What Is Active Recovery and How Do I Do It?
When it comes to exercise, recovery is essential, but it does not always entail total inactivity. There are days when passive rest is what your body needs. Other times, taking a more active approach is the best way to boost recovery from exercise. Allowing for recovery allows the body to become stronger.
In terms of rest days, passive recovery means a day of total rest without any physical activity. Sleep is the number one way the body repairs itself, so ensure you are getting adequate sleep each night (6-8 hours of quality sleep). Both light and deep sleep promote physical and mental recovery and restoration. Hormones increase and are released during the various sleep cycles allowing for greater recovery.
Active recovery, on the other hand, means including low-intensity exercise that promotes blood flow to the muscles, helping them to recover better and faster. By moving your body, you’re speeding up the recovery process. Here’s the catch, though: you need to be active enough to increase blood flow, but gentle enough to allow your muscles to heal. You should finish each of these sessions feeling refreshed, energized and ready for the next day’s training.
Active Recovery Days Should Aim to:
Address common problematic areas, such as poor thoracic mobility, bad ankle mobility, tight hip flexors and weak core or glutes.
Promote additional blood flow to sore or stiff areas.
Prioritize unilateral and/or isometric movements.
Prepare your body for its next training day without causing fatigue.
Benefits of Active Recovery:
Reduces post-exercise discomfort and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) by reducing the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles.
Promotes blood flow to joints and muscles to help decrease inflammation.
Improves mood and mental health through daily movement.
Contributes to a more balanced lifestyle.
Examples of Active Recovery Exercises:
Depending on your fitness level and time available, your active recovery session may range from 15-40 minutes. The great thing about active recovery is that it doesn’t have to be a structured training session – it’s more about getting the muscles moving to help promote blood flow.
Here are a few examples of what active recovery can be:
- Mobility, hip and core activation: Dynamic stretching and mobility work helps prepare our body for the stressors of strength training and assists in injury prevention and flexibility. Please see below for sample exercises.
- Self-myofascial release: Foam rolling and trigger point therapies are ideal for active recovery as a way to massage inflamed and overtaxed muscles helping to increase blood flow to the area and release trigger points, thus decreasing recovery time and increasing range of motion. Please see below for further discussion.
- Steady-state or non-impact cardio: This can be a low-intensity session on a treadmill, cross trainer, rower, road or stationary bike with the aim to keep your heart rate between 120-140bpm (nothing too intense). Other options could be swimming, water walking or aqua aerobics, gardening or hiking.
- Yoga: Yoga lengthens our muscles and tendons, aids in their recovery, and helps our body develop better mobility and flexibility.
For further information, please contact a Fitness & Sports Instructor at the Base Gym.
—
Article by: Janice Keown, Fitness and Sports Instructor