Why Recovery And Taking Rest Are Important For Building Muscle?

A challenging workout goal cannot be achieved without including the recovery phase. Taking time for rest or recovery between intense workouts is as important as training. But many of you still think that why it’s important to take a day off while we can do more training? The answer is: your muscles don’t actually grow when you work out, instead muscles develop during recovery or rest mode. Taking a rest day allows your body to heal the tears formed during exercise. On the other hand, muscle recovery diminishes the risk of injuries and strengthens muscles to perform better in the next session. Generally, a body takes 24-48 hours to recover itself but this time can be increased or decreased according to your intensity and other important factors like nutrition, amount of sleep, alcohol habits, etc. So, sometimes instead of spending extra hours at the gym, taking the rest can help your body in muscle building.

What Happens When You Don’t Allow Your Body to recover?

If you are not allowing your body to relax, you may not be able to see the desired size and shape of your muscles without recovery. The reason is when you undergo a strenuous workout, your muscle fibers break and require time to heal. But not allowing your muscles to rebuild those tears may result in inflammation and muscle soreness. Having some rest not only heal your muscles but also build them stronger to perform even better. Here are the following signs you may notice if your body lacks recovery.

Signs You Need Muscle Recovery

Soreness:

It’s normal to have temporary muscle soreness in earlier weeks or sometimes after workouts. But if your soreness is not improving even after 48 hours, you should take some rest.

Sleep Issues:

Exercise puts enormous stress on your body and if you continuously stressed your muscles, your body may release more cortisol hormones. Increased cortisol levels make it hard for you to get quality sleep.

Low excitement:

Not taking recovery time can make you feel demotivated all the time or you may see your workout as your work, not as training.

Low Performance:

Recovery plays a very important role in improving your performance every time you work out. Your muscle fibers rebuild stronger every time they break. Not giving them time to repair can directly affect your workout performance. So, if you are feeling that your performance is not getting better than last week, you may need recovery time.

Benefits of Rest or Recovery during Muscle Building Routines

Prevents Overtraining:

Training your muscles continuously can affect your health badly. Overtraining increases the risks of dehydration and low libido. Taking rest between workouts not only prevents you from doing overtraining but also keeps you away from many health risks. Other than this, not taking rest may lead you to a condition called overtraining syndrome which may result in irregular heart rate, low appetite, and low enthusiasm.

Improves Performance:

Pushing your body more than it can handles results in low endurance, low muscle mass, and fatigue which will certainly affect your fitness. Ample Recovery time helps your muscles to rebuild, grow stronger, handle more stress, and develops muscle mass.

Reduces Injury Risks:

Overstraining your muscles for a long time causes muscle soreness which may result in poor poses during workouts. These Poor workouts often result in fatal injuries. Giving your muscles time to recover decreases the risks of injury during training.

Refill Body energy:

Your body uses too much energy during workouts. Glycogen is the element stored in muscles and provides muscular energy. Not giving sufficient recovery time can deplete Glycogen levels which can only be stored by taking rest.

Promotes Relaxation:

Repetitive training puts enormous stress on your body physically as well as mentally. A tired mind usually results in low productivity in other day-to-day tasks too. Having a good sleep or rest relieves you from workout stress and helps you make good decisions throughout the day.

Major Factors Important for Muscle Recovery

Sleep:

Sufficient Sleep is very effective for a healthy recovery. Having a sound sleep not only relaxes your mind and muscles but also develops muscle mass, balances hormones, and replenishes energy levels. So, in order to make your body work in its optimum condition, you should sleep at least 8 hours every night. In case, you are having difficulty in sleeping, you should take sleep inducer supplements.

Nutrition:

Your diet decides whether you will heal fast or slow. Consuming adequate nutrients help your body to repair and develop muscle mass fast. Foods rich in protein and carbs are very effective for fast recovery. On the other hand, processed foods and alcoholic beverages contain toxins that can be poisonous to your body and may lead to a longer recovery time than usual.

Hydration:

Having ample water levels can reduce your muscle recovery time. Your body loses a lot of water in the form of sweat during intense workouts. It’s your duty to refill that lost water as it is very important to maintain body functionality. So, whether you are on a rest day or not you should drink plenty of water as it very good for post-workout recovery. Staying hydrated prevents you from muscle cramps and also helps in supplying oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Drinking 2-3 liters of water is considered healthy for the body.

