What is Active Recovery?
After an intense exercise session, it may seem natural to want to slump to restore your energy right? Well, while beneficial in some cases, this is not the best way to restore the working body.
Active recovery simply means engaging in low-intensity physical activity after high intensity activity.
Active recovery is the key to activating your fitness momentum!
3 Key Benefits of Active Recovery
Promote Muscle Recovery and Growth
Active recovery importantly gets the blood pumping around the body. This promotes the delivery of oxygen rich blood throughout the body to accelerate muscle and tissue repair. This is CRITICAL to muscle regeneration and growth, and working towards your fitness goals!
Prevent Soreness
During vigorous activity, the body undergoes a costly energy-creation process, where lactic acid bi-product is produced. While not harmful, it can temporarily accumulate in the muscles, causing soreness and weakness. While this is completely normal and not a cause for concern, Ttis is the stuff that makes stairs a living hell after leg day.
Active recovery accelerates the clearance of this pain inducing lactic acid, helping prevent muscle soreness a day or two after exercise. This takes away excessive muscle pain and soreness, and allows you to exercise more often, with less risk of injury.
Mental Reset
From wringing out any ounce of motivation to get yourself to that class in the first place, or to keep pushing in the final set – exercise is not purely physical, it’s also a psychological marathon.
“You don’t see progress overnight” they say. Sad, but true. Many of us have fitness goals that require this psychological marathon.
So, it’s unsustainable to constantly perform at your peak every single day, for both the body and the mind. Integrating a less intense active recovery session allows your mind to also regernate, helping you push the limit further than your body alone could do.
Active recovery is thekey to building your fitness momentum, helping you achieve your goals sooner!
Examples of Active Recovery
How often should I do Active Recovery?
Your active recovery approach must align with your current fitness habits.
Questions to consider when integrating active recovery:
- How much time do you have?
- How does your body feel?
- How intense are your routines? More intensity = more active recovery needed
- What resources are available for you? Do you need specific equipment or venues? Is it cost effective for your circumstances?
As a general rule of thumb, you should perform active recovery for every intense workout you do. For some this may look like doing a walk after a HIIT workout, or for some, this may look like rotating a vigorous exercise day with an active recovery day.
See what works best for you!
