It's January and I know a lot of my readers are heading back into the wonderful world of fitness. If you have been following me for a while then you will know that I am very into my fitness. The last two year I have really upped my game and knuckled down and moved my progress up a few gears. Ok, I am done with the fitness puns and sayings. I know that when a lot of my friends and followers return to fitness they have one major complaint. Why am I so sore after my workouts and I just ask them one question. What is your recovery routine? Most look at me and say What is a recovery routine? So today we are going to talk about recovery and how you can get the most out of your recovery and achieve your goals without annoying muscle aches and pains or at least the bare minimum of them.
I should start by saying I am a trained sports masseuse. Our bodies are wonderful and complex. We are made up of so many working parts that it can be hard to get your head around it right? When it comes to working out and fitness I like to think of my body as my machine. What does my machine need to help me? How can I make my machine better and last longer? If you look after your machine it will last longer, work harder and achieve better. So think of your body more like a machine. You get the idea. It is so important to really look after our bodies. No matter what shape or size we are, these bodies are ours and they deserve respect.
Stretching
First, let's start at the most obvious. Do you stretch your body? I do not mean like you used to in PE class. Well actually maybe I do? Most people really neglect the warm-up and cool-down part of their workouts because they are so focused on getting it done and burning the calories job done right? Wrong It is so important to really stretch your muscles.
There are so many benefits of a really good stretching routine.
- Can help you achieve more from your workouts.
- It stops you from overstretching your muscles.
- Prevents injury
- It will increase your flexibility
- Improves your posture
- It helps nutrients get to your muscle easier.
- it increases energy flow making you feel ready
Magnesium
Last year I discovered BetterYou and their incredible range of Magnesium products. Before I talk about each product let me tell you why you need to add Magnesium to your recovery routine. Magnesium is a really important nutrient to your bodies. It helps us to stay healthy and it is used for a wide range of processes within our bodies. It is used in muscle and nerve functions, blood sugar regulation to blood pressure and making protein for our bones. So I think we can agree it is super important to your machines.
How does it help with recovery?
It helps in the following areas
- muscle flexibility
- loosening tight muscles
- the eliminate of cramps
- to fight the build-up of lactic acid
- It fights fatigue and tiredness helping build energy production
- It helps to build up bone and teeth strength
- It will help to regulate electrolyte
- it strengthens our nervous system.
- it optimises muscle contraction
- helps to regulate blood pressure meaning you can work out harder and better.
What Better you say
BetterYou Magnesium Muscle Flakes provide an energising blend of Zechstein magnesium, lemon and rosemary to help you recharge and recover after exercise with a soothing magnesium flakes bath.
Naturally reinvigorate a tired body
Magnesium relaxes muscles and aids muscle recovery
100% natural Zechstein magnesium chloride
An essential part of your post-workout routine
Certified vegan and palm oil derivative free
Fully recyclable eco-friendly packaging
This is a newly formulated product, replacing Magnesium Oil Recovery Spray
Soothe hard-working muscles with a natural blend of magnesium chloride and energising lemon oil, arnica and capsicum to add a gentle heat to speed up recovery time.
10 sprays deliver 150mg of magnesium
Stimulates blood flow to support muscle recovery
Effective magnesium absorption
Natural muscle relaxant
Contributes to electrolyte balance
Naturally fragranced from lemon oil
Certified vegan and palm oil derivative free
Sustainable packaging made from plant-based plastic
BetterYou Magnesium Gel provides essential magnesium in a targeted application. Formulated for direct application on joints and muscles to help support relaxation.
1ml provides 100mg of (28% NRV) magnesium
Effective magnesium absorption
Highly targeted application for joints and muscles
Regulated release for sustained delivery
Supports normal muscle function
Ideal for use during or after exercise
Certified vegan and palm oil derivative free
Massage and foam rolling
Something people always neglect is massage. There are so many benefits of massage especially when it comes to fitness. Driving back to talking about our body as a machine. Think about a bike you wouldn't grab your bike out of the garage after a long time and think it will work perfectly right? No, you would be thinking about lubing and oiling it before you jump on and ride off into the sunset.
Massage is all about getting all the kinks and knots out of your muscles giving them the best chance of optimal performance. I would recommend buying a foam roller and watching a few youtube videos on how to use it. The benefits of foam rolling out sore muscles are endless and you can couple this with the magnesium above you are one to a sure-fire winner. In my opinion, massage is just as important as stretching and has some if not all of the same benefits. So grab a mat and get on your foam rollers.
Water
I am one of the biggest advocator for drinking water. We are 60% water. 60% is a lot of our bodies that depend on water. Yet a lot of people live in a constant state of dehydration. This can have a huge effect not only on the recovery of our muscle but it can have an effect on everything we do. It can cause fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision to extremes like nausea and heart palpitations.
When we exercise we need to use more of the water in our bodies to help to cool us down through sweating. So we need to rehydrate to counterbalance this. So grab that water bottle and top it up. It is important to stay hydrated.
Sleep/ Rest days
Our bodies do most of their recovery when we sleep. Did you know this? Sleep is when the body can concentrate on what it needs to do to keep our machine running on full cylinders. Try to get lots of good quality sleep. Try to turn your phone off or at least set it to the side for an hour before you go to sleep. This will give your brain time to switch off and help you drift off.
Whilst we are on rest. Rest days are so important. Your body needs them just as much to repair and recover. I know when people start new fitness programs there is a huge tendency to overachieve. The "just one more" attitude. But you can actually do more harm to your training. You need to give your body the recovery time it needs and this includes taking days off. You may have heard the overused phrase fitness is made with rest. This is true overtraining can lead to more injuries and this, in turn, can lead to more time off and lack of motivation. So schedule plenty of time in your program for rest days. I plan two a week. Rest and recovery are just as important as sweating up a storm.
I hope this has helped you to get the most out of your workout and fitness routines and also highlight how important it is to recover properly. We all want to get the most out of our workouts and to do this we need to recover.
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