Stress:

Intense physical activities put stress on your body physically as well as mentally and a stressed mind is only going to increase your body’s recovery time. If not taken care of stress may increase injury risk and may discourage you from exercise.

Alcohol:

Alcohol habit has a negative effect on your recovery. Regular consumption of alcohol affects your sleeping quality. Less sleep Interrupts the protein synthesis process and secretion of testosterone which is a very essential factor to recover fast and build muscles.

Tips to Improve Muscle Recovery

Get a Good Sleep:

Those who do intense workouts require more sleep than others. That is why you should sleep between 8-10 hours. However, here are some sleeping tips that will boost your recovery during sleep.

• Studies have proved that those who Sleep before twelve results in more effective recovery than those who don’t,
• Try to sleep with minimal or no lights turned.
• Sleeping in the fresh air with cool environment improves the sleep quality

Muscle Recovery Supplements:

If you are a trainer, athlete, or gym enthusiast then including a muscle recovery supplement is necessary for you. These supplements contain natural herbs that reduce internal swelling, Joint Pain, and inflammation in muscles caused due to heavy workout sessions. In addition, Ingredients present in these supplements calm anxiety, relieve stress and promote muscle growth.

A Healthy Diet:

When it comes to Building muscles, Protein is considered an important element. Moreover, Foods that are high in protein reduces soreness and help in rebuilding muscles. So, it is very important for you to take a healthy diet. Here are some foods that you can include in your diet for fast muscle recovery.

• Eggs
• Spinach
• Salmon
• Bananas
• Cottage Cheese
• Turmeric
• Chia Seeds

Get a Massage:

Getting a massage improves blood circulation as well as transfer oxygen of nutrients throughout your muscles. Studies have found that getting a body massage on rest days helps your muscles to recover fast by reducing soreness, muscle pain, and increasing flexibility. In addition to this, getting a massage improves your athletic performance and prevents you from future injuries.

Take a cool bath:

HIIT training can cause micro damage to your muscles which may lead to muscle soreness and internal swelling. Having these issues is a normal thing for every gym-goer as muscles are adapting to the heavy workouts and building themselves stronger to perform better. But if you are still feeling sore after 48hrs, you should take a cool bath. Performing this therapy reduces inflammation and supports muscle recovery.

Conclusion

When you perform heavy physical activities, you put a strain on your muscles which normally results in internal swelling and Muscle Soreness. To fix this you have to give your muscles time and rest to recover. Muscle Recovery is one of the important parts of your fitness Routine. Successful recovery can be achieved by getting enough rest, consuming a balanced diet, and changing lifestyles. Other than this there are different therapies like massage, cool bath, hot therapy, stretching, etc. that boost your recovery process. The most important thing you can do for fast muscle recovery is you should notice the signs your body gives you. If you are feeling muscle soreness, muscle pain, and tiredness then you don’t need to force your body to workout. Your body may need some rest or time to heal itself and it’s your duty to listen to your body and provide it what it needs the most.

FAQ’s

Q.1 what are active and passive recovery?

Ans.1 As the name suggests, active recovery is the recovery that includes low-intensity physical exercises during muscle recovery days. Active recovery helps in maintaining muscle movement and Oxygen levels throughout the entire body.
Examples of Low-intensity physical exercise are Stretching and Yoga.
In Passive recovery, you do the rest entire day with no involvement in physical activities. Passive recovery includes sleep, a balanced diet, massage, sauna, etc.

Q.2 In how much time do our muscles recover themselves if we follow a healthy diet and lifestyle?

Ans.2 It depends on the difficulty of your workout with respect to your fitness level. Workout difficulty commonly includes intensity, duration, and volume of exercises you have done. On average, after low-intensity workout muscles usually take 24hrs to heal while in the case of high-intensity workouts it takes 48-72 hours to heal themselves. Other factors that can impact your recovery are Food Intake, Sleeping Duration, and the amount of stress you are taking.

Q.3 Is it ok to work out if I am feeling soreness in muscles?

Ans.3 Muscle Soreness is normal for every gym-goer. But whether you should do a workout or not depends on your soreness level. If you are feeling a little sore then it’s ok for you to perform light exercises like lunges, walking, etc. But if you are having more than a little soreness, you should take a day off and give your body some rest to recover. In case your soreness is not improving even after a week. You should consult a health expert.