Recovering after a workout - how to do it correctly? Fast recovery after training: nutrition, medications and recommendations How to recover after a hard workout

A process that should be perceived as a natural necessity. Muscles begin to grow only after its completion. In order for this process to go much faster and without consequences, it is important to be able to properly relax and restore the strength necessary for the next workout.

What you need to know about training?

Proper exercise is the key to ensuring that recovery after training will be quick and painless. The basic rules for playing sports include:

1. Limit the duration of one workout to one and a half hours.
2. One day a week you need to give your muscles rest.
3. Alternatively, a minimal amount of exercise may be performed on this day.
4. Every day it is necessary to give the body rest, not only at night, but also during the day. One hour of sleep at lunchtime will be enough.

Rehabilitation after training

How to properly restore the body after training? The main means of rehabilitation include the following:

• passive rest;
• well-chosen diet;
• massage;
• bath;
• water procedures.

Massage for athletes is one of the most effective recovery methods. By removing waste products from the muscles during this procedure, they become more elastic. As a result, their level of performance increases.

You should also pay attention to such a remedy as a steam bath. It promotes muscle relaxation, which is achieved by increasing thermoregulation and activating sweating.

When visiting, you should adhere to some rules. For example, while you are in it, it is unacceptable to douse yourself with cold water. This procedure should be done after the session is completed.

Passive rest is a normal night's sleep. Its duration should not be less than eight hours. This time is quite enough for muscle recovery.

Water therapy makes it easy to relax your muscles. In addition, it relieves muscle tension. The most effective way is to visit the pool.

Post-workout recovery: nutrition

Among the products that have a positive effect on the recovery of the body after sports training, the following should be highlighted:

1. Eggs. They will always be number one on an athlete's menu. Their protein has the highest value compared to other food products that must be present on the table during the recovery period.
2. Salmon. Due to the proteins and omega-3 fatty acids contained in salmon, the recovery process occurs much faster. This occurs due to a decrease in protein breakdown products in the muscles.
3. Water. Impaired fluid balance in the body can reduce the rate of muscle recovery.
4. Beef. It is an excellent alternative to creatine. Meat contains large amounts of iron and zinc.
5. Yogurt. This is a product that combines proteins and carbohydrates. For quick muscle recovery after training, this is the best solution.
6. Almond. It contains large quantities of alpha-tocopherol. It is a form of vitamin E.

Post-workout recovery medications

Antioxidants occupy a leading position among drugs that promote muscle recovery. They are responsible for suppressing free radicals. This reduces muscle pain and suppresses the development of inflammatory processes. Antioxidants include vitamins A, C, E and others.

You should also pay due attention to amino acids. The body does not produce them itself, so it needs help. Amino acids are presented in the form of "L-isoleucine", "L-valine" and other substances. Thanks to such supplements, the immune system will always be protected.

Another drug that promotes rapid regeneration is Inosine. It removes lactic acid from the body, which, in turn, contributes to muscle fatigue.

How else can you stimulate recovery after training? Immediately after its completion, it is recommended to take up to 5 grams of BCAA. This complex stimulates production. In addition, it inhibits catabolic processes.

You also need to take 3 grams of creatine and the same amount of glutamine. Creatine will restore the lack of energy, and glutamine will increase the production of growth hormone.

It is equally important to drink at least a liter of clean still water immediately after training. It will help restore water balance.

Additional Information

Each workout should end with a mandatory cool-down (light exercises). In addition, special attention should be paid to professional massage. By stimulating blood and lymph flow, rapid recovery after training is possible.

Taking anabolic steroids will have a positive effect on the general condition of the body.

How to define recovery?

Two hours after training, you need to measure your pulse. If the indicator is less than 75 beats/min, it means the recovery process has been successfully completed. An indicator of more than 75 beats/min is a signal from the body about overtraining or about the occurrence of problems in the cardiovascular system.

Sound sleep indicates an intensification of the process of restoring vitality. If an athlete is accompanied by anxious dreams, as well as morning and daytime sleepiness, then the training regime should be adjusted.

Pain in the chest area is a signal that the body has not yet completed recovery processes after past training.

The speed of muscle recovery directly depends on the degree of load, so it may not be the same on different days. If the load was insignificant, the muscles will recover within a day. It will take two days for them to recover from a moderate load.

