If you are a fitness enthusiast, then you already know how important proper muscle recovery is for increasing strength, stamina, and boosting performance. Whether you are only just starting out or trying to find new ways to boost the speed and quality of your muscle recovery rate, stay with us as we discuss a few tried and tested strategies which could potentially have incredible effects on your muscle recovery rate.
Do Not Over Train Your Muscles
There are a few common myths about overtraining, thanks to misleading social media influencers. One of the most popular of these myths states that most people cannot reach a stage where they are overtraining, and therefore, overtraining is not a real thing.
Unfortunately for young fitness enthusiasts across the world who believe in that, overtraining syndrome is indeed very real, and different people have different thresholds for reaching that stage where they are overstraining their muscles, ligaments, and tendons without even realising it at first. The best way to tell if you are overtraining or not would be to listen to your own body for signs of fatigue, lethargy, unwillingness to go to the gym, etc.
Keep Sessions Short and Intense
Overstraining your body at the gym without adequate recovery sessions in between can lead to the following negative health impacts:
- Injuries, both minor and eventually serious.
- Injuries that do not heal.
- Lack of muscle growth.
- Loss of strength and stamina.
- Loss of performance.
- Mood swings.
- Intermittent periods of insomnia and excessive sleeping.
- Premature joint pain.
- Muscles that ache even long after the sessions are over.
Follow the golden rule of never exercising intensely for more than 45-minutes to an hour in a single session, every 24-36 hours. Overload instead of overtraining, which is immensely beneficial for building muscle, endurance and strength. Overloading is an old and proven method that reduces the rest period between each set and works the muscle/muscles to failure in each set as well.
Boosting Recovery with Proper Sleep, Rest Sessions and Diet
Calculate how much protein you need, and stick to natural sources of dietary protein to fulfill the need. Also, since protein is not the only nutrient which aids in muscle recovery, ensure that it is a well-balanced, rounded diet, filled with vegetables, leafy greens, fruits, grains, and nuts. It is always what and how we eat, drink and sleep that determines how effective our damage recovery is. In other words, if you wish to become stronger, you will need to optimise your muscle recovery rate, rather than spending hours in the gym every day. For example, if you sleep on your side, then you need a mattress that can support your sleeping habit, and that is essential to ensure a good night’s sleep. It should either be medium-firm or soft so that your shoulders can easily dig into the mattress, while the curve in your lumber region is supported perfectly.
It is important to understand that we do not build muscles when we exercise; we damage them. When practised with due diligence and under proper guidance, that is a good kind of damage though. It forces our muscles to become bigger, stronger, and more durable so that they can handle the next session more effectively. By allowing your muscles the rest they need to recuperate from every intense exercise session, and supplying your body with the essential nutrients it needs to recover properly during each of those rest periods, you begin to grow stronger, faster and fitter naturally. Exercise is meant to improve our health and mental well-being, so it is important that we do not let it become a cause for the opposite.
