How to recover easier after training. Recovery after training

Proper physical activity is the key to faster recovery of almost all muscles after training. Although behavior during a break from classes is no less important. You cannot neglect it completely, otherwise the result will only be chronic fatigue and stress for the body. Find out more about how to recover muscles after a workout below.

Muscle recovery after training

The workout itself is stressful for the muscles. During the exercise, they get micro-tears and sprains. Their body begins to gradually heal. In general, muscle recovery after training occurs in four stages:

1. Fast. Continues for half an hour after training. During this period, the heart rate will be restored. The levels of stress hormones such as insulin, adrenaline, and cortisol become normal. The reserves of fast “energy drinks” used up during training - ATP, creatine phosphate, glycogen - are also replenished.
2. Slow, or compensation. Reparation of damaged cells and tissues begins. Here protein is synthesized with amino acids and enzymes. It is very important that these nutrients come from outside, so at this stage they consume carbohydrate foods and use sports nutrition to restore strength.
3. Supercompensation, or super-recovery. It occurs 2-3 days after the last workout and lasts about 5 days. In many ways, it is similar to the previous phase, but here the muscle fibers thicken in order to be able to withstand the volume of load the next time. During this period there should be the next workout, because after it the body returns to its original state.
4. Delayed recovery after training. If there is no new load, then all the previous work was done in vain. The muscles will return to their pre-training level of development, which is typical for their usual lifestyle without the gym.

Muscle recovery time after training

There is a direct relationship linking the speed of muscle recovery with their size. The supercompensation period may vary. For example, biceps recover in 48 hours. The chest muscles require 3 days, and the back or legs – as much as 5 days. The calculation of the terms of super compensation is individual. It is impossible to give an exact answer to the question of how long muscles recover after training. If they hurt, it means the recovery stage has not yet ended. The indicator here is an increase in working weight. If there is no progress, rest is extended by 1-2 days.

Nutrition for Muscle Recovery

One of important criteria A balanced diet is key to successful muscle recovery. It can be represented simply by a well-composed daily diet, although in bodybuilding they often additionally use professional sports nutrition. Products for muscle recovery should be predominantly protein, and of animal origin. Carbohydrates are also important at this time - without them, you will feel much worse after training.

Water is also needed. It reduces the load on the heart and the muscles themselves. In addition, it reduces temperature, which is important for recovery. Green tea enriched with antioxidants is very useful in this case. You need to consume the following products:

• fruits, vegetables, berries;
• fats obtained from whole sources, such as nuts or avocados, fish, vegetable or linseed oil;
• Potassium-enriched foods - potatoes, bananas.

Ointment for muscle recovery

Very often, many athletes use ointment to restore muscles. Its effect is to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and reduce swelling. There are ointments with a warming or, conversely, cooling effect. Among the most effective are the following:

• Apizartron;
• Viprosal;
• Sanitas balm;
• Heparin ointment;
• Heparoid;
• Ethkamon;
• Nicoflex.

Muscle recovery drugs

There are different drugs for muscle recovery. Three main groups can be distinguished:

1. Plastic. They help speed up protein synthesis and cell rehabilitation, and prevent overtraining. This includes medicines Carnitine, Lipocerebrin, Cobamamide, Potassium Orotate.
2. Adaptogens and general tonics. Promotes resistance to sudden physical stress, increases performance.
3. Energy. Accelerates the replenishment of spent resources. These are Methionine, Glutamic acid, Panangin, Asparkam.

How to understand that muscles have recovered

Only sensations help to accurately understand that the muscles have recovered. The pain may not be felt on the first day, but often becomes severe on the second. At this time, the body is just gathering strength. The next day, the discomfort decreases again, but is still felt when tense. When it practically ceases to be felt, the recovery is almost complete.

Restoring breathing after physical activity

The permissible heart rate is 75 beats per minute a couple of hours after exercise. How can you reduce it immediately after training or when resting between exercises? It is recommended to inhale and exhale slowly in a position with your hands resting on your knees. This reduces the heart rate by 22 beats. There is another option for restoring breathing after physical activity. You need to straighten up, put your hands behind your head and breathe calmly. This method of how to quickly recover after training is less effective than the first. Although it will also be easier to catch your breath.

Recovery of the central nervous system after training

If energy, muscles and hormonal background If you have already returned to normal, recovery of the central nervous system after training may take much longer. Symptoms of her exhaustion are loss of strength and mood, lack of progress and reluctance to go to the gym. To avoid this, it is necessary to give the body rest for 1-1.5 weeks every 1.5-2 months. It is recommended to sometimes change the principles of training.