Full recovery after training is possible only after a week. In some cases, two weeks after heavy physical activity.

If we want to get fit, what's the first thing that comes to mind? and, isn't it? But is there anything else you're not doing? and what prevents you from achieving your final goal? In this article, we will look at another important detail that most people do not attach much importance to. This detail is one of the reasons why people give up after almost reaching their fitness goals.

Few people attach importance to what needs to be done after the training is over. People think that if they exercise and eat right, there is nothing else that can bring them more impressive results.

What you do after your workout determines how well you recover to continue your fitness routine the next day. Injuries, severe muscle pain, lack of energy and that's what you have to deal with if you don't take action to recover faster. After all, the more fully you recover, the better your next workout will be, and the longer you can continue your fitness routine. In the long run, all this will bring much more impressive results.

In fact, these actions can be the difference between whether you get results or give up without ever reaching your full potential. If you want to avoid stagnation, then you must pay close attention to the recovery process. Below are some helpful tips to ensure you have optimal recovery:

1. Be sure to do a cool-down. Make sure your heart rate returns to normal after exercise. Low-impact exercises such as walking, jogging and slow pedaling are best. The duration of the cool-down is determined by the intensity of the workout. The more intensely you exercised, the longer the cool-down should be. Even if you don't have much time, still set aside 5-10 minutes for a cool-down.

2. Maintain water-salt balance. Environmental conditions determine how much fluid and electrolytes your body requires. The hotter the weather, the more you sweat and the more fluids and electrolytes you need. By the way, you don't have to drink isotonic drinks just because your favorite athletes do so. There are healthier options too. Try drinking water with lime juice (or both), orange juice and a pinch of salt. You can add stevia powder to make the drink sweeter. Many energy drinks have added sugar, but you don't need it. Many people think that they need sugar to replenish their glycogen stores, but this is not true at all. We'll come back to this a little later.

3. Knead soft tissues. Use a foam roller, PVC tubing, massage stick, or something similar to knead the soft tissue. This procedure truly works wonders. Kneading aching muscles causes blood flow to the microdamages that appear in muscle tissue during exercise. And this, in turn, accelerates muscle recovery. Attention! If you have never performed soft tissue kneading before, this procedure can be quite painful. In addition, special attention should be paid to kneading particularly aching areas. But believe me, the next day you will be glad that your muscles don’t hurt so much.

4. Do exercises to increase joint mobility. If you have muscle imbalances or joint problems, then you need to spend some time doing rehabilitation or joint mobility exercises to eliminate or at least reduce these problems. To perform such exercises, 5-10 minutes a day are enough.

5. Perform light static stretching. Although static stretching exercises should not be performed before exercise, as they reduce the muscle's ability to contract effectively, doing them after exercise is a good way to restore normal muscle length. There are a huge variety of such exercises, but at a minimum, each of us should do at least stretching exercises for the hip flexors and pectoral muscles. Stretching your hip flexors will help you relieve tension in your lower back, while stretching your pectoral muscles will improve your posture and relieve you from slouching. Hold the stretch position for 30 seconds or more.

An excellent way to perform such exercises is the “tension, release, stretch” technique. To do this, you need to isometrically contract the muscle you want to stretch for about 6 seconds, then relax it into a deep stretch position for 15-20 seconds. You can repeat this technique 2-3 times per exercise, each time stretching the muscle more and more.

6. Post-workout nutrition. The opinions of experts on this matter differ greatly from each other, because it all depends on your health and fitness goals. However, the most common post-workout nutrition recommendation is to take a combination. The ratio of proteins and carbohydrates varies from 1:1 to 1:4. If you're training for an hour at a moderately high intensity, a 1:4 protein to carbohydrate ratio may be more suitable for you. This nutrient ratio is also suitable for those looking to increase muscle mass. But these recommendations aren't set in stone, so try different ratios of protein and carbohydrates and see what works best for you.

If body size is your goal and you're not interested in gaining muscle mass, you can take protein alone after your workout, especially if you're following a low-carb diet and doing short, high-intensity workouts of less than 30 minutes. Since these types of workouts are fairly short-term, your glycogen stores will not be completely depleted during exercise and can be easily replenished by the body. In this case, if you consume enough protein after your workout, then you don't have to worry about losing muscle mass. Once again, this recommendation is not set in stone, and you may want to try adding some carbs to your post-workout meal (1:1 or 1:2 protein to carb ratio). Experiment a little to see what works best for you.

