait, there’s something missing…recovery. As important as exercise is, exercise is indeed stress on the body, and when something is stressed it needs to recover. Think about the last time you were super stressed out. Didn’t you need some time to wind down? Perhaps extra sleep, a day at the spa, or some mediation? Well, after intense exercise, your body needs to recover, too, because if it doesn’t, you increase your risk of injury and burnout. 

There are two different types of recovery.

Active recovery is low-intensity movement. It helps flush out waste products such as lactic acid to help reduce soreness and aids in delivering nutrients to muscles to speed up repair. It is best to use active recovery after most workouts to help maintain a routine without overtraining. This can be as simple as stretching after a workout or foam rolling at night before bed.

Types of active recovery include:

Restorative yoga 

walking 

Stretching

Foam rolling

Passive recovery is complete rest to allow the body to heal. It is best used after a very strenuous workout, competitions such as marathons, or times of heavy training such as the training a professional athlete would endure. This type of recovery is also recommended if the body is feeling particularly fatigued or if you’re getting sick to allow for complete rest and healing. Types of passive recovery include sitting and resting or sleeping. 

So, why is recovery so important? 

It’s so easy to go through your workout and then go on to the next thing - we’ve all done it, including us! But we pay for it the next day and even the day after with excess soreness, especially if our workout was a particularly hard one. We don’t really use recovery as part of the workout, and we should be doing just the opposite. Leave room in your workout for stretching and/or foam rolling after you’re done - even if it’s just 5 minutes. Why? The benefits are endless…

Muscle Repair and Growth: 

When we exercise, believe it or not, our muscles actually tear. It’s microscopic, but it happens. When we stretch and recover after a workout, we allow the body to repair these small little tears and rebuild stronger muscles.

Energy replenishment

When we exercise, we use energy (calories), which can be depleted during movement. Recovery allows us to replenish the energy we burned through rehydration and nutrient intake. This ensures we have energy for the next workout!

Balancing hormones

Although exercise puts stress on the body, it’s good stress! When we exercise, we release hormones such as cortisol, dopamine, and growth hormone. When we allow proper recovery, these hormones can regulate to normal levels allowing our muscles to get stronger and reduce stress.

Reduced soreness

When we exercise, it causes inflammation in the muscles. Without proper recovery, the inflammation stay,s which can cause excess soreness and pain. Recovery helps prevent injury from overtraining and reduces prolonged soreness.

Improved performance

When we’re well rested, we perform better! Think about the last time you were super sore from a workout, then tried to work out again the next day without recovery, it was hard, right? Perhaps you couldn’t do what you normally can?  If you allow yourself to recover properly, your body will be ready for what’s next!

When we plan your workouts, we make sure we stretch you at the end. Now you know why! We hope this helps you make time for that stretching and recovery post-workout so you can come back stronger the next day. Ask us if you need any specific recommendations for stretching and recovery, we’re happy to help!