Running is such an easy and convenient way of keeping yourself fit. And people worldwide are grabbing their trainers and hitting the road in order to stay on top of their health. What makes running such a popular form of exercise is that it can be carried out solo or part of a group, and it can even be performed in the gym or outdoors depending on your preferences.
As jogging is currently sweeping the nation at the moment, we thought we would put together this article discussing the most popular trends at present for recovering after this exercise. Whether you are preparing for a marathon or just taking a leisurely jog, you must cool down your muscles aptly to avoid any injury. It is known that allowing your body to recover after a run is as important as stretching before you go.
How Allowing Your Body to Recover Affects You
By taking an allotted time out of your regular jogging routine in order for you to allow your body to recover, you will not only see an improvement in your stamina, but your overall health. To some athletes, taking a well-deserved break from your schedule seems like you are being lazy and not reaching your goals. However, running constantly without a set break to ensure that your body is fully recovered can be very harmful in the long term.
What recovery does is, it enables your body to fully repair and restore any damaged tissue that may have occurred while you were running. Therefore if you do not give your body this chance to rest, you are most certainly putting yourself at a higher risk of acquiring a sports injury. During this time your body also is given the opportunity to replenish its energy resources which enables you to increase your stamina as you have an added boost after the recovery has taken place.
Popular Recovery Trends
There is such a wide range of recovery trends being used by runners at the moment which give them ample time to rest after running. Above we have looked at how allowing your body to recover can benefit your health and your jogging capabilities. However now we are going to briefly look into the most common ways runners are carrying out their recovery time.
Recovery Sleepwear
Brands such as Under Armour have produced their own innovative clothing ranges which aid the recovery process while you sleep. Sounds quite nifty right? Well when looking into this new range of apparel we can see that the items themselves are rather expensive. So what makes them so impressive?
Within the clothing they have included a bioceramic print on the inside which used Far Infrared. What Far Infrared does is, absorbs the heat from your body, that you have produced while working out, and reflects it back to your skin in the form of energy. This therefore permeates its way into the muscles and allows them to recover at a steady rate while you are asleep.
However, during your sleep your muscles naturally repair themselves, which means that you can receive the same effects without the heavy price tag. Along with the positive effect on muscle recovery, Far Infrared is believed to have multiple positive effects on your body while you sleep such as being able to assist with fat loss, detoxing, chronic fatigue, water retention and skin disorders.
Sports Massage
Attending a sports massage appointment is a very common way that runners aim to enhance their muscle recovery after an intense training session or run. During a deep massage your tissue membrane opens up and allows oxygen and nutrients to enter while expelling waste such as lactic acid. This process aids recovery by promoting the free flow of the much needed nutrition after a run.
As well as this, it also benefits tight and damaged muscle tissues. Due to the stroking movements, the blood flow within your muscles is greatly increased as the pressure helps it to move around the body faster. Therefore you will find great benefit as tight muscles prevent nutrients and energy from entering the tissue in order to repair it after exercise.
Along with these two key features; sports massage also helps to prevent running pain and also allows your muscles to relax in order to prevent injury.
You can also perform a massage at home by yourself if you prefer for a more convenient way of promoting blood flow and muscle reparation. By purchasing a foam roller you can place this below your legs and gently roll your body along it to relax the muscles. This is a very effective way of loosening up your muscles after a run if you find acquiring a massage difficult.
Electrical Muscle Stimulation
Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) works by sending electrical impulses through the body. This tool can be used two ways, for increasing your strength and recovering your muscles after a workout or exercise. A small device transports these electrical impulses through electrodes placed on the skin near to the muscles that require stimulation.
What these impulses do is that they force the muscles to contract and relax without any interruption from your brain. This therefore passively activates your muscles in order to increase blood flow while in a resting state without having the added stress on your body if your muscles are weakened by your exercise.
Cold Therapy
A widely used form of muscle recovery is by using a cold compress or taking an ice bath in order to cool your body down. This trend mainly helps with reducing inflammation and blood flow within the muscles which gives you ample recovery after an intense training session. Most commonly this practice is used after your muscles have undergone pain while running, as the ice baths tend to lower the inflammation of the injury.
What Running Recovery Style Best Suits You?
Now we have taken the time to explore the current trends out there for running recovery, we want to know what you think about them. Out of the ones listed above, which do you find more appealing and do you actually do any of these right now? Or do you even have another way of re-cooperating your muscles after a jog? Then get in touch with us over on our social media channels where we will happily chat to you about all thing running and fitness.
You can also take a look at our online store Sports Fitness where you will find an extensive range of apparatus and clothing to assist you with your jogging journey. From running apparel to accessories, we have got everything you will need under one roof!
This article has been written exclusively for Sports Fitness by Loren Astbury.
