Making sure your body makes the most of your daily exercise routine.

It is well known that daily/weekly exercise plays an important role in keeping your mind and body happy and healthy. It’s one of the greatest things we can do for ourselves, next to sleep and whole foods, to feel good and function at our absolute best! 

But did you know that in exercising regularly, you also need to help your body recover effectively? And that there are certain things you can do to help make this happen? If you want to learn more, you’re in the right place!

Let’s start here so we’re all on the same page: recovery is the return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength. Optimal physical recovery is best attained through an integrative approach, focusing on nutrition/hydration, sleep, and stress management. 

Refuel, rehydrate and rebuild; these are our cornerstones of post-workout recovery. 

Now let’s get into the good stuff!

Proper nutrition is vital to optimize recovery after endurance exercise. Dietary carbohydrate and protein provide the requisite substrates to enhance glycogen resynthesis and remodel skeletal muscle proteins, respectively, both of which would be important to rapidly restore muscle function and performance.

Nutrition to Support Recovery from Endurance Exercise Optimal Carbohydrate and Protein ReplacementMoore, Daniel R. PhD

Post-exercise nutrition

The primary goals of recovery nutrition are to: appropriately refuel and rehydrate the body, promote muscle repair and growth, support immune function, and boost muscle adaptation from the training session. 

But all of this only happens when the right foods/drinks are being consumed. What we eat becomes very important post-exercise!

Inadequate nutrition recovery – from no food intake or the wrong food intake – can result in: increased fatigue during your next workout or daily activities like work/school/errands, reduced performance at your next training session/game/event, suboptimal gains from the session just completed and/or increased muscle soreness.

The food we eat to help our body recover is just as important as the food we eat to fuel our bodies.

What to eat post-workout

So what should we be preparing ourselves post-workout?

Of course, everyone is different in what they like to/can eat, what their appetite is like, and what sits comfortably in their stomach in the hours after exercise but speaking in a general sense, post-workout foods should: be rich in quality (quality = keyword!) carbohydrates to replenish muscle fuel stores, contain some lean protein to promote muscle repair and/or include a source of fluid and electrolytes to rehydrate the body effectively.

There’s never one “best” option for what to eat after exercise. We’re all different human beings, with different bodies, needs, exercise levels, dietary restrictions, etc. Finding the right food combinations for you may take a bit of trial and error, but it’s not something to stress over. Ingesting whole foods post-exercise is a great place to start and then you can get creative from there.

Here are some examples of quality carb, lean protein food options that you can incorporate into your diet on both exercise days and rest days:

  • Lean chicken and salad
  • Muesli with yoghurt and berries
  • Fresh fruit and Greek yoghurt
  • Spaghetti with lean beef bolognese sauce
  • Chicken burrito with salad and cheese
  • Small tin of tuna on crackers with a banana
  • Tofu/tempeh with brown rice and sweet potatoes
  • Zucchini pasta with avocado pesto

Read on to the end to find my fav smoothie bowl recipe!

Dairy-based fluids such as smoothies and flavoured milk are especially handy if you want protein, carbohydrate, fluid, and electrolyte in one go, and on the go!

Quick tip #1: The body is most effective at replacing carbohydrates and promoting muscle repair and growth within the first ~60-90min after exercise. However, don’t worry if you can’t get in your source of carbs that fast! This process will continue to occur for another ~12-24hr. So, you’ll maximize your recovery within the first 60-90min but that recovery can happen the next morning/day as well if the food you intake is healthy and of high quality.

Quick tip #2: Consuming frequent meals throughout the day containing adequate carbohydrates (according to training intensity – the higher the intensity the more carbs you want to consume) and protein (approximately 0.25 g·kg−1) will help to fully restore muscle glycogen and sustain it over prolonged recovery periods.

Remember, drink that H2O!

Rehydrating is also a part of post-exercise nutrition and a very important one at that! Water regulates body temperature, lubricates joints, and transports nutrients, so rehydrating should begin soon after finishing your training session, game, or event. During the recovery phase, staying hydrated can help stimulate blood flow to the muscles, which can reduce muscle pain. In addition, hydration can help flush out toxins which can exacerbate muscle soreness.

Dehydration can put the body through unnecessary stress affecting your blood pressure, stamina, kidney function, and physical efficiency in your subsequent exercises/workouts/games/events. Signs of dehydration can include fatigue, muscle cramps, and dizziness. 

Note: Caffeine and alcohol-containing beverages are not ideal rehydration fluids since they promote an increased rate of diuresis.

Indeed, sleep is often anecdotally suggested to be the single best recovery strategy available to elite athletes. Ensuring athletes gain an appropriate quality and quantity of sleep may be important for optimal athletic performance.

Nutrition, sleep and recoveryShona L Halson, European Journal of sport science 8 (2), 119-126, 2008

Sleep

The relationship between sleep and overall physical health is well-documented. Sleep allows both the body and brain to recover during the night and services all aspects of our body in one way or another: molecular, energy balance, as well as intellectual function, alertness, and mood. 

