Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.Vince Lombardi

5 Recovery Secrets of Athletes

When it comes to recovery strategies, athletes are a notoriously stubborn bunch, preferring to push forward with tough workouts day after day. While such a work ethic is admirable, it’s impossible to go all-out all the time. You won’t train as effectively and you’ll likely break down with injuries and ailments. On the other hand, if you can focus on having high-quality rest and regeneration, you’ll be able to get more return on investment from every minute of your workout.
Regeneration increases your energy, boosts your immune system, and helps you get the most out of each training session, which ultimately will improve your performance. Regeneration improves your hormone profile, decreases inflammation, and improves tissue quality, thus decreasing the number of overuse injuries you may experience. Here are five recovery secrets of endurance athletes:

1. Get More Sleep

Getting adequate sleep is the easiest way to boost endurance performance. It’s crucial to maximize deep, restorative sleep time, which happens in the first few hours of sleep each night. It’s important to make adequate sleep a regular part of your lifestyle.

2. Recover with Nutrition

Nutrition is one of the key part of recovery. Be sure to take advantage of that 30-minute post workout recovery period when your body is craving nutrients to replenish itself. It’s ideal to consume a shake, energy bar, piece of fruit, and/or sports drink immediately following a workout. Do this before anything else. The food or supplement you choose should provide about 0.8 gram of carbs per kilogram of body weight and 0.4 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight.

3. Re-Hydrate

It’s impossible to hydrate with water following a workout, and you should drink two cups for every pound lost during exercise. But you can jumpstart your recovery and optimize performance by staying hydrated throughout the day. Keep a water bottle with you all day. Drink ½ to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day to stay hydrated. Keep an eye on your urine color. It should be clear. If not, drink more water.

4. Get a Massage

Ideally, we’d get professional massages immediately after a tough training session. Since that’s not usually practical or affordable, do some self-massage with a foam roll.

5. Stretch it Out

Active isolated stretching is a great way to recover post-workout. You can perform a series of moves that will reprogram your muscles to contract and relax through new ranges of motion.

Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.
Aldous Huxley