These are six recommendations that can help you recover faster after training. Keep in mind that small changes can make a huge difference in the long run. Just 15-20 minutes a day will help you dramatically reduce muscle pain and restore muscle and joint function so you can continue training and achieve your fitness goals.

Success and achievements in any sport depend on three components - 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 of 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 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 some basic indicators can be determined independently.

• 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. 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. . When used correctly, they 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 is an emotional state. With the right training regimen, you will want to get more 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 feel full 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.

There is one very important concept and process - recovery after training. It should not be neglected, otherwise training will lose effectiveness, and the body will experience prolonged stress after exercise. We will talk about how to recover properly and how to forget about what chronic fatigue is after a workout in this article.

Some useful theory

The human body is a self-sustaining and self-healing system. These two concepts are related. There is a certain point of balance when all processes inside the body proceed at a normal pace (homeostasis, it’s called). For example, this is a state of rest. When a person begins to actively train, his body uses all its reserves to ensure the same normal stable state, but during the training process. After exercise, the body restores the same reserves spent on physical work.

It restores the original biochemical, physiological and anatomical state that was before the load. Therefore, in order to understand how to restore strength after exercise, it is important to know what the body needs to renew spent resources. In particular, one of the necessary elements is healthy sleep.

Nature has provided for everything, including the body’s ability to adapt to heavy physical work. Training to the limit (or as athletes say, “to failure”) activates this same adaptation process in our body, which is expressed in muscle growth. This is the body's natural preparation to overcome more severe stress.

All types of training are based on the process of adaptation of the body to increasing loads. Both for the growth of muscle mass and for increasing strength or endurance. The body's capabilities increase during the recovery period.

Now you understand that improper recovery will lead to a lack of desired progress. And believe me, no one wants to train to no avail, or even worse, to the detriment of health.

Recovery stages

Correct muscle recovery after strength training is just as important as maintaining proper technique during exercise. It's like ABC for a first grader. Without knowing it, you will not learn to read and write.

Do you know how long it takes for muscles to recover after exercise? Individually, long and step by step.

The recovery process can be divided into 4 phases:

1. Fast recovery.
2. Slow motion.
3. Deferred.

Fast recovery

Rapid recovery ends approximately half an hour after training. The body, in a panic, uses up all the remaining substances in its reserve to return to normal. And all because during training he significantly depleted his reserves.

At this moment, it is important for him to find a source of glucose in order to quickly restore energy reserves. Also at this stage minerals are required.

Therefore, get used to drinking mineral water during and after training. Preferably without gas. There are also special isotonic drinks, however, their cost is slightly higher. Simple purified water will not be as effective. It will only allow you to restore fluid balance.

Slow recovery

Once the original balance of nutrients and minerals is restored, the body's systems begin to work to repair damaged cells and tissues. After all, strength training involves microtrauma of muscle fibers. Protein synthesis starts. At this point, it is important that you get enough amino acids from your food (which is why it is important to take 25-30 grams of purified protein). This phase lasts for several days after exercise.

The most important stage of recovery in terms of achieving training results. It starts 2-3 days after training. The most powerful supercompensation occurs after training to failure, when you work with maximum weights.

It would seem that it could be simpler - lie down and sleep. No, there are some nuances here:

1. Compliance with the regime. Sleep should be measured, 7–8 hours is acceptable, ideally 9. To gain the number of hours of sleep you need, just go to bed early. You need to get up and go to bed at the same time (for example, we go to bed at 10 pm and get up at 7 am). On weekends, you can make exceptions and go to bed later.
2. You should not sleep immediately after exercise. It is important for the body to “cool down” for an hour. Eat protein, drink mineral water. You can also do carbohydrate loading. If you are determined to sleep for a long time, it is better to eat at a minimum so as not to spend all your resources on digesting food.
3. Sleep must be continuous (waking up for the sake of “relief of the soul” is allowed). If you sleep for 2 hours and do business in between, this will have a very negative impact not only on recovery, but also on your well-being in general. You can sleep an extra hour during the day. Basic sleep should be complete and uninterrupted!
4. Provide yourself with comfortable conditions: you should not be cold, your neck should not be stiff. It is best to sleep on an orthopedic bed and a special pillow that ensures the correct position of the head in any position. Sleep should be comfortable.

