Let’s say you work hard in the gym daily and spend hours working out. But you are not finding results. Do you know why? It might be because you are not doing anything after the workout. What and how you eat following exercise influences whether your body continues to burn calories and build muscle or not.
A proper post-workout routine makes you stick to your fitness plan and helps in maintaining optimum energy levels. After working out to maximize results, there are vitamins for energy, supplements, and activities worth trying out.
The article presents eleven tips that you should follow post-workout. Here we go!
1. Hydrate
Getting hydrated is vital, especially after doing vigorous exercise and you are sweating. Refilling your body fluid levels improves muscle flexibility and avoids muscle soreness. Try to drink water or healthy drinks like coconut water and green or black tea. You can also take multivitamin natural orange juice to hydrate your body.
Remember! Dehydration will put your body at risk. It can cause fatigue, coordination loss, and cramps.
2. Stretch
Warming down after a workout is critical. While your muscles are warm, a stretching routine will elongate muscles, enhance body flexibility, and relieve tension. Target major muscle groups for stretching like hamstrings, glutes, hips, and shoulders. Try to hold each stretch for around 30.-60 seconds on both body sides and continue deep breathily.
3. Change clothes
After a workout, all you need is to chill. But do not roam around in those sweat-soaked clothes. You should change clothes soon after the workout. It is because the chances of fungus growing in your body’s moist crevices increases. Be aware of the size of the clothes you wear. Tight-fitting clothes can cause chafing and skin irritation.
4. Cool down
While you exercise, your temperature rises, and blood vessels become wide. The blood vessels need time and a chance to return to normal. So, try to cool down a little. Depending on how intensely you did the workout, you can take a slow walk after a run or exercise.
5. Use a foam roller
A foam roller helps you recover from workouts and increase your motion range. It can reduce post-workout soreness by increasing blood flow to the tissues. Regular foam rolling is a good way for a speedy recovery. You can also opt for other home remedies like Epsom salt bath or massage.
6. Take a cool shower
You do not have to take an ice bath as a football player does. But lower down the shower temperature than usual. A cool shower reduces muscle inflammation and increases healing post-workout.
7. Consume magnesium
Magnesium is in everything your body does to do exercise effectively. We tend to lose magnesium while we sweat during the workout. So, eating magnesium-rich foods like milk, almonds, sesame seeds, and dark leafy greens is a must.
You can also take immunity vitamins like Vitamin B-6 and C.
8. Eat proteins and fats
Your stored form of energy in the muscles gets depleted after intense exercise. So, after 30-60 minutes of workout, your muscles are ready to absorb nutrients in the form of carbohydrates and glycogen.
Choose meals rich in protein like eggs, milk, cheese, and fish. Carbohydrates to eat after exercise can include sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole wheat bread, and legumes.
9. Consume L-glutamine
If you squat heavy weights to get a curvier butt, you should take L-glutamine amino acid. It builds muscle and repairs muscle damage during a workout. L-glutamine creates an optimum internal environment for muscle recovery. It stimulates the body's metabolic rate, implying that you will burn more calories in less time.
10. Take supplements
You can add a protein shake or supplements to your diet. Take some best vitamin supplements for energy like iron, creatine, and melatonin. Your supplement intake can also include vitamins to boost the immune system like Vitamin B, C, and B Complex vitamins.
11. Self-care
You can do whatever you want, like meditate, sleep or watch a movie to destress yourself after a laborious workout. It will recover your body after the gym activities. Chronic stress from busy schedules and strict deadlines can reduce your recovery time. Stress combined with workouts overwhelms the body. So, give time to self-care and healing.
You can go for food supplements containing some best vitamins for health like Vitamin D, Iron, calcium, and Vitamin B-12.
Conclusion
You now know the importance of post-workout steps that you should take to recover your body. It will also help you get more benefits from your hard work during the workout sessions. Follow the above steps and restore energy levels to enhance your performance.