Why Don't I Recover Fast Enough?

A workout that leaves you in pain for hours afterward it is not worth the effort? Read this post to learn how to speed up recovery after a workout!

Recovery after a workout is defined as the body's ability to overcome the stress on the muscles caused during the exercise (1). It's normal to have muscle and body aches after a workout, but not for too long. If the time for recovery is more, it will affect your performance during the next workout. Regular workouts with slow recovery will do more harm than good to your body.

So, a quick recovery is as essential as a good workout. If you don't understand the reasons for your slow recovery and ways to recover fast, then this post is for you.

Why I Don’t Recover Fast Enough After Workout?

Here are some reasons for your slow recovery after a workout:

1.    Putting Too Much Stress on Your Muscles, Too Soon

To be a champion at strenuous exercises, you should remember "slow and steady wins the race." Never do too much initially as it will only put stress on your muscles (2), more than they can bear. Instead, move towards the hard exercises slowly once you have gained good stamina to tolerate the strain your body feels during exercise.

2.    Going to Bed Immediately After Workout

Fatigue is a part of the workout, and going to bed isn't the way to deal with this problem. Going to bed immediately after a workout can cause many problems, such as muscle weakness, blood clots, pressure ulcers, etc. Being active after the workout is a key to building stamina soon, which will speed up your recovery speed.

3.    Not Taking Required Nutrients and Supplements

A healthy diet is one of the most crucial things when you're exercising if you don't want to feel tired after a workout (3). You get the required nutrients from your diet, and supplements help build the necessary healthy muscle mass soon. The absence of a healthy diet and required supplements will affect the recovery rate.

4.    Skipping Your Breathing Exercises

During the workout, like all your organs, your lungs have increased pressure to provide more oxygen to the body and get rid of the excess carbon dioxide. Breathing exercises make your lungs better at performing this task. But, if you skip your breathing exercises, then don't be surprised that why you don't recover fast enough after a workout.

Ways To Speed Up Recovery

Practice the following to speed up your recovery after a workout:

1.    Give Your Body Required Resources and Time

You've to understand that you're not a robot and need the energy to do hard exercises. If your body doesn't get a chance to heal and recover from the stress of the exercise, you'll remain tired all the time. Continuous fatigue will affect your performance as well. So, make time to gather your energy and provide your body with its resources for a good workout.

2.    Keep a Close Check on Your Diet

Carbs, proteins, and fats are essential for the body and workout (4). In the absence of any, your body will not have the energy to pick up the heavy exercise tools because your stamina will be affected. To feel more energetic and fit during and after a workout, keep a close check on your diet. You must consume foods that are rich in carbs and proteins when you're working out. They break down in the body readily and will not make you dizzy or lazy.

3.    Get Proper Sleep

A good 8-hour sleep is a way to restart your body that has become tired after a challenging workout (5). Your body needs rest to begin the healing processes in your body, which will improve the speed of your recovery after a workout. Your muscles repair, anti-inflammatory processes are activated, and the central nervous system recovers fast when you're sleeping.

An active central nervous system can coordinate the body's functions better. When your body's coordination is good, you'll feel more energetic and active during your workouts. When you're fully recovered, you'll see an improvement in your performance and enjoy your workouts.

4.    Practice Some Easy Stretches First

When you begin with some simple stretches, it’s easy for your body to recover. It will be able to release the tension caused by the workout quickly, and your muscles will be relaxed. The simple exercises that you can begin with can be of 5 minutes too that you can do lying in your bed.

You can try some easy stretches, including happy baby, lying twist, wind-removing pose, and waterfall. If you've not tried any of these poses before, you can find many tutorials that will teach you how to do these to speed up your recovery.

Bottom Line

A successful workout routine can't be made if your recovery time after a workout is long. You should try to reduce it as much as possible to quickly boost your stamina and improve your performance during the workout. You can get help from the ways to speed up your recovery mentioned in this post!  

 

References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19554028/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32342463/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26553492/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28332115/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25315456/