Recuperation after training

The main factor for full recovery after training is rest. In this case, most athletes only need 1-2 days without physical activity. During this time, it is important to eat a nutritious diet, drink required amount water, maintain a sleep schedule. To make the process of replenishing strength easier and faster, it is important to finish the workout correctly. You can't do this abruptly. The training should end with a cool-down, i.e. loads in the form of stretching the upper and lower body or light cardio.

How to recover after a workout

The focus of recovery should be less on speed and more on productivity. Constant lack of rest can cause overtraining. This is a condition when the load injures the body much more than it can recover. The lack of desire to exercise already indicates that you do not have time to rest. Many activities help you recover after a workout - a contrast shower, a sauna or hot bath, nutrition, including sports supplements, quality sleep, walks fresh air, massage and even listening to your favorite music.

Hot bath after workout

As a gentle cardio or just active type relaxation can be a sauna or a hot bath after training. They increase blood circulation, lightly load the cardiovascular system, and everything else, on the contrary, relaxes. It is recommended to add about a glass of sea salt to the bath. It relieves muscle pain and helps eliminate all toxins from the body. You only need to take a bath for 20-30 minutes.

Sports nutrition for recovery

Don’t forget about sports nutrition for post-workout recovery. It is designed to specifically supply the body with amino acids. After class you must take:

• BCAA – 3-5 g to suppress the destruction of muscle tissue;
• glutamine – 3-4 g for energy production and activation of growth hormone synthesis;
• creatine – 2-3 g for complete restoration of spent creatine phosphate;
• whey protein – about 20 g for women and 30 g for men to accelerate and optimize recovery processes.

Sleep after workout

Evidence of replenishment of strength is also a sound, healthy sleep after training. Fatigue can be expressed in weakness during the day, especially in the first half. At night, sleep remains restless. To recover, you need to sleep 7-8, or even better, 9 hours a day. It is important to maintain the same time of waking up and going to bed, for example, getting up at 7 am and going to bed at 10 pm. Sleeping immediately after training is not recommended. The body needs to be given time to “cool down”.

Vitamins for post-workout recovery

Vitamin preparations occupy a special place in replenishing strength after intense training. Without them, rehabilitation worsens and the risk of disease increases. Complexes such as Vitrum, Oligovit, Complivit and Undevit are designed to help in this situation. Vitamins for post-workout recovery can be anything, but they must contain:

Recovery after intense training

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Full recovery after training is a factor no less important for achieving the desired result than the training itself. Without understanding the basics of the process, it is impossible to progress. Neither proper nutrition, nor vitamins with sports nutrition, nor even medications will help. This article is about how to recover properly and steadily improve your physical performance.

Theoretical foundations of recovery

The human body is a complex self-healing and self-sustaining system. In a state of rest, all subsystems are at a point of equilibrium - processes proceed at a normal pace for a particular organism. Going beyond a stable state provokes the body to turn to reserves. As a result of active physical activity and recovery, a person’s adaptive capabilities increase.

Serious sports results are unattainable without powerful training. The recovery phase must be adequate to the load. The body must “understand” that it cannot survive without adapting to new realities. But he also needs the opportunity to find the strength to adapt to stress - an increase in indicators occurs precisely during this period. One without the other makes no sense.

If you neglect muscle recovery after training, you can very quickly come to a training plateau (stagnation). Least. In the worst case, the athlete will experience overtraining. And hence the decline in results and health problems.

There are 4 main recovery phases:

• Fast recovery after training. Starts immediately after completing your workout and lasts about 30 minutes. At this time, the body is in “panic” and strives to make up for losses as quickly as possible. It is very important to restore balance nutrients.
• Slow motion. Once metabolic balance is achieved, the body begins to heal damaged tissues and cells. In this phase, protein, amino acid and enzyme synthesis is activated, water-electrolyte balance returns to normal, digestive system actively absorbs substances that serve as building materials for muscles.
• Supercompensation. The phase that occurs 2-3 days after heavy exercise. The duration of the period is up to 5 days. Super recovery resembles a slow phase, but the difference lies in the fact that during this time an increase in physical indicators is observed. The next training must be carried out before the body leaves the stage of supercompensation, otherwise the training will turn into marking time.
• Deferred. If you skip training, you can achieve good recovery, but without increasing athletic performance. This stage occurs if the previous one is delayed.

