Muscle pain comes hand in hand with muscle growth. It’s part of the process we go through to build bigger, stronger muscles.
But sometimes that muscle pain can get in the way of your weekly workout schedule, so here are some of the best natural ways to speed up your muscle recovery and get you back on track to reaching your goals.
1. Focus on protein intake
As you’re probably aware, getting protein into your body is key to muscle repair and growth - in fact it's the number one muscle repairing nutrient you can get into your diet.
Due to the nutrients in protein, it helps eliminate the soreness you would get the next day from an intense workout.
If you feel like you’re not getting enough in your general diet, supplements are the way forward for you.
Head over to the protein section of our website to take a look at the different products on offer for pre-workout and post-workout protein.
2. Keep hydrated
If you need a daily reminder to drink water, this is it.
Keeping hydrated is key during any work out, but some people are unaware that it's especially important to keep up your water intake after a session too.
Water is the underrated hero when it comes to a healthy body, helping to lubricate joints and reducing the risk of tears, ruptures, and other sports-related injuries.
Essentially, if you’re not hydrated, your body can’t perform at its peak which slows everything down, including muscle recovery.
3. Get a good night’s sleep
Again, here we have another underrated hero.
Not getting enough sleep can be a hinderance to physical performance and is key to the recuperation of the body's natural processes including healing muscles and helping them grow and repair.
Competitive sports should be avoided at least two hours before sleeping to ensure a good night’s sleep.
4. Partake in active recovery days
Active recovery is the engagement of low-intensity exercise after completing a heavy workout or athletic event.
Low intensity work outs include yoga and pilates, even walking is considered active recovery.
These types of exercises prevent burnout and a lactic acid build up which causes stiffness and soreness in the muscles and joints.
Active recovery workouts also help promote blood flow to joints and muscles which counteracts inflammation.
5. Plan your ‘off’ days
Mind over matter is incredibly important when working out, but sometimes if your body is screaming for you to stop, it’s time to take a break.
Planning your ‘off’ days is key to muscle recovery. If you don't take proper recovery time, your body will simply beg unable to regenerate to a higher level than where it began.
It might sound obvious but, if you’re a person who loves working out every day, don’t train the same group of muscles continuously as you could potentially plateau in your performance or worse, become injured.
Overall, listen to your body and try to find what works best for you.