Recovery Tips?

missjanetleigh

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to recover after you have just started working out and you are sore?

I know to make sure I stretch but should I push through or take it easy on my workout the next day?

Troublemonster

REST, DIET, and avoid hitting the same muscle groups on consecutive days

Mouse_Potato

I've started drinking a small protein shake immediately after working out and found it helps tremendously! I think I probably read about it on these boards. I'm all about convenience, so I buy the Designer Whey ready mixed shakes and I drink one in my car as I'm driving home. It's 100 calories and 18 grams of protein. I have a friend who is in much better physical shape than I am. We do the exact same workout and she's always sore the next day while I am not.

1Fizzle

There's a lot of good advice here, but spread between too many posts.

- WARM UP for 10-15 minutes and COOL DOWN for 10-15 minutes. Light cardio is ideal.
- STRETCH as many of the muscles you use as possible while they are warm (as in, after warm-up if you feel it appropriate and certainly after your cool-down).
- HYDRATE by drinking lots of water.
- PROTEIN is needed to speed healing and build muscle.


Here's my cure-all for overdoing it:

When I know I've overdone it, I have a protein snack. Then I re-warm the muscles with a little light cardio (say to about 120-130 heartbeat - just enough to get things warmed up), get a nice gentle stretch in, cool them down with even lighter cardio, and drink water until I feel like I'm absolutely going to explode.

Then I do the "H2O boogie" (keep drinking water until you're full of water, go pee, drink more water, repeat) for an hour or so. Sitting on the toilet with a large bottle of water is not outside the realm of possibility at this stage.

Then I use the muscles as much as I can, lightly. If it's my legs, I walk around a lot (gotta do that to go to the bathroom to get rid of that water repeatedly anyway!).

Followed with a good night's sleep.

This is some good advice that I saw in a thread similar to yours. Pretty much covers your question.

missjanetleigh

Thank you all for the great advice! I knew it was covered somewhere but being new I'm just finding my way around.

I totally forgot about the protein shake being good for recovery.

Thanks everyone : )