How long does it take for muscles to recover?

The indicated duration of the third phase of recovery after a hard workout is in some sense arbitrary. Training to complete muscle failure may require more time to compensate for losses. Bodybuilding theorists and practitioners (for example, M. Mentzer), using the examples of their students, demonstrate the need for longer rest to achieve serious results.

Recovery abilities are individual and, in addition, depend on the presence or absence of pharmaceutical support. Personal parameters can only be determined experimentally.

The table shows the average muscle recovery time after training.

Recovery rates

It's not just the muscles that are restored. It is important to know about the recovery rates of the body after training in general and the time required to bring biochemical processes back to normal.

Recovery rates:

• increase in results - only with complete completion of recovery processes;
• well-being – with a lack of recovery, the athlete may feel unwell, the desire to train may disappear, and there is a decline in volitional indicators;
• sleep – by recovering correctly, the athlete has the right to count on healthy and productive sleep; otherwise, a constant feeling of drowsiness (especially in the first half of the day) and problems falling asleep are in order;
• pulse – normal – 75 beats/min a couple of hours after training; at a higher heart rate, you need to think about either overtraining or deeper problems (for example, with the heart).

The following table shows the time it takes for the body to complete restorative biochemical processes after active physical exercise.

Recovery techniques after fatigue

There are different ways to recover. It’s better to do it comprehensively, using various techniques. The greater the load on the body and the factors that negatively affect the ability to recover, the more attention needs to be paid to rehabilitation aspects. About half of sports success depends on how competent recovery after training is. If the results are not encouraging, you need to look for the reason not only in the imperfection of the training approach, but also in problems relating to the opposite phase. Next, we’ll talk about how to reduce rehabilitation time and improve athletic performance.

Active recovery

Lactic acid will leave the muscles faster if you help it with moderate aerobic exercise. A 10-minute jog helps speed up the removal of breakdown products - during this time about 60% of the acid is removed. The next 10 minutes of easy running equates to approximately 25% more lactic acid being removed. Conclusion - aerobic exercise is beneficial after heavy training. A 20-minute run will help significantly increase the rate of elimination of unwanted substances from the muscles.

Complete rest or passive rest

A fundamental need of the human body and the athlete in particular. Intense training forces athletes to sleep at least 8-10 hours a day. This time includes 1-2 short phases of daytime sleep. By robbing himself of sleep, an athlete deprives himself of hope of achieving his physical potential.

Quality is no less important than quantity. Certain aspects must be followed, including:

• Compliance with the regime. You need to get up and go to bed at the same time.
• Continuity of sleep. You can’t sleep in fits and starts – 3 “sets” of 3 hours each is by no means equal to 9 hours of continuous sleep.
• Maintain a short interval between training and sleep. The body needs at least 30-40 minutes to prepare for sleep.
• Comfort. The process should not cause inconvenience even on a subconscious level. It is recommended to sleep on orthopedic bed in a room with optimal temperature and other conditions.

Massage

(and one of its options is restorative) is a mandatory condition for the training of professional athletes. The effect of working with soft tissues achieved through mechanical and sensory stimulation.

The mechanical effect is expressed in:

• reducing swelling of muscle tissue;
• relieving muscle fatigue;
• improving lymph and blood circulation;
• relieving muscle spasms;
• saturation of tissues with oxygen;
• accelerating the elimination of metabolic products from tissues.

The sensory effect is relatively little studied. "Massage" recovery after strength training helps reduce pain. This is achieved through a gradual increase in sensory influx to the central nervous system. In order to achieve a similar result, you need to massage the damaged (actively participating in the training process) muscle groups slowly and gently.

Light stimulation of the skin promotes short-term capillary expansion. More intense exposure leads to a long-lasting effect.

Restorative massage is performed 10-15 minutes after completion of the workout. This is one of the differences between this type of mechanical tissue stimulation and others. The interval can be increased, but it is not recommended to delay it too much.

The average session duration is 15-20 minutes. An hour after the procedure, it is advisable to repeat it, but in a reduced form - no more than 5 minutes. First of all, the “working” muscles are massaged. If the training involves a load on the whole body, all muscle groups are “treated”. But at the same time a little more attention large muscles that require longer recovery time.

Heat and cold therapy

The massage is perfectly complemented by thermotherapy - sauna with steam bath, steam baths, hot wrap. Thermal procedures prepare the body well for mechanical stimulation.

