Fitness
5 Recovery Methods You’re Not Using, but Should | Men’s Journal
This article was produced in partnership with Original Hemp
You have your workout splits and your progressions dialed—but if you’re not equally focused on optimizing recovery, you’re doing a disservice to your efforts.
Recovery is the workhorse of muscle and cardiovascular development. It’s what clears metabolic waste from broken-down fibers and brings in fresh, nutrient-rich blood to help your fibers build back stronger and faster; it’s what helps reduce inflammation so you’re less sore the next day (or two or three) so you can get back to the gym or track sooner; and it’s what helps your systems and muscles sustainably rebuild and repair to keep you injury-free in the long run.
Here, five methods that would be über helpful to add to your recovery routine if you aren’t already incorporating them.
1. Red Light Therapy
A technique loved by Olympians, red light therapy utilizes light on the red spectrum to stimulate cell regeneration. Because of this, it can help your muscles recover from exercise, heal injuries like tendonitis, and you sleep better, according to researchers. This, in turn, allows you to train harder and more frequently.
Using a red light therapy device during your warmup or after your workout has been shown to improve athletic performance. Optimize your muscle recovery even further by adding a few drops of Original Hemp Advanced CBD Therapy Relief+ 2000mg Drops to your post-workout smoothie, which feature anti-inflammatory Cavacurmin Curcumin Complex (turmeric) and pain-relieving White Willow Bark Extract, in addition to the Broad Spectrum Hemp Extract and additional cannabinoid CBC Active Distillate.
2. Cryotherapy and Ice Baths
Ice baths and their more frigid big brother, cryotherapy chambers, both use full immersion in cold temperatures (50-59°F for an ice bath and -184°F to -200°F for cryo) to trigger your fight or flight response. Once you’re out, your body rushes oxygenated blood to your extremities to help with healing.
The clinical studies on the effectiveness of cryotherapy are mixed, but anecdotally, the support is high. Athletes from Lebron to Mayweather to Ronaldo swear by cold therapy to optimize muscle recovery and energy. Leading researchers in the field say ice baths and cryotherapy are effective at “decreasing and replenishing muscles and other soft tissues” after a hard workout.
Pop some CBD, like Original Hemp’s Advanced Relief Capsule, before you head in, too, to double up on the relief ahead.
3. Pneumatic Compression Devices
While it’d be great to get a massage after every workout to loosen tissue and increase localized blood flow, you can achieve the same effect with an at-home compression device like Normatec Legs or Therabody RecoveryAir JetBoots.
These systems fill with air to create intermittent pneumatic compression and increase blood flow throughout your legs, bringing fresh nutrients in to help your muscles heal. These devices help reduce post-workout soreness and help tired legs feel fresh faster, so much so that pretty much every major sports team keeps these devices on hand.
Add to the relief by rolling on Original Hemp’s Advanced CBD Therapy Relief+ Roll-On, which utilizes the medicinal hemp compound to further reduce muscle pain after a workout.
4. CBD
Supported by some research and a whole lot of anecdotal evidence, CBD has been shown to help lower inflammation, relieve pain, reduce anxiety and stress by calming your body’s fight or flight response, and help you sleep better at night. You can pop a CBD capsule before your workout, use an infused topical roll-on or eat a pain-relieving gummy after your workout, or put drops of a CBD tincture under your tongue before bed. They all add up to one thing: less muscle soreness and a faster recovery.
While you can get CBD capsules everywhere nowