Recover Quicker With These 5 Tips
I often get asked, “What can I do for my body to perform and recover better?”
Its great to know that our members are thinking along these proactive lines!
As a trainer and massage therapist, I see a lot people who push themselves at the gym but forget about the importance of what they do outside the gym.
1. Hydrate
This is always my #1 suggestion, as most of us are chronically dehydrated.
Start your day by drinking a big glass of water to dehydrate from your night of sleep.
A quick way to calculate the minimum amount of water you need to be drinking is to divide your body weight in half and drink that many ounces of water. So if you weight in at 175, shoot for roughly 90 ounces of water a day.
2. Sleep More
This is always my #2 suggestion because, in addition to being dehydrated, we are chronically sleep deprived.
Hydration, nutrition, fitness and sleep are what I look at as the 4 pillars of health.
Sleep is overlooked, but it’s where your body repairs and recovers.
There’s no quick fix here, it catches up to you and if you find yourself plateauing–adjust this area of your life and see what happens.
Commit and agree to stay true to yourself for 21 days to see how you feel.
It’s not going to be easy as first!
3. Recovery Days
Make sure you’re giving yourself at least 1 day a week to recover from your workouts so you can push yourself further at the gym.
For you it might mean that every Friday is recovery day or every Sunday and Wednesday.
Whatever your schedule, find something that works and stick with it.
When you don’t give yourself time to recover, you are more prone to injury and burn out.
4. Epsom Salt Soak
Hot water, 1 cup of Epsom salt and 20 minutes is all it takes.
The magnesium sulfate reduces inflammation, helping muscle and nerve function.
Add a few drops of lavender and white fir essential oils to drive in those healing benefits even deeper.
Once a week is a great place to start for this habit. Turn on some music and let yourself relax and soak up all the benefits.
5. Massage Therapy
Of course I’m going to throw this one in there!
Muscle manipulation through massage therapy reduces inflammation and can help fix chronic range of motion issues, as well as other tension-related issues from your day to day activities.
With regular massage, you’ll see an increase in flexibility, increased circulation, sleep improvement, decreased overall tension, and a reduction in overall pain.
-Coach Hannah