Quality sleep means faster recovery!

Cool down after training

Even after running, you can’t stop right away. Did you know? You need to gradually slow down and take a step. And only then, after walking like this for 3–5 minutes, sit down or stand up.

In the gym, you need to complete your workout like this:

1. Stretching after training. In addition to stimulating muscle growth, you work on injury prevention and finish your workout correctly. These are also movements, and they take 3-5 minutes - just what you need.
2. Cardio exercises at an easy pace. Get on the treadmill and run at a calm pace for 5 minutes, then slowly walk, gradually stopping. The same thing with an exercise bike, an ellipsoid.

Or better yet, both. Cardio first, then stretching. If time allows you (it's only about 10 minutes) - why not. If time is short and you are unsure what to do after training, choose one thing. We recommend that you prefer stretching in this case.

Nutrition

After exercise (for half an hour), many recommend eating well. Indeed, at this moment the body absorbs amino acids and carbohydrates as quickly as possible (we emphasize) because it needs to restore reserves. But it’s okay if you didn’t have time to eat at this time.

The physiology of the body is so advanced that it doesn’t matter when you eat proteins - they will always be absorbed. Whether this process will last 20 minutes or 40 is not so important.

Therefore, it doesn’t make much difference whether you take protein half an hour after training or 2 hours later. It's important to accept. And when – whatever is more convenient for you. It’s better right away, but if later, you won’t notice much of a difference (fatigue after strength training is an indicator that you need to eat).

So what to do after training? Listen to your body.

And remember the daily norm of BZHU. This is much more important than eating within the first 30 minutes after exercise!

Drink

Therefore, it is important to drink as much as you want. It is recommended to stretch your fluid intake during exercise. It is better to drink a few sips after each exercise than to drink 0.5 liters in one sitting. Water must be supplied gradually, otherwise it can create excess stress on the heart. We do not recommend drinking soda, only water with minerals.

Massage

It is very good if your gym has a massage room. We recommend massaging the working muscles before and after exercise. This will significantly improve the quality of the load and speed up the recovery period. Before training, this is a warm-up of the muscles. A post-workout massage will allow your muscles to relax properly and as much as possible.

Sauna and swimming pool

Immediately after your workout, you can relax in the pool and warm up in the sauna. You can alternate these two pleasures for the sake of a sharp change in temperature. The benefit will be double: warming up the blood vessels and relaxing the muscles.

Pharmacological drugs

It is known that pharmacology significantly accelerates the recovery of strength. But whether this is useful or harmful is a very controversial question. Let’s put it this way – yes, it’s good for the muscles. It is very harmful for health. And health comes first, otherwise, what’s the point of training?

Recovery by training

There is such a thing as recovery training. This is an easy option aimed at dispersing blood and lactic acid in tired muscles. This could be a game of football, a bike ride, or a run. Actively spent time is the same training. This is a great option if you often feel tired after exercise. Do it whenever you feel like it.

Hello, visitors to the site do4a.net!

Experienced athletes know that muscles and their performance increase during rest. To gain muscle mass, I believe recovery should be a priority over building the training process. In this article I want to make my TOP 10 restorers. So let's get down to business.

10th place Restoration of the nervous system

In addition to muscle recovery, the athlete also needs to restore his nervous system. Frequent heavy training, be it constant work to failure or lifting extreme weights, puts a lot of stress on our nervous system. Such an overload can lead to general discomfort, headaches, lethargy, drowsiness, irritability, as well as more serious consequences such as a decrease or increase in blood pressure, arrhythmia, an increase in the concentration of lactic acid, and impaired respiratory processes. I think it’s a no-brainer that all this has a negative impact on the athlete’s results.

I think the best solution to the problem is adequate rest. You shouldn’t push your body to such a critical state. Here it is worth considering the fact that everyone has different body capabilities. Therefore, you need to listen to your condition, and if something is not right, it is better to skip the workout.

