5 Tips for Muscle Recovery

Today’s guest post is from Lakeville Chiropractor Dr. Jeremy Marty with Marty Chiropractic & Wellness. As a collegiate Track & Field athlete, recovering from each workout was an important part of maximizing performance, continued improvement, and limiting injury.

5 Ways to Maximize Your Post-Workout Recovery

First of all, lets breakdown the science behind building muscle. A major misunderstanding most people have is that working out DOES NOT build muscle. The recovery AFTER your workout is what builds muscle! Any type of exercise, weightlifting in particular, breaks down your muscles through a process called catabolism (think the opposite of anabolic steroids). This results in micro-tears in your muscle tissue. When your body repairs these micro-tears, it wants to build a bigger, stronger, thicker muscle to prevent injury the next time you perform a similar task or exercise. If you continue to exercise without proper recovery time or nutrition to support muscle repair and growth, the micro-tears will eventually build up to a point where they become a larger tear. This can be a specific injury such as a muscle strain or tear, or a widespread overuse injury such as Lifter’s Shoulder. This is also why some people will plateau even though they are putting more and more time into the gym.

“muscle anatomy” by Mrs. Garippa is licensed under CC BY 2.0

​Note the size of the single muscle fiber in comparison to the entire muscle belly. Now note the size of the myofibril and sarcoplasm. These tiny cells are where the actual muscle hypertrophy takes place! To maximize muscle growth, each individual cell needs proper rest, proper nutrition, and of course, proper exercise. Here are a few simple guidelines to follow when exercising.

1. Don't Overdo Your Workout

​We’re all familiar with the saying “no pain, no gain.” There is a definite need to push yourself past your comfort level in order to make progress not only in exercise, but in any area of life. However, this progress is INCREMENTAL! Tiny improvements every day lead to small improvements every week. Weeks build into months, years, and decades. Persistence and dedication to your routine are important, not trying to impress everyone in the gym and ending up too sore to work out for a week. If you are having moderate to severe muscle soreness that lasts for more than a couple of days, you are pushing yourself too hard! This will actually slow down your progress by preventing your body from recovering at a cellular level.

“external image weight_lifting.gif” by educationintheworld is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

2. Improve Your Form

by Everkinetic licensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0

​Improving your form is a great way to build muscle strength for a few reasons. First, it helps prevent injury which will help keep you in the gym. Second, working a muscle through the full range of motion activates more of those myofibrils and sarcomeres we talked about earlier! This will result in a larger muscle, a more even distribution of strength through the entire muscle, and again help prevent injury. I would much rather have athletes deep squatting 135 lbs. than box squatting 225 lbs. Working through a full range of motion will also help engage syngeristic muscle groups, so you will get a more complete workout without having to add additional time to work out! Performing negatives or Eccentric lifts can also increase myofibril and sarcomere activation, but we’ll talk about those another time. 

3. Perform Active Recovery

While it’s tempting (and sometimes feels necessary) to sit around all day after an intense leg-day workout, it’s much better for your body to perform some type of active recovery. Whether this is hiking, biking, or just getting out for a walk, keeping your muscles active will help flush lactic acid buildup and improve your recovery time. Foam rolling is also a great tool to use on larger muscles for recovery! Check out our video where Dr. Josh demonstrates proper foam rolling technique.

jogging couple- legs” by Ed Yourdon is licensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0

4. Get Some Sleep!

“sleeping man” by istock is licensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0

Sleep is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of recovery. Not only does getting an adequate amount of sleep (at least 7 hours is ideal, athletes may need more) greatly improve your physical recovery, it helps keep you mentally strong. Athletes who don’t get enough sleep commonly experience less drive during their exercise sessions. If you are someone who struggles to get enough sleep, try giving yourself a “no tech” time before bed. Turn off or put away all your electronics an hour or two before bed and see how much better you sleep! The lights from our screens interfere with the Pineal Gland’s production of Melatonin, making it difficult to fall asleep. Basically, your brain/eyes still think it’s daytime and you should be awake, alert, and ready for action.

5. Proper Nutrition

Nutrition for athletes varies depending on the activity and intensity. For weightlifting and muscle gain, one of the most important things to add is high quality protein. The human body contains 20 amino acids, 9 of which are essential. An essential amino acid is one that the body cannot make, and therefore must be consumed. Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) are especially important for muscle growth and repair! They provide nutrition for muscle growth while also preventing your body from breaking down muscle to use as energy. To see maximum improvement, make sure your protein supplement includes all 9 essential amino acids and especially the three BCAAs - leucine, isoleucine, and valine. You should also consume your post-workout protein drink within 2 hours of exercise. Insulin sensitivity is increased for up to two hours after intense physical activity, meaning the nutrients you eat within this window are more likely to be absorbed and used for energy and muscle growth.

“Protein Shake” by Sandstein is licensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0

---

Marty Chiropractic & Wellness is located near Lakeville Super Target on the 2nd floor of Citizens Bank. Leave comments or questions in the comment section below, or visit us at
 
Marty Chiropractic & Wellness
18476 Kenrick Ave #201
Lakeville MN 55044
(612) 440-5776
https://www.martychiropracticandwellness.com/
​