Why Recovery is Essential after Working Out

Do you feel tired after a workout and feel like you have reached a workout plateau?

“There are three aspects to achieving a healthy lifestyle- proper workout, proper diet, and proper rest,”

Coach Ravi Yadav said when asked about the most important lessons he had learned during his certification. While we focus on diet and workout, we often overlook the third equally important aspect of fitness. However, without it, all the hard work and planning that goes into building a healthy lifestyle is futile.

Balraj Kaushik, a long-distance runner who runs a thousand kilometers every month told SocailBoat that he makes sure to sleep at 7 p.m. every day, because without having the proper sleep and rest,

“one does not do justice to their body.”

Similarly, national-level athlete Minakshi Shukla too emphasized the undeniable role of rest and recovery in her training process.

Keeping these in mind, in today’s blog, we will talk about why recovery is important for a fit lifestyle, and must not be compromised at any rate-      

1. Adapts to Routines Better

Focusing on recovering your body after a workout is important at all stages, but especially at beginner and transitional stages. When you are starting with a new workout routine, or switching to a new one, your body needs time to adapt itself. This is possible only when ample recovery time is allowed. Without giving the body rest, the results will never be as good, says an article by Very Well Fit.

2. Gives Better Results

As mentioned above, recovery is essential for results. Even the most well-designed workout will prove to be futile if it isn't combined with the correct amount of rest time. Study shows that between two people following the same workout routine, the one who rests enough, gets better results.

3. Prevents Injury and Overstraining

The NIFS for fitness talks about how good fitness programs are designed with built-in rest days. They realize that overexposing the body to work out will cause more damage than good. If the muscles are overstrained, they might reach a point where they succumb to the pressure. This causes injuries causing double damage- the damage to the body in the current situation, and the days of workout that you lose to recovering from that injury.

4. Restores Homeostasis

For explaining the process of recovery through Science, it is important to understand the body's ability to perform homeostasis. According to NASM magazine,

"Homeostasis is a state of balance within the body that occurs when the variables in the system are regulated to keep internal conditions stable and relatively constant."

This ability of the body is severely affected by stress. Stress hinders the body's capability to perform homeostasis. For hemostasis to continue undisturbed and for the body to remain unharmed, recovering from stress is key.

5. Healing of Micro-tears

A study by CNET explains how body-weight exercises create very small ruptures in your muscles. They are called micro-tears created on the muscles. When given the time to heal, these micro-tears repair themselves and the muscles grow. If not, they grow larger and cause the inflammation of muscles, resulting in pain and decreased performance.

Exercise and workouts are a great way to stay fit and healthy, but it is important to remember that recovery is just as important. Without recovery, the body cannot grow and adapt to the workouts that it is put through. As a result, it is important to remember that recovery is a crucial part of exercise and workouts.

In our later blogs, we will talk about the best ways you can recover your body after a rigorous workout. Until then, for more fitness-related content, visit SocialBoat.