If a bathhouse with a sauna is not always available, then it is not at all necessary to deprive yourself of the wrap. Although the procedure has a beneficial effect primarily on the skin, there is also a significant overall effect. If you act on the body for 20-30 minutes, blood will begin to circulate in the muscles much more actively. But sometimes the heating of the skin is excessive, while useful heat does not have time to reach the soft tissues. Therefore, wrapping is best considered as a means of relaxing athletes and rapid promotion body surface temperature.

How can I speed up recovery after training? Low temperature also useful. Cold therapy helps reduce muscle swelling and has an overall positive physical effect. Therapy may include:

• cold wrap – 10-15 minutes;
• ice baths – 5-10 minutes;
• rubbing muscles with ice.

The most powerful effect of ice is achieved during the procedure performed immediately after completion of training.

Diet and nutritional supplements

Nutrition - most important factor, which determines the adaptive capabilities of the organism. It is important to understand how and what to take to recover after a workout. General rule nutrition implies that the intake of nutrients should be approximately equal to their consumption. When gaining mass, they start from greater “income”; during fat loss, from greater energy losses.

Diet is extremely important. In addition to the main building components - proteins, the body urgently needs carbohydrates. If the supply of the latter is insufficient, recovery is much slower.

Great importance also has a frequency of meals. The classic scheme of three meals a day is less effective than the model that implies a more fractional diet. Meals should be at least four times a day. Recommended meal ratio (% of daily intake):

• breakfast – 20-25;
• second breakfast – 15-20;
• lunch – 30-35;
• dinner – 20-25.

At the same time, the interval between approaches to the table is a maximum of 4 hours, and between extreme approaches is no more than 12 hours. Immediately before training, you should not fill your stomach. After training, it is advisable to abstain from poorly digestible food - at this time, gastric juice is not enough to effectively break it down.

A balanced diet is not enough for athletes who regularly train intensively. Vitamins and mineral supplements cannot be ignored. In most cases, we can talk about a lack of everything vitamin complex. The only exception is vitamin A, which can be fully obtained from regular food.

The amount of supplements depends on the training phase. Stages of lower intensity are not as demanding on the supply of minerals and vitamins as periods of powerful preparation for competitions.

It is imperative to satisfy the body's need for fluid. During training, athletes need to compensate for the lack of water by drinking small sips. You need to remember that drinking a lot and often after training for recovery is no less important than following a healthy diet.

Psychological recovery

The intensity of training is determined by both physical and psychological well-being. Overtraining inevitably entails a drop in motivation. And this is necessarily followed by problems with volitional qualities. The brain loses the ability to concentrate - the body does not receive enough load.

But it is not enough to rest as much as you need. Problems outside of sports have a similar effect on the body. Therefore, it is extremely important to learn to resist emotional discomfort. The first assistant in this is regular relaxation. Meditation and physical relaxation will help you respond adequately to circumstances and avoid negative psychological outbursts.

How do you know that your muscles have recovered?

Lack of muscle pain, high motivation, a surge of strength - signs that it’s time to go back to the gym. But you can’t always trust obvious “signs.” The most important sign is a combination of these factors with regular progress. The absence of the latter may also indicate an illiterate approach to training. But if you know that everything is in order with the training scheme, and there is no end to the stagnation, you need to think hard.

Training requires constant self-analysis. This is the only way to get a relatively complete picture of the training and individual characteristics.

In today's article I will tell you how to quickly recover muscles after training, why your muscles may not grow and what to do in this case. You will also learn which supplements are useful for recovery and which are absolutely useless.

As you know, during training our muscles are destroyed and only after training, when we rest, they begin to recover. In fact, the recovery process is the key to muscle growth. So guys, if you want to be big and strong, you need to be able to not only train in the gym, but also relax!

Recovery phases

Alas, there’s nowhere without theory.

The recovery process is the return of the body’s physical parameters to normal condition with a simultaneous increase in its adaptive capabilities. The process itself can be divided into several stages (phases).

• Rapid recovery phase

It occurs immediately after training and lasts about 30 minutes, at this moment the metabolism changes in order to restore the balance in the body that was disturbed by the training. This is the body's expected response to a training load. During the period of rapid recovery, all energy substrates are replenished (glycogen, creatine phosphate, ATP), some hormones also return to normal and anabolic hormones, so important for growth, are released.

• Slow recovery phase

When metabolic balance is restored, the process of restoring damaged muscle fibers begins, protein synthesis begins to work, enzymes and amino acids are restored, as well as water and electrolyte balance. The degree and speed of nutrient absorption increases.

