Optimize Your Performance: Active Recovery After an intense workout, your muscles need time to restore themselves. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean being completely inactive is the best way to recover. Active recovery, a form of low-intensity exercise, may improve muscle repair more effectively than traditional rest. Why Do Muscles Get Sore? Due to the demands placed on your body during exercise, you may experience muscle soreness and fatigue afterwards. Delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, occurs when new or intense activity causes micro-tears in muscle fibers. Active Recovery The goal of recovery is to return your body to its normal state. Active recovery, which is performing low-intensity activity at 30-60% of maximum heart rate (MHR = 220 – age), can quicken this process. Movement increases blood flow, which then improves nutrient exchange in your muscles. Active recovery can be practiced in between workout sets, after an exercise session and on non-training days. Here we will focus on active recovery for non-training days, often referred to as active rest days. Active rest days should be mixed in throughout the week, ideally following your most intense workouts. ACTIVE RECOVERY TECHNIQUES Light Cardio Active Isolated Stretching Yoga Foam Rolling Massage Light Cardio: Walking, swimming and cycling are all commonly used for active recovery. These activities are to be performed at a low intensity, where your heart rate stays below 60% of your MHR. Staying lightly active helps maintain your range of motion and repair connective tissue without overtraining. Active Isolated Stretching: Stretching can help loosen muscles that have become tight or fatigued from exercise. Use a rope to gently pull on the targeted muscle until it is stretched about 10 to 20 percent farther than your body would ordinarily allow. Hold for 1-2 seconds. Exhale as you hold and slowly move the muscle through its full range of motion when you release. It is normal to feel a mild discomfort while stretching but avoid any sharp or intense pain. For stretching ideas, check out the NOFFS Regeneration Strategies! Yoga: Practicing yoga for 10-20 minutes can reduce muscle soreness and improve muscle repair. Yoga also offers mental health benefits, such as reduced stress, and improves flexibility, balance and strength. Foam Rolling: Using a foam roller can help loosen tight muscles and reduce soreness. Gently apply pressure along the targeted body part for 20-30 seconds. Avoid direct contact with bones and joints and remember that you should never feel pain, only a mild discomfort. Massage: Massage therapy within 72 hours of an intense workout can help reduce muscle soreness and fatigue. Importance of Rest Although there are benefits of engaging in light activity between workout days, rest is still a key component of recovery. One day a week of rest is recommended. It is also important to note that adequate recovery is impossible without enough sleep. Aim for at least 7 hours since most of your body’s repair happens during this time. Rest and recovery are often used interchangeably but are not the same thing. Rest is only a piece of the recovery process. It may help to think of recovery as a plan, in which you can choose techniques or activities that optimize your time between workouts and help you come back stronger than before. Additional Resources Navy Operational Fitness and Fueling System (NOFFS) – “Regeneration Strategies” Navy Operational Fitness and Fueling System (NOFFS) – “Recovery Nutrition” Recreatonal Equiptment, Inc. (REI Co-op) – “How To Use a Foam Roller” References National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) – “Active Recovery Workouts: What to Do on Your Rest Day” International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) – “Active Recovery: Reduce Fatigue and Enhance Performance” International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) – “Top 3 Reasons to Use Yoga for Active Recovery”