But sleep isn’t just essential for the brain. Sleep affects almost every tissue in our bodies. It affects growth and stress hormones, our immune system, appetite, breathing, blood pressure, and cardiovascular health. Your body actually releases hormones during sleep that help to repair cells and control the body’s use of energy.

Here are some tips and tricks you can implement to help optimize your sleep each night: 

  • Keep bedtime hour and wake up hour consistent every day
  • Make sure your sleep space is dark, quiet, and comfortable.
  • Exercise daily (but not right before bedtime).
  • Limit the use of electronics/blue light before bed.
  • Unwind before crawling into bed. Take a warm bath/shower, meditate, read a book.
  • Avoid alcohol and stimulants such as caffeine late in the day.
  • Avoid nicotine.

Sleep must be made a priority and recognized as an essential part of our daily routines if we want to keep our body feeling and functioning at its best for our everyday activities and our high-intensity exercises.

Stretching

Stretching is often forgotten or actively avoided before/after exercise, but there is so much to gain from incorporating a good stretching routine to your exercise plan!

It’s been tested and scientifically proven that stretching your body, especially following exercise of any kind, can help reduce muscle soreness/tenderness, improve flexibility, and, consequently, improve the range of motion of your joints.

Better flexibility can lead to:

  • Improved performance in physical activities
  • Lower risk of injury
  • Joints moving through their full range of motion
  • Muscles working at their most effective

Full body stretching also increases blood flow to the muscle, which is exactly what helps it recover in the best way possible.

Skipping regular stretching means you risk losing the potential benefits. For instance, if stretching helped you increase your range of motion, your range of motion may decrease again if you stop stretching. Yes, stretching can take time, but you can achieve the most benefits by stretching regularly, at least two to three times a week, and especially post-exercise.

If stagnant stretching just isn’t your thing, no need to worry! Perhaps you can introduce some tai chi or yoga into your weekly exercise routine. You’ll be moving, stretching and rehabilitating your mind, body and spirit in a more active and engaging way.

A number of factors contribute to success in sport, and diet is a key component. An athlete’s dietary requirements depend on several aspects, including the sport, the athlete’s goals, the environment, and practical issues. The importance of individualized dietary advice has been increasingly recognized, including day-to-day dietary advice and specific advice before, during, and after training and/or competition.

Role of nutrition in performance enhancement and postexercise recovery Kathryn L Beck, Jasmine S Thomson, […], and Pamela R von Hurst

Nutrition/recovery for endurance athletes

Elite endurance athletes who are aiming to maximize post-exercise recovery so as to maintain or enhance subsequent exercise performance, should target a nutrition strategy that features optimal ingestion of both carbohydrates and protein.

Research has shown time and again that carbohydrates consumed shortly after exercise enhances rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis. This is incredibly important for endurance athletes because their legs are used for almost every activity. If the legs aren’t full of glycogen, performance will inevitably suffer. Complex carbohydrates are the best choice for endurance athletes. They allow the digestive system to rapidly and efficiently process a greater volume of calories, providing steady energy.

Reminder: Choose foods that have little or no refined sugar or saturated fats.

In addition to carbs and proteins, it is incredibly important to consume sufficient amounts of calories and fluids during workouts/games/races/events, and this includes electrolyte supplementation as well. Just as your car’s engine requires sufficient oil to keep its many parts running smoothly, the body requires electrolytic minerals to maintain smooth performance of vital functions, such as muscle contraction. Athletes who don’t consume a healthy amount of fluids and electrolytes will inevitably impair their performance and may incur painful and debilitating cramping/spasms; a sure way to ruin a workout or race.

3 main things to remember when it comes to feeling good in your body:

  1. Exercise in ways that feel the absolute best for your body. This is how you’ll stick with it.
  2. Eat the foods that feel good in your body. Nourish your body. You deserve it.
  3. Don’t forget to sleep, stretch and hydrate.

Looking for a personal trainer, a new exercise regimen and/or a custom nutrition plan for the new year? I’m accepting new clients and would love to work with you to achieve your fitness and health goals! Send an email and we can get the conversation started.

info@getfitfirst.ca

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Berry Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mixed frozen berries
  • 4 ice cubes
  • Splashes of light coconut milk (enough to get blender moving)
  • 1 tablespoon almond butter
  • Handful of spinach
  • Optional: 1 teaspoon acai powder
  • Optional: maple syrup or sweetener of your choice, to taste

Topping options

  • hemp seeds
  • coconut flakes
  • blueberries
  • cacao nibs
  • freeze dried strawberries

Instructions

  1. Place the frozen berries, ice cubes, coconut milk, almond butter and spinach in a blender. Add acai powder, if using. Blend until smooth, adding additional coconut milk as needed. (As little as necessary so your smoothie will be thick). Taste and add maple syrup or sweetener of choice, if desired. Blend again.
  2. Pour into two bowls and top with hemp seeds, cacao nibs, coconut flakes, blueberries, and/or dried strawberries.
  3. ENJOY!

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