• Supercompensation stage

Most important stage for you and me, iron fans, because at this very moment, functionality your muscles exceed their original level. It occurs 2-3 days after training and lasts approximately 5 days. During this period, it’s time to “give a thrashing” (train) to the muscle group that has gone through all these stages!

The problem is that a person cannot sense when exactly his muscles are at the highest point of supercompensation, so he has to do it at random.

• Delayed recovery phase

If you are at this stage, but have not yet loaded the muscle group that was being restored, then the train has already left =(Because in this phase the functional characteristics of the muscles return to the pre-training state.

I think any ardent hardware fan, and even an ordinary visitor gym, who still goes to the gym to train, and not share stories about exciting Sunday adventures, is interested in the fastest recovery of his muscles.

Moreover, without proper recovery there will be no growth, you will hit a training plateau and, as a result, you may lose the desire to train. So below I will give effective advice to achieve the desired goal.

Tips for organizing the training process

1. After completing each working set, perform light stretching, this will help improve blood flow in the muscles and remove the lactate that has formed.
2. After training, devote 5-10 minutes to cool down, do some stretching, it is also recommended to do light 10-minute cardio, again to improve blood flow, watch videos or pictures with illustrations about correct execution stretch marks
3. Train one muscle group once, maximum twice a week, remember I told you about the supercompensation phase? So if you train the same muscle group more often, you simply won’t have time to recover, which will lead to marking time or even deterioration in physical performance. Small muscle groups, which include the arms, can be trained 2 times a week, since due to small relative sizes their recovery period is shorter than, for example, that of the legs)
4. The next day after a hard workout, do an easy run for 30 minutes, or an easy workout for the same muscle groups, reduce the weight and number of approaches by 2 times, this training will speed up recovery

The speed of muscle recovery directly depends on a properly structured diet, so remember:

Drink more water, it makes the blood more fluid, firstly it will reduce the load on the heart, and secondly it will improve blood flow and metabolic processes in the body

As you remember, after the end of the workout there is a rapid recovery phase, so taking BCAA tablets (3-5 g) or BCAA in powder form will be useful; taking creatine (4 g) to replenish creatine phosphate is also equally important. The effect of glutamine, which is also recommended to be taken after training, is exaggerated, since in our body, even without its supply from the outside, this essential amino acid is sufficient

20-30 minutes after finishing your workout, take 50-70 grams of slow carbohydrates (cereals, cereals, whole grain pasta), this will help you replenish glycogen stores in your muscles and restore them faster

Along with carbohydrates, take protein foods (boiled eggs, chicken breast) or protein, which is more in a convenient way, since it’s easier to mix a shaker than to carry around a container of breasts, and the liquid form of the protein is absorbed much faster.

Protein will help prevent catabolism. But if you don’t want to spend money, then you can do without protein. Regular protein foods, despite some inconveniences of transportation, will be a much better source of protein. And if you live close to the hall, then you don’t have to carry containers with you

To make your life easier, here is an example of a post-workout meal:

50-70 grams of oatmeal in water (can be ground into powder, thrown into a shaker, diluted hot water and use as a cocktail) + 30 grams of protein in water. Another option, the same oatmeal + 2-3 boiled eggs without yolks.

Besides everything else, there are quite simple procedures, which will help you relieve pain in post-workout days and speed up the recovery of your muscles.

• Hot bath – good way relieve muscle tension after training, and also relax your nerves after you squatted with a 140 kg barbell under Rammstein. Optimal temperature for such a bath it will be 40 degrees, this temperature will allow you to relax for about 20 minutes, and you don’t need more
• Bath or sauna after training (recommended the day after training) - has a similar effect to a hot bath, it also dilates blood vessels, improves blood flow and promotes the rapid removal of lactic acid from muscles, and also, due to the production of endorphins, reduces muscle pain in post-workout days. As with the bath, you should not stay in the steam room for more than 5 minutes at a time and in total no more than 20 minutes
• Deep massage - the reasons for its benefits are still the improvement of blood circulation, I believe, unnecessary comments are unnecessary. The only thing worth noting here is that it is better to contact a professional massage therapist, so you can get the most out of the massage
• One of the most important points is sleep. Because it is in sleep that the body patches up all the holes and restores all the body’s systems. Sleep at least 8 hours a day and try to fall asleep before 11 pm, so you will feel more alert in the morning

This is where my short article comes to an end. From all of the above, we can summarize that there are many ways to restore muscles after training and everyone can choose something for themselves. But in addition to the optional points, there are also those that need to be followed impeccably, such as sleep, nutrition and organization of the training process, since your athletic longevity and health depend on them!

