Build A Rest Day Routine: 20 Recovery Habits Your Body Will Thank You For
Don't Underestimate The Importance Of Rest Days
Whether you're a power lifter or a runner, working out can become an addiction, but rest days are arguably just as important as training days for reaching your goals. When you train, you're tearing your muscles, so you need to give them a chance to repair before your next session. However, rest days shouldn't be treated as complete vacation days; they should be seen as opportunities for helping your body bounce back stronger. This entails hydrating well, prioritizing your sleep, and eating smartly. Here are 20 recovery habits that will boost healing, ease soreness, reduce injury, and help you feel refreshed instead of run down.
1. Sleep
Your muscles repair the most when you sleep, so make sure you're prioritizing your snooze time, especially on your rest days. Getting 8 to 9 hours will dramatically help your body's recovery time.
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2. Eat Well
Even though you're moving less on your rest days, you should still fuel yourself well. Eating protein-rich, nutrient-dense meals will help your muscles repair themselves and prepare your body for the next workout.
3. Foam Roll
Foam rolling helps relieve muscle tightness, improves blood flow, and reduces soreness, working like a self-massage. Over time, it can help with flexibility and reduce the risk of injury.
4. Gentle Stretching
Stretching isn't about pushing your limits; it's about staying loose and encouraging recovery. Gentle stretching relieves tension, improves blood circulation, prevents injury, and feels great.
5. Take An Epsom Salt Bath
Epsom salts contain magnesium, which helps relax muscles and ease soreness. It also calms the nervous system, improves sleep, and encourages mindfulness.
6. Do Core Exercises
If you're someone who needs to work your muscles every day, the best muscle group to focus on during recovery days is your core. A strong core supports your spine and joints, lowers your risk of injury, and encourages good posture and proper alignment.
7. Hydrate
Essentially every process in your body is supported by water, including muscle repair and recovery. It flushes out toxins, delivers nutrients to your muscles, and improves blood circulation.
8. Yoga
Yoga helps your recovery in a multitude of ways, including boosting circulation, improving flexibility, relieving muscle tension, and reducing stress hormones. It's a perfect recovery tool that positively affects both your mind and body.
9. Listen To Your Body
No one knows your body like you do. Listen to its feedback and don't push it. Some recovery days allow for low-impact exercise while others are all about rest and refueling.
10. Massage
Whether administering a self-massage to your sore spots or booking one with a registered masseuse, massage is a great way to get your knots out and relieve soreness and tension. It's also a great way to relax and improve your circulation.
11. Go For An Easy Bike Ride
If you're someone who needs to move even on your rest days, a gentle bike ride is the perfect activity as it can improve mobility and leg strength while giving you a small cardio boost. Just remind yourself it's a rest day and you shouldn't be pushing yourself too hard.
12. Be Lazy
Rest days are all about rest and recovery. You have the license to be a couch potato if you feel your body needs that. Just don't go crazy on the junk food.
13. Socialize
Training can take up a lot of your leisure time. Rest days are the perfect opportunity to catch up with friends. Socializing is excellent for your mental health and energy.
14. Go For A Walk
Even on rest days, it's nice to get in some steps. Walking is a low-impact exercise that gets you outside and is great for your cardiovascular health.
15. Pilates
While you may not want to go to an intense reformer pilates class on your rest day, gentle pilates is great for recovery. It's an excellent low-impact exercise that helps build strength and tone your muscles.
16. Limit Alcohol
While it's tempting to really let yourself go on your rest days, try to limit your alcohol consumption, as this will just be a roadblock to recovery. Alcohol dehydrates you and interferes with protein synthesis, making it harder for your muscles to repair themselves. It also interrupts your sleep and increases inflammation.
17. Try A Mobility Flow
A mobility flow is a sequence of movements designed to improve your joint range of motion and reduce stiffness. A hybrid between yoga, bodyweight exercise, and stretching, it loosens tight areas without adding strain.
18. Soak In Some Sunlight
As if you needed an excuse to sit out and sunbathe, vitamin D supports recovery because of its crucial role in bone health, muscle function, and immune support. Sunlight also improves your mood and helps regulate your circadian rhythm, enhancing sleep.
19. Swim
Swimming is an excellent, low-impact, full-body workout that you can do on your recovery days. You don't have to go hard swimming laps to reap the benefits: even just splashing around can relieve stress on your joints and help you recover.
20. Try A Simple Inversion
Inversions are anything from lying on your back with your legs up on a wall to doing a headstand. They're great for recovery because not only do they relieve tired legs, but the reverse of gravity also encourages blood flow to your head, heart, and brain, which flushes out toxins.
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