Whether you’re an obstacle course racer, a gym rat/mouse or you’ve just tried a weird new pilates class and sitting down on the toilet is a new painful experience for you here are my top 6 tips for recovery from physical pushing your limits!
1. Epsom Salt Bath – I take one every night regardless of the activity! That’s right every night! It’s just become part of my routine now. I add 2-3 drops of essential lavender oil to help my body wind down and extra Epsom salts after a particularly hard race or workout.
2. Drink Tart Cherry Juice & Glutamine – It’s important to reduce inflammation to help my body recover from sore muscles. I usually mix a shot of tart cherry juice with water and then a scoop of Magnum G (glutamine) into the drink and chug before bed.
Here are some sources of information on why Tart Cherry Juice is anti-inflammatory.
Medical Daily, Health Impact News, and Prevention.com
3. Get a Full 8 Hours Sleep – I have 6 tips that I Periscoped last night. Catch the replay here!
4. Flush Lactic Acid Out Of Your Muscles – I try to flush the lactic acid build-up in my muscles at least the day after or the day after day 2 pain. The 2nd day after a hard workout or race is always the worst for me. This week I’m going to attempt some stationary bike workouts to get my cardio in while being easy on my joints.
5. Massage, Chiro, Physio – I try and book a deep tissue massage or a chiropractic or physiotherapy appointment after a hard workout or race to ensure I’m taking care of myself.
My go-to RMT in Toronto is Tracey Elliott at BodyTrace.
My go-to Chiropractor in Toronto is Dr. Joe Vomvas at Modus Health & Performance.
6. Eat Healthy Meals – I know that you may really want that treat meal after a race but treat meals usually contain highly inflammatory foods and can actually hinder reducing inflammation in the body. Stick to your amazing clean eating meal plans and I promise recovery will go easier!
Happy Recovering!