Experienced athletes know that post-workout recovery is as important to muscle growth as the activity itself. In its absence, it will not be possible to ensure proper results. It is important to know how long it takes muscles to recover and how you can speed up this process.

Recovery after strength training is essential. Active muscle growth occurs during this period, so it is important to pay attention to this stage. Regular training to the limit will not bring any effect if the muscles do not get the opportunity to rest.

During training, micro-tears of muscle fibers occur, which stretch and tear. After this, the body, considering this phenomenon unacceptable, will try to restore and heal them. This process is known as compensation. If, after exercise, you give yourself good rest and admission nutritional components, the stage of supercompensation will begin. During this period, the muscles will become rougher and increase in volume to prevent ruptures and injuries in the future. Due to this, it increases muscle mass. Hence the importance of recovery.

How long does it take for muscles to recover?

On average, all muscle groups require 36-72 hours to recover. Accordingly, there is no point in training them more often than once every 2-3 days. It is worth considering that the larger the muscle in volume, the more time it needs to rest.

Aerobic training (cardio) requires significant energy expenditure, but does not cause damage large quantity muscle fibers. After them, muscle glycogen is predominantly restored. On average it takes 1-3 days to recover. Strength training, in addition to energy consumption, provokes muscle microtrauma, so it takes more time to recover from it.

The muscle recovery process is divided into four phases, presented in the table.

Thus, the answer to the question of how long it takes for muscles to recover will vary from person to person, but on average this time is 72 hours.

Standard methods of muscle recovery

During the period when the muscles are recovering, there is no need to train. Another important point- this is a full-fledged sleep, especially if. It plays a big role for absolutely everyone, but if a person puts a lot of stress on the body, then its importance is even greater. It is during sleep that muscles actively grow and increase in volume.

You need to sleep at least 8 hours without breaks. Important the right conditions. To get a good night's sleep, you need complete darkness and silence, as well as a comfortable pillow and a suitable mattress.

Important proper nutrition. Immediately after exercise, the body needs to be given a sufficient amount of proteins and carbohydrates. This will help offset their costs. Drink whey protein after exercise to help support your muscles.

1-1.5 hours after training you need to eat a hearty meal. The meal must include all the necessary components.

In addition to proteins and carbohydrates, an athlete’s body needs fats. Their best sources are fatty fish and vegetable oils, especially flaxseed.

Eat vegetables. Due to the presence of fiber and coarse fibers, they help improve digestion.

If you feel hungry but it's not time to eat yet, you can eat a banana or a handful of dried fruits.

You need to drink enough fluids both during and after exercise. Pay attention to the color of your urine, especially in the morning. If it is clear, it means you are drinking enough. If it is more yellow or orange, then the amount of liquid needs to be increased.

How to speed up muscle recovery

Various medications can help you recover quickly after exercise. Sports nutrition, when consumed correctly, helps increase endurance. Accelerate recovery and improve exercise results. The following additives serve this purpose:

BCAAs are amino acids that prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue after activity and improve the synthesis of anabolic hormones. They are taken before or immediately after training.

Creatine. Helps increase the amount of phosphocreatine, which increases the supply of ATP, which is the initial phase of recovery. This substance is taken immediately after training and washed down with plenty of liquid.

Glutamine. 60% of this amino acid is contained in the muscles, but during active exercise it is used up extremely quickly, and a deficiency appears. The intake additionally promotes the synthesis of growth hormone, which has a beneficial effect on anabolism and muscle recovery. Sports nutrition can be taken after activity or at night.

Sports nutrition should be taken either before or after exercise. It is not recommended to do this during activity.

Vitamins and minerals are important in recovery. A sufficient amount of them should be supplied with food. But active training provokes a decrease in the absorption of some components, so you can take them additionally. The following compounds are useful vitamins:

Vitamin A. This component is useful for vision, but in addition it takes part in muscle synthesis. Because of this, they grow more actively. Vitamin A also affects testosterone, which plays an important role in muscle growth.

Vitamin C. In addition to its antioxidant effect, it can eliminate post-workout pain. The vitamin has an effect at the cellular level, preventing oxidation processes.

Vitamin D. Acts similar to vitamin A. It also has benefits for the skeletal system.

B vitamins. They take part in protein metabolism and the formation of cells required for muscle restoration.

