FITNESS
How to RECOVER from Workouts
By AMANDA ROHDE Photography By JOEL RINER
R ecovery: It’s fully neces- sary, it’s incredibly under- rated and it’s hardly ever talked about. In this case, we’re talking about post-exercise recovery, which is the time after a workout when you al- low your body to rebuild muscle and repair itself. This can be done through a variety of mechanisms such as consuming protein and cre- atine, hydrating, stretching and moving, and many other methods. Most often in question is why fo- cus on recovery, what does recov- ery even look like and how much or how often do you do it? Let’s dive in a little deeper. Like exercise itself, it takes time
to perform recovery and because of that, it is often put on the back burner. Skipping recovery is a dis- service, especially after investing time and effort into training our bodies. So let’s first address why it’s so important to allow our bod- ies to recover from a workout. >> Benefits of recovery 1. Recovery allows the body to re- pair damaged tissues, replenish en- ergy stores, and reduce muscular fatigue. When we exercise, we are breaking down our tissues in the process of rebuilding them, recov- ery supports the rebuilding part. 2. It supports mental recupera- tion, enhances skill development
and fosters long-term progress and wellbeing. Daily recovery strate- gies allow us to keep performing our best and achieve the progress we desire. 3. Muscle growth occurs during recovery, not during the workouts. Muscles develop when the body re- sponds to the damage sustained during exercise. >> What recovery looks like Recovery is multi-faceted. There are different types of recovery and different times in which one is more effective than another. The key is narrowing down what mechanisms are for you. Recovery for a triath- lete is not going to look the same
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