Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who feel like your body just isn’t recovering well from your workouts. You workout, you workout consistently, but you notice that your body just isn’t recovering as quickly as you hope it would. Here are some things you can start doing with your exercise to help speed up your recovery process.
1) Add In Intentional Recovery Days
Our first tip to help you recover from your workouts is to add in intentional recovery days. A lot of people think that when they workout, they have to go all out all the time. However, adding in days where you are using 50-70% of the load you would normally use, or do 50-70% of the volume you would normally do, can help to not only keep you moving, but boost the recovery of your body, as well.
Action Step: Add in at least one recovery day each week, and even consider adding in an entire recovery week every month, where you are still exercising, but you are going lighter or less intense than you normally would.
2) Re-Emphasize Squeezing Your Muscles
Our second tip to help you recover from your workouts is to re-emphasize your focus on squeezing your muscles while you are exercising. When you keep your focus on what is going on within your body, it is really difficult to overdo your workouts. However, it is easy to start to let your focus drift towards trying to move weight, move faster, or move farther. So pause, gather yourself, and put your focus back on squeezing your muscles while you are exercising.
Action Step: If you find yourself thinking about trying to lift the weight, complete a rep, or push harder, you may be more liable to not recover as well from your workouts. Instead, put your focus solely on squeezing your muscles and feel how much better your body recovers.
3) Schedule With Your Local MAT® Specialist
Our third tip to help you recover from your workouts is to schedule with your local MAT® specialist. Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) is specially designed to assess your body for muscles that are not working well and address those muscles to get them working better. By getting more muscles working better, your body will have more muscles as viable options when you exercise. What this means for you is that each individual muscle will have to take on less stress when you are exercising, which may help you to recover better.
As an added benefit, MAT® will help you recover by putting your body in more of a parasympathetic state. Check out our podcast with the developer of MAT®, Greg Roskopf, on the subject here!
Action Step: In the Chicago area? Schedule your MAT® consultation with us here! Not in our area? Find a certified practitioner near you here!
