Are you getting the most out of your workouts? If you think the only part of your workout that matters is the part where you’re actually breaking a sweat, chances are you’re missing out on some serious benefits. What you do after you workout can be just as important as what you do during.
Check out the tips below to make sure you’ve got the best post-workout routine for your health and fitness goals.
8 Tips For A Better Post-Workout Routine
Don’t Skip The Cool Down
During exercise, your heart rate increases, your body temperature rises, and your blood vessels widen as your muscles require more blood flow to function properly. If you stop a workout too abruptly, you might feel lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseated.
Cooling down properly after a workout allows your heart rate and blood pressure to return to normal. A proper cool down can also help relieve stress, prevent muscle soreness, and prevent injury. Try to spend at least 3-10 minutes at the end of every workout cooling down with lower intensity movements.
Stretch It Out
Lactic acid is a natural chemical byproduct of anaerobic respiration while working out and contributes to muscle soreness. In addition to properly cooling down, incorporating static stretches into your post-workout routine can further help your body to eliminate any excess lactic acid that has built up.
Because your muscles are warm after a workout, stretching can also help improve flexibility, build your range of motion, accelerate your recovery process, and relax your muscles. Incorporating dynamic stretches as you cool down is a great way to knock out both at once.
Try Foam Rolling
If you really want to show your muscles some extra love, try foam rolling after you’ve cooled down. Foam rolling helps stimulate blood flow and bring even more oxygen into your muscles, helping to speed up recovery time. It can also be beneficial in improving your overall mobility.
Be Sure To Hydrate
It sounds obvious but your body loses water when you workout, both through perspiration and respiration. And while it’s important to hydrate before a workout, it’s just as important to rehydrate after one.
Aim to drink at least 1-2 cups of water after every workout to replenish your body’s water and help improve muscle flexibility and strength while decreasing soreness.
Have The Right Snack
Eating after a workout is important, but you want to make sure you’re eating the right snack for your health goals. After a hard workout, your muscles have burned through their stored energy — carbohydrates and glycogen — which means they’re primed to absorb the nutrients they need to repair and build toned muscles. If you’re trying to lose weight, it might be tempting to skip the snack to cut back on calories, but that can backfire since your body needs that fuel to recover.
Your best bet is to eat a healthy snack that contains protein and healthy fats within 45 minutes of exercising. A post-workout smoothie with Collagen Peptides is a great option because it’s easy to make and contains key nutrients for recovery. Plain Greek yogurt with cacao granola is another good option. Just be sure to plan ahead so you don’t have to make any food decisions when tired and ravenous.
Embrace Recovery Days
If you’ve got ambitious health and fitness goals, it might be tempting to go hard every time you workout. But if you don’t give your body time to recover and repair muscles, you’re undermining those fitness goals.
Alternating between intense workouts and active recovery workouts — like walking, swimming, or yoga — can help boost your circulation, remove toxins, and may even help prevent lactic acid buildup. All of these things can help you improve performance for your next tough workout.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is important for a number of reasons and helping with workout recovery is no exception. While you sleep, your body produces human growth hormone, which is largely responsible for both tissue growth and repair.
Plus, feeling fatigued because you didn’t get enough sleep makes it that much harder to motivate yourself during your next workout. So be sure you’re giving your body the amount of sleep it needs to thrive.
Supplements For Added Support
Along with fueling your body, hydrating properly, and getting adequate sleep, supplements can help you get the most out of your workouts.
Collagen Peptides are a great source of clean protein and help support healthier joints so you can feel good while you workout. Collagen Peptides also offer support for gut health, better sleep quality, and radiant skin. *
Cacao Bliss is a great addition to your post-workout snack. This blend of 10 superfoods can help soothe exercise related inflammation, promote optimal carbohydrate metabolism, and improve your ability to digest glucose. *
Turmeric + Ginger can help promote a natural, healthy inflammatory response, which helps balance occasional, temporary stiffness and inflammation as a result of exercise or activity. *
Creating a post-workout routine with these tips is a great way to make sure you’re getting the most out of your workouts and making progress toward your fitness goals.
Looking for more ways to reach your health goals? Check out these articles!
What You Need To Know About Exercise & Inflammation
How To Spring Clean Your Diet The Right Way
Here’s How Collagen Can Support Healthy Weight Loss
Collagen vs Protein Powder: What You Need To Know
Don't Skip The Stretching! 5 Benefits Of Better Flexibility
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
1 comment
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