You probably know that recovery is an important aspect of fitness. It makes sense: If you bounce back fast from workouts, you’ll build more muscle and run faster.
What’s harder to understand is recovery’s role in overall health. As it turns out, recovery isn’t just about athletic performance. It also supports immunity, metabolism, and cardiovascular health.
If you can improve your recovery, you’ll be more energized and less prone to soreness and injury. As a result, you’ll find it easier to keep your body in motion. You’ll be more likely to make it to the gym before work, hit your 10,000 steps, or join a friend for a last-minute 5k run.
As your activity level increases, so will your health.
What is “recovery,” really?
Recovery isn’t just a single biological process. It’s actually a complex set of activities spread throughout your body. Among other things, "recovery" refers to your ability to:
- Repair and grow muscle tissue
- Refill glycogen, a type of sugar stored in muscle
- Tamp down inflammation
- Mentally recharge
- Remove waste products like lactic acid, which contribute to soreness
- Repair mitochondria, structures that produce energy inside cells
- Restore your balance of hormones and brain chemicals
These are important processes with wide-ranging implications for how you feel and function each day. This is why InsideTracker takes recovery so seriously. In fact, it’s one of the 10 healthspan categories we use to build a big picture of your health.
With an InsideTracker Membership, you can get a “recovery score” based on 11 blood biomarkers. These include liver enzymes, electrolytes, and minerals. Your score also factors in hsCRP, an important marker of inflammation.
By analyzing these biomarkers, we’re able to show you how to improve your body’s capacity for recovery.
We’re strong advocates for this personalized approach, but we also believe in working with the information you have. And there’s plenty you can do right now.
If you want to recover quicker, here are seven ways to get started.
1) Hit your sleep quota
You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: You need 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night.1
If you fall short, your metabolism, heart, and immune system will likely struggle.2,3 And critically, your body won’t recover as efficiently as it should.
Skimping on sleep can lead to:
- Slow and incomplete muscle recovery
- Disrupted glucose metabolism4
- Poor coordination
- Bad moods and reduced motivation5
- Increased inflammation
- High level of cortisol, the stress hormone6,7
To be clear, this is only a partial list. If your body isn’t performing the way you want it to in any way, sleep is usually the first place to look.
2) Drink before, during, and after exercise
A hydrated body is a healthy one. Water helps regulate your temperature, lubricate your joints, and carry nutrients to your organs. It also helps you recover.
If you skimp on water, you may have problems. In addition to brain fog and headaches, dehydration can lead to cramps, fatigue, and delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).8
A good daily hydration goal is to consume half your bodyweight in ounces of water. Then add more when you exercise. After your workout, aim to drink back all the water you lost through sweat.
3) Refuel with carbs and protein after your workout
Food is a critical aspect of recovery. If you eat correctly after a workout, you’ll increase muscle growth and move faster through the soreness stage.
The best time to eat is within 1 hour of your workout. And the nutrients to focus on are carbohydrates and protein.9,10
Any amount of protein and carbohydrates is better than none. But for a reliable goal, aim to hit these numbers for every hour you exercise:
- Carbohydrate: .41 grams per pound of body weight (or 82 grams for a 200-pound person.)
- Protein: .14 grams per pound of bodyweight (or 28 grams for a 200-pound person)
One way to hit these goals is to have your recovery snack prepped and portioned before you start your workout. Here are some easy suggestions:
- Yogurt with fruit and granola
- Oatmeal with milk, nuts, and fruit
- Egg or egg-salad sandwich with fruit
- Cottage cheese with whole-grain crackers and sliced vegetables
- Smoothie with protein powder
Word of caution: Eating a healthy recovery snack is not a license to eat junk food the rest of the day. Aim to build your entire diet around protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats.
» Discover how fiber can help you hit your fitness goals.
4) Sip tart cherry juice
You might also want to add a small glass of cherry juice to your post-workout routine.
In one review, researchers looked at groups of people who drank the juice shortly after a workout. They found that it caused small improvements in markers of inflammation, soreness, and strength.11
But the biggest improvement was in jump height. Those who drank tart cherry juice after a workout returned to their maximum jump height faster.
Credit likely goes, in part, to the juice's high antioxidant content. But that’s not the full explanation. Tart cherry juice also contains the amino acid melatonin, which can improve sleep quality.
In a small study of 20 people, researchers found that urinary melatonin was higher after people drank the juice. More importantly, those people experienced deeper, more efficient sleep.12
» Go deeper on supplements for recovery.
5) Consider a massage gun
A massage gun, otherwise known as a percussion gun, is a handheld tool that kneads your muscles with bursts of pressure. Once you turn it on, you just press it directly into your thigh, glute, or any other muscle you’ve recently exercised.
A recent review of 13 studies looked at how well these tools work. When compared to no treatment or alternative treatments, the massage gun led to greater pain reduction and improved flexibility, muscle strength, and explosive muscle response.13
In one study, percussion therapy was even found to be similar to manual massage therapy for reducing muscle stiffness. And it was more efficient than a foam roller.14
Massage guns probably won’t have as big an impact as proper hydration and nutrition, but you may want to add one to your recovery arsenal.
6) Focus on active recovery
The day after a heavy lift or strenuous HIIT workout, you might feel like sinking as deep as possible into the couch. This is a mistake.
If you want to recover quickly, you need to keep moving. Your best option is to do a low-intensity workout to increase blood flow to your muscles and tissues. This allows nutrients like amino acids to get to the muscles for repair.
This kind of light exercise is known as active recovery.15 Common options include yoga, stretching, and walking.
7) Supplement with creatine
Creatine is most known for its ability to improve strength and muscle mass, particularly for those who do resistance training. But in addition to building brawn, creatine has been shown to promote recovery.16,17,18
Similar to protein, creatine is made up of amino acids. But it’s a smaller, simpler molecule. You can find it in foods such as meat and fish, but it’s commonly taken as a supplement.
For most people, a small daily dose of 3 to 5 grams is ideal. That said, you should avoid the supplement if you have poor kidney function or if you’re pregnant or nursing.
» Don't let these creatine myths fool you
The bottom line is that recovery is critical. There are many ways to help your body out, but if you feel like you’re logging too many sore days, InsideTracker can help.
We'll use your blood to calculate your “recovery score,” and we’ll combine that with your DNA and fitness tracker data for a big-picture view of your health. From there, we can show you exactly which foods, supplements, and exercises your body needs to bounce back fast.
References:
1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26075423/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25061767/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21075236/
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21112019/
5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21075236/
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11217014/
7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17910386/
8. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1323290/
9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32826640
10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28919842/
11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33440334/
12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22038497/
13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10069390/
14. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33466606/
15. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29742750/
16. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12945830/
17. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14967873/
18. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12945830/
