Recovery for the Recreational Athlete

To avoid injuries or the effects of overtraining, recovery days are crucial for any athlete. Experiencing symptoms such as severe fatigue, decreased performance and appetite or trouble sleeping, even after several days off from working out, are strong indications that you may be overtraining.

An essential part of every athlete's training is recovery. After intense physical activity, swelling can occur. This swelling is due to the body's response to tiny, microscopic tears in the muscle. Giving the body a change to recuperate, relax and recover from this swelling is recovery. Recovery is setting the body up to resume physical activity.

Getting enough sleep is one of the most effective ways to recover from any form of physical activity. Sleep allows your body to repair its muscle tissue. Human growth hormone and testosterone, increase during sleep, which helps you perform even better the next day.

Drink plenty of water. Water carries nutrients and oxygen to your cells and regulates body temperature. It’s difficult for your body to normalize blood pressure and stabilize your heartbeat without proper hydration.

Feed your body foods that will benefit your recovery. Protein such as 100% whey protein, chicken, Greek yogurt or fish will help to repair and rebuild muscle.

Massage is another way to speed up the recovery process by increasing blood flow. The increase of blood flow helps to reduce the feeling of fatigue.

Recovery is an important part of any training program.