How to Stop Neglecting Recovery in Your Workouts

At Muscle Butter USA, we believe in pushing harder, stretching further, and doing more.

We’re a team of workers, but we’re also a team of recoverers.

We know that workouts are about pushing ourselves to the limit. But while our minds are racing, we know that it’s important to give our bodies a rest. Two huge benefits of recovery are injury prevention and improved performances—both major in making sure our bodies keep moving. Muscle growth only happens after the workout.

Here are some tips from Muscle Butter USA on how to incorporate recovery into your workout routine:

  1. Cool down after your workout

    Once our body is done with the heavy lifting, we make sure and spend at least 15 minutes cooling down. It’s not a good idea to stop a workout abruptly. Instead, spend those 15 minutes doing something with minimal impact, but make sure to keep moving.

    Walking or jogging after workouts are great ways to cool down. We also don’t mind some low-resistance biking on a spin bike.

    Apply Muscle Butter after a workout to make sure your muscles have the ultimate cool-down.

  2. Eat right

    Our bodies respond to whatever we put in them. Carbs replenish the energy that you used during your workout. Proteins enables your tired muscles to repair, and eventually grow.

    Keep these two food groups in mind while your body is in recovery to make sure your body is rebuilding.

  3. Deep stretching is its own workout

    Don’t stretch as a way to cool down. Instead, embrace stretching as its own workout, and try to deep stretch at least twice a week. Yoga is a great way to deep stretch, but you could also go a more targeted approach. Acknowledge where you feel tension, and make sure to stretch that muscle. After stretching, apply Muscle Butter to the tense area to help rebuild and relieve sore muscles.

  4. Breathe

    Experts say that good breathing can either wake you up, or calm you down. Here’s an example of a breathing exercise we do after our workouts to promote recovery:

    Lie on your back.
    Inhale for 3-4 seconds.
    Pause for 2 seconds.
    Exhale for 10 seconds
    Pause for 2 seconds.
    Repeat 10 times.

  5. Get some shut-eye

    Sleep restores your energy and gives your muscles time to rebuild. While sleeping, our bodies release human growth hormone and other chemicals that help build muscle.

    Sleep also regulates our body’s production of cortisol, our stress hormone. The less sleep you get, the more your body produces cortisol. Not only will your mind feel more stressed out, but increased cortisol can cause muscle loss and fat gain.

We believe that our body and mind need to pause in order to take a step forward.

Take some time to incorporate recovery into your daily routine, and your body will thank you. Apply Muscle Butter USA before and after a workout to provide ultimate recovery for muscle repair.

Back to Journal