Zinc. Structural element proteins and enzymes that are needed for tissue growth and repair. If it is deficient, muscles cannot grow, since the mineral affects the synthesis of anabolic hormones.

There are special medications that help with muscle recovery. They have complex composition, so it is recommended to drink them only after consulting a specialist. They are most often used by professional athletes.

Aerobitin. One of the most famous restorative drugs after physical activity. Includes a strong complex of antioxidants aimed at combating body oxidation and free radicals. Has a pronounced biosynthetic effect.

Secretaryrog-1. The drug has a special formula that promotes the synthesis of growth hormones. It also has an immunoprotective effect.

Antilactate. The medication helps reduce pain after training. The result is achieved due to the increased consumption of air by tissues, due to which lactic acid is excreted. The composition contains organic acids.

To make your workouts effective and painless, and for your muscles to recover faster, consider the following recommendations:

Don't overdo the tempo. If it's time to train intensely, you need to give yourself enough time to recover.

At the end of the session, do some stretching that will serve as a cool-down. This will make it possible to eliminate excess lactic acid from the muscles and normalize the pulse. As a result, you will recover faster and muscle elasticity will increase. 5-10 minutes will be enough, but the exercises must be done efficiently.

Good result gives a contrast shower. First use hot water, then cold, not vice versa. This helps improve blood circulation.

If after exercise you feel severe muscle pain, it is useful to take cold bath. Massage with an ice cube and other procedures with a cooling effect give good results. Muscles, under the influence of cold temperatures, expand and contract sharply and rhythmically. In view of this, toxins are removed from them more quickly.

Massage is beneficial for muscles, especially in the evening.
Simple manipulations increase the ability of muscles to absorb valuable components, accelerate and activate their transport to muscle tissue.

Helpful leisure. You should not forget about activity during rest periods. It is useful to walk, swim in the pool, visit the bathhouse or sauna.

Muscle recovery is no less important than the training itself. Various medications can help speed it up, but it is important not to overuse them. Please note that the main criterion for whether the muscles have recovered sufficiently is the desire to exercise. Don't put too much stress on yourself, as this will have the opposite effect.

Success and achievements in any sport depend on three constituent elements– nutrition, training and recovery. And if you will find a lot of information about nutrition and training in any magazine dedicated to fitness, then they usually talk about recovery more than succinctly. “Be sure to recover in order to avoid” - that’s all the “expert” recommendations.

But how exactly to recover? What are the criteria for quality restoration? How does recovery after training affect athletic performance? Can it be accelerated or made more effective? You will find answers to these questions in our article.

General information

Before we talk about how to speed up recovery after training, let's find out what recovery is from a physiological point of view. Any workout for the body is stressful. It can be compared to drinking a bottle of vodka, piercing the liver during a fight, or other serious injury. The only difference is that in the above examples one organ suffers, but severely. After training, damage is distributed among all organs and systems.

Recovery, or “supercompensation,” is the body’s response to the stress received. From a survival point of view, the body strives to adapt to the stress received in order to make it less stressful. Due to limited resources, processes do not always go as expected.

There are two types of recovery mechanisms:

1. Adaptive. This is an ideal case when a person gets enough rest, eats a lot and is not nervous. Due to such restoration, his characteristics improve, adipose tissue disappears, muscles and strength indicators grow.
2. Optimization. It occurs when the body tries to adapt to the resulting stress using only internal resources. In other words, you will become stronger in one area and weaker in another. For example, with intense drying, the body learns to use fat tissue more efficiently, but in order to survive, it also strives to reduce the amount of muscle. You will become stronger, but weaker and smaller.

How long does it take for muscles to recover?

It's easiest to repeat the popular belief that muscles recover on average within 48 hours from the moment of training. But this is fundamentally incorrect and looks like the average temperature in the ward. The time it takes for muscles to recover after training depends on many factors, including individual ones. Some of them can be influenced, others are beyond our control.

