Recovery and Its Benefits

Recovery is vital for the human body and for anyone embarking on an active lifestyle. It allows the body time to replenish its energy and repair muscle tissue that has been exercised. 

When undergoing exercise, the body burns glucose (sugar) as a source of energy. It also uses the energy reserves found in muscle that are a condensed version of glucose in the form of glycogen. Undergoing weight or cardio training or any kind of physical activity that uses the muscles, the body is using their glycogen energy reserves. This is why recovery is so important. When an individual allows their body to rest, they are replenishing their glycogen reserves in the muscles and throughout the body. This goes hand in hand with resistance training as they are training to gain muscle mass by tearing their muscle fibers from the exercises, which will later be repaired and restored with more glycogen to provide that muscle with more energy to lift heavier and gain muscle mass. It’s necessary to allow muscles that have been exercised AT LEAST 48 hours of recovery before exercising them again. This is to avoid injury from overtraining, pulling, tearing, or straining a muscle. 
There are different types of recovery that can be utilized to increase recovery speed and physical performance. The different types of recovery are:

1) Static Stretching
Static stretching after exercising is pivotal to begin the recovery process and can lead to an INCREASE in muscle mass. Static stretching is stretching a muscle in a stationary position. It lengthens the muscle fibers to allow them to grow to their capacity in that muscle group. This can lead to an increase in muscle mass. It will also start the recovery process, decrease soreness, increase flexibility and range of motion (ROM). It decreases soreness caused by inflammation in the muscle from exercising by relaxing the muscle. Static stretching should always be performed after a workout and on rest days, but with the recommended time for each stretch to AVOID over-stretching.

Static stretching is not to be confused with dynamic stretching, which is stretching with movement that should be performed as a warm-up routine BEFORE a workout rather than static stretching that should be applied in a cool-down AFTER a workout.

2) Active Recovery
Low-intensity exercise or movements that help the body eliminate metabolic waste that is a by-product of exercising. This can increase blood flow from working out and exercising. Active recovery will help promote a faster recovery time, increase physical performance and improve flexibility. There are multiple active recovery exercises to choose from, but some of the popular ones are: yoga, walking, dynamic stretching (active stretching or stretching with movement), light jog, skipping rope.

These exercises are meant to be low intensity and used to promote blood flow and circulation throughout the body and the muscles. When incorporated into a training routine, active recovery can help immensely with physical performance.

3) Cold Recovery
Exposing the human body to a cold environment will constrict (shrink) the size of blood vessels that will later be expanded in a natural environment. This will help promote blood flow. By restricting blood flow (cold therapy) to a muscle group or whole body, an individual is focusing on achieving more blood flow to that area when resting and relaxing. This will create a faster recovery as well as an increase in blood volume and circulation when exercising. Cold recovery methods will also help with reducing inflammation that causes soreness.

Recovery methods can be: ice packs, cold showers or baths, cryo-chambers, coolant sprays and cold towels. This type of recovery can be done immediately after exercising or on recovery days. Cold therapy is also a beneficial alternative to suppress pain and swelling for injuries during the first 48 hours. Along with changing to a heat alternative after 48 hours for long-term healing.

4) Sauna
Helps to relax the muscles and increases blood circulation throughout the human body. When the body is exposed to a warm or hot environment, the blood vessels will dilate (get bigger) and will carry more blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the muscles throughout the body.

This will reduce soreness and help the body recover as well as increase physical performance for the next training session.

5) Self-myofascial Release
Applying pressure using a piece of equipment to an area of the body to encourage more blood flow. This type of recovery can be used before and after workout sessions. Before will allow more blood flow to the muscles that will prepare them for the exercise.

After will have the same effect in creating more blood flow that will speed up the recovery process and reduce soreness. Items that can be used for self-myofascial release are: foam rollers, lacrosse balls and vibration tools. The premise is to apply pressure to areas of the body that have been exercised or are about to exercise in order to promote more blood flow to that area.

Summary
There are many types of recovery and having a recovery routine will help immensely with physical performance, health, and soreness. Lifting potential and physical output can increase drastically by including a recovery routine on rest days or after workout sessions.