9th place Water procedures

Water procedures such as contrast showers and ice baths stand out. A contrast shower will harden your body, increase blood flow, which will lead to a faster removal of breakdown products from the muscles. Experts advise taking a contrast shower according to the following scheme: 30 seconds hot water, 30 seconds cold water. Repeat this cycle several times. I think this is one of the most accessible means of recovery. I hope each of you has a shower and hot water at home. An ice bath is definitely a less pleasant method, but this method of muscle recovery after training also exists. A cold bath reduces muscle pain, inflammation and tension (water temperature approximately 12-15° C). In cold water, blood vessels better cleanse the body of “waste” after exercise and healing processes are significantly improved. Some people say that it really works, others call it complete nonsense, but each body reacts differently, so try it and choose what suits you.

8th place Bath and sauna

Exposure to high temperatures improves blood supply to the muscles, which allows metabolic end products such as lactic acid to be eliminated more quickly. The result is the cessation of discomfort in the muscles, a feeling of relaxation and rest. If you regularly give your muscles such a workout in the sauna, you can reduce the period of fatigue. According to research, after a steam room, strength measured on a dynamometer and bicycle ergometer increases.

Bath procedures also have a very beneficial effect on joints, increasing their mobility. The elasticity of connective tissue also increases. The bathhouse is very important in the matter of prevention and rehabilitation after injuries in athletes. Bruises and sprains are best and fastest treated in a steam room.

7th place Massage

This is a wonderful universal restorative remedy, one of the best, and quickly restores both muscle tone after training and relieves emotional stress after a nervous and emotionally stressful day at work. Massage is beneficial for both muscles and skin, and the general emotional state. So, tense up your phytony so that it crushes something for you.

6th place Pressure chamber

A pressure chamber is, of course, an expensive pleasure, but extremely useful. Due to the increased pressure in the chamber, the body is saturated with oxygen, which in turn leads to accelerated recovery, renewal of red blood cells, renewal of mitochondria in cells, improves endurance, and increases the amount of ATP in the muscles. In short, if there is an opportunity, you need to use it.

5th place Stretching

Stretching is extremely beneficial. This is confirmed by many scientific experiments. In addition to the fact that stretching accelerates the removal of waste products from the muscle, it also affects the elasticity of the muscle, which leads to a faster process of hypertrophy due to greater stretching during work. It is recommended to stretch the working muscle group after training it.

4th place Active recovery

Active recovery usually means a workout with a duration and a load of 30-50% of the usual - if you exercise for an hour, then 20-30 minutes are needed, if you squat with 80 kg, then 25-40 kg are acceptable for such a workout. I think most people are familiar with the concept of “Load Periodization”. Light training allows you to restore and maintain the energy potential of the muscle while muscle cells are being restored. By increasing blood flow, light training on recovery days helps remove accumulated toxins from your muscles more quickly. In addition, using light weights is a good opportunity to work on your technique.

Another benefit of active recovery is providing muscles with nutrients for growth. Relatively speaking, performing exercises with a large number of repetitions will awaken “hunger” in the muscles, and they will ask the body for additional nutrition.

So if you have the opportunity to do a light workout or just take a walk on your rest day, don’t waste this opportunity!

3rd place Pharmacology

Did you think I'd put it in first place? But no... By pharmacology I will include AAS, growth hormone, peptides, insulin and all kinds of pharmaceutical pharmaceutical support, such as riboxin and potassium orotate. Who else but the guys from Daughter know how artificial hormones affect muscles and their performance. It's no secret that pharmacological drugs work wonders - they speed up metabolism, protein synthesis and much, much more. Proper use of them will allow you to achieve the desired volumes and strength indicators in a much shorter time than without their use. But I only put pharmacology in 3rd place and here’s why...

2nd place Dream

Without sleep, nowhere. During sleep, most body systems are restored. It is not for nothing that it is called one of the best medicines for all diseases. Even if you gobble up all the methane on the planet, if you don’t sleep, you won’t grow! It is recommended to sleep at least 8 hours. It will also be great if you take an extra hour's nap during the day. So after reading this article, go to bed.

1 place Nutrition

I think it's okay to not get enough sleep. But you can’t undereat! You can sacrifice a couple of hours of sleep due to the increased calorie content. Also, pharmacological drugs simply will not bring you any benefit if you are not eating right, be it gaining muscle mass or losing fat reserves.

This is where I will end my story. If you have any objections or additions, write in the comments. Anabolism everyone!