Let's list these factors:

1. Load intensity. Obviously, if you do light workouts, your muscles can recover within an hour, since they are not under serious stress. The reverse is also true: if you have surpassed yourself and set a record in competitions, then you can avoid lifting weights for a week, or better yet, two.
2. Availability sufficient quantity. Nutrition is an integral component for recovery. It determines whether recovery will follow an adaptive path or an optimization path.
3. Hormonal background. It is usually associated with levels of the hormone testosterone, which is used as a doping agent to speed up and increase the intensity of protein production in the body. In fact, muscle recovery after training is influenced by growth hormone, peptide hormones, thyroid hormones, etc.
4. Speed ​​. It determines how quickly your body will begin the process of regeneration after stress. The faster the metabolism, the faster the body can cope with the load.
5. Somatotype. This is where the main division into endo-ecto- and mesomorphs came from. How the body and muscles react to stress, what fibers are involved, and how the body copes with stress depends on a person’s somatotype.
6. General condition of the body. If you are in a depressed mood or have recently overcome an illness, then it will take you an order of magnitude longer to restore your body between workouts.

How much time does the body need?

How to quickly recover after training in the absence of serious stress in the form of overtraining, artificial dehydration.

The body needs at least two days to fully recover between heavy workouts. This is due to the fact that during training the body must reconfigure its systems to cope with heavy load:

1. Increase hormone levels.
2. Optimize resources for recovery processes.
3. Improve the functioning of neuromuscular synapses.
4. Compensate for calorie deficit.
5. Improve the functioning of the heart muscle.
6. Eliminate the consequences of an adrenaline surge.

Interesting fact: any work with weights ranging from 70 to 90% of a one-time maximal maximum forces our body to produce hormones of the adrenaline group. This is partly why people find it easier to lift lighter weights for more reps. The “striptease” lifting training program is based on this principle, in which a person first works with maximum weight, and after each approach reduces the weight load by 5-10%.

Recovery rates

Indicators of body recovery after training are a large set of biochemical processes and characteristics that cannot be determined independently without a medical examination. But several basic indicators you can determine it yourself.

• Pulse and pressure. After exercising at normal intensity for 120 minutes, your heart rate should drop to at least 75 beats per minute (or below the aerobic zone). If your heart rate after training is within a wide range, this indicates overtraining or chronic fatigue.
• Dream. If the training is done correctly, you should not have problems sleeping. As a rule, problems begin with chronic disruption of the training process. The only exception is if you did your workout less than 2 hours before going to bed.
• Well-being. If you overtrain or under-recover, you will feel worse and worse with each workout.
• Progress. Possible only with full recovery. The only exception is a strength plateau.

Techniques to Accelerate Recovery

Do I need to take anything to recover after a workout? With a competent approach using rapid recovery techniques, you will not need supportive pharmacology and sports nutrition products. Just look at the table with ways to speed up recovery.

Additional incentive

So, it is impossible to radically speed up the recovery process, but faster recovery after training can be achieved through the use of sports nutrition products:

1. (tribulus, etc.). They increase the natural production of male hormones, which increases the synthesis of building proteins. Allows you to reduce recovery time between workouts by 20-25%.
2. . At correct use accelerate tissue regeneration. It is important to give a full 24 hours of rest when using nitrogen donors, since the nervous and hormonal systems may simply not have time to recover in such a short period.
3. Adaptogens. Depending on their class, they can affect both tissue regeneration and the general condition of the central nervous system.
4. Vitamin and mineral complexes. Supporting the body with essential microelements speeds up the body’s recovery.

Which of these should you drink after training for recovery? First of all, vitamins and minerals. Testosterone nitrogen donors and stimulants are taken in a course, usually in the morning. And adaptogens - only in accordance with the instructions.

How do you know that recovery has taken place?

You can determine that recovery after a hard workout has been successful by one simple sign. This emotional condition. With the right training regimen, you will want to get extra physical activity after some time. You will feel more alert and energetic. In addition, you can determine how your recovery went after your last strength training session using barbell weights. If you can easily lift weights that seemed too heavy for you in the last workout, then your recovery has been successful.

To correctly predict your progress and avoid overdoing your training, keep a training diary, which will help you determine how well you have recovered from your last workouts.

Results

From a medical point of view, professional competitive CrossFit does not allow athletes to progress and recover normally after training. But do not forget that athletes often scale the loads to suit themselves. And even if they train 2 times a day, they do the most difficult training no more than 2 times a week.

At the same time, CrossFit stars use the entire arsenal of sports nutrition and supporting pharmacology. This forces the body to recover faster and better.

Remember simple rules, if you want to fully feel and develop in CrossFit:

1. Keep a training diary.
2. Eat right.
3. Always focus on how you feel: if you think that you are not ready to perform a particular WOD today, let your coach know.
4. Use sports nutrition for recovery.

And remember, recovery is related not only to muscles, but also to other systems of the body. Don't take risks and give your body more time to rest - this will allow you to progress much faster.