What are the things you should do after every workout?
- Stretch your muscles
- Cool down
- Rehydrate
- Eat
- Track Your Progress
- Take a Shower
- Rest
Working out doesn’t necessarily have to be in a high-class gym in Manila or with a personal trainer. All you need to work out is a place with the right equipment, a commitment to improving yourself, and knowledge of what to do.
The process of working out is basically pushing your body to its limits, tiring out your muscles along the way and letting them recover so that the next time you work out, they’ll be even stronger. If this process is something new for you, then you should do these 7 things after your workout routine.
Stretch Your Muscles
Stretching your muscles does more than just help cool down your body. Stretching can help increase muscle relaxation and when performed properly, can get tight muscles back to their resting phase. Stretching right after cooling down increases the flexibility and range of motion of your muscles.
The act of stretching every after your workout can help prevent injuries and cramps because of the improving elasticity of your muscles.
Cool Down
After a rigorous workout routine, your heart rate would usually be soaring high. The activities you do to lower it to its normal state is what the cooldown process is. It can be in the form of light jogging gradually getting slower to walking pace, doing yoga poses, or even a short swim.
It would be better if your cooldown is focused on the part of your body which you put all your stress on during your workout. Some gyms in Manila that offer training regimes for specific body types include specific cool down activities designed for them.
Some people use foam rolls during their cooldown too. By rolling on a foam roller, you can choose the muscles you want to give a kind of deep-tissue massage. It won’t give you the muscle relaxing that body treatments give you, but they can help soothe some of the fatigued muscles and improve your blood circulation.
Rehydrate
Working out makes you sweat a lot, and it is very important that you replenish yourself afterward. This is one of the more obvious things in this list but is usually underestimated. It is better to stick to water and avoid drinking energy drinks right after a workout.
Eat
It doesn’t matter whether you eat whole food or liquid food such as protein shakes—what does matter, however, is to eat right after your workout routine. Eating a balanced mix of carbohydrates and protein is recommended for the recovery of your muscles. Listed below are post-workout snacks:
- A glass of chocolate milk
- A bowl of cereal with milk
- Yogurt with fruits and nuts
Eating within one hour of your workout will help restore muscle glycogen, which is the main source of energy in our body—for the recovery of your body for your next workout.
Track Your Progress
If you’re one of those people who wants to see the numbers in what you do, then this might just be your favorite. Keeping track of all the things you’ve done since you started working out can help especially when you have a certain goal you want to achieve, or if you just want to document your improvements over time. Tracking your growth is highly suggested by a lot of gyms in Manila and around the Philippines.
There are many tools on the Internet and on our smart devices that can help in our workout routine by keeping track of what we do. Some applications can even suggest a workout plan for you based on the data you input into them.
Take a Shower
Whether you work out in a gym or in a public place, walking around smelling like sweat is not something anyone is excited to do. Taking a shower after every workout is common sense, but make sure to quickly wash your workout clothes, too.
Rest
Working out will undoubtedly stress your body out, leaving you tired for the rest of the day. One of the basic things to do to get some rest is to sleep for at least 7 to 8 hours. Both oversleeping and being sleep deprived have their negative effects on a person’s health, so you should also take into account how much sleep you are getting.
Working out shouldn’t be something that you do every day. You should also take time to let your body relax for a long period of time. One good way of doing so is by getting body treatments. A trip to the spa or a full body massage can go a long way for your body to relax after a week or so of rough workouts.
Key Takeaway
The post-workout routine is as important as the main workout regime because it is when the recovery and strengthening of your muscles take place. This is why having good post-workout activities will ultimately improve the results of what you have been working hard for.
