How to Quickly Recover From a Brutal Workout

Two things deter people from working out: the effort it takes to complete a workout and the soreness that most people experience afterward. Soreness happens when muscle tears down and begins to rebuild itself. The rebuilding process creates stronger and larger muscles, so effective workouts will follow with soreness. Use these techniques to help alleviate some of this post workout pain to recover quickly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Allow sufficient time to heal from the last workout to let your muscles recover. Remember the soreness is actually building stronger muscles, so let your body do what it needs to so you get the results you want.
2. Stretch muscles right after working out and often throughout the next several days. Keep the muscles moving and get blood circulation going through them. Make the stretches active, moving through the stretch rather than holding it. The fluid movements help the blood to start flowing.
3. Consume carbohydrates and proteins, both immediately after a workout and throughout the soreness. Shakes are a great way to get both of these into your system quickly, helping muscles begin the rebuilding process. For each protein, consume two carbohydrates.
4. Shower under hot water and cold water, alternating under the water for a minute each.
5. Get plenty of sleep to help your body recover. Growth hormones released during sleep help to repair muscle, so allowing you body to get a full night's rest can help lessen soreness to help your body recover quickly after a brutal workout.

Tips & Warnings

• If soreness is so bad after a workout that stairs are painful, don’t start another workout until you recover because it will have the opposite effect. The muscle hasn’t had a chance to build up yet, so tearing it down too soon afterwards weakens the muscle.