The following on 9 things you can start doing today to help your body recover from exercise and feel a million times better.

1. Hydration

Staying hydrated is important for a number of reasons, but one of those is effective recovery.  Hydrating before, during, and after a workout can ensure that your body is functioning properly.  It will flush toxins and aid with soreness.

2. Warm Ups and Cool Downs

Warming up before diving into an intense workout can help prevent injury which will speed up your recovery time if you are not healing from a mishap.  Cooldowns are equally important.  Ending your workout with a cooldown period will help your heart rate and blood pressure gradually return to resting and this will reduce a build-up of lactic acid which can cause swelling and pain.

3. Stretching

Incorporating stretching not just into your workouts, but also in your daily life will ensure that your body, particularly muscles, ligaments, and joints are up for the challenge of working out.

4. Foam Rolling

Foam rolling can be used in a number of ways to help with recovery.  The primary one being as a method of self-massage to relieve tight muscles or knots and increase blood flow to reduce soreness.

5. Ice Baths

Ice baths and cryotherapy serve a similar purpose in recovery.  They act to reduce the temperature decreasing inflammation and helping to flush metabolic waste.

6. Massage

Similar to one of the main functions of foam rolling, massage can help to relieve tight muscles.  A professional can even help to locate points on the body that you were unaware were problem areas.

7. Self Check-Ins

This may be by far your best tool for recovery.  Making it a point to check in with yourself before, during, and after your workouts to perform a body check and mental state check will help you recognize problems before they arise.  You will become in tune with what feels off and what is best for your physical and mental health.  Exercise has many benefits for both, but if we're not maintaining an awareness of our self we can't be present in a way that prevents injury.

8. Eating For Fuel

A poor diet will reflect in your performance during workouts and in your ability to recover after.  Be conscious of what you put in your body, it can either fuel your day or deplete your energy.  Without a proper diet, your body cannot build and recover.

9. Schedule Sleep

Guard your sleep like your life depends on it, because it does.  We cannot survive without sleep.  A poor quality sleep or lack of sleep can cause all kinds of negative effects on the body and mind.  Working out on little to no sleep can cause mistakes to happen which can result in injury, but also without rest the body cannot recover.  The two go hand in hand and unless the body has the energy to expend on healing it won't.

Take away...

Recovery doesn't start when the workout ends, it's something that should be integrated into daily life including before, during, and after workouts.  It will make the difference between a fitness plan that gets results and one that backfires.  For more on foam rolling and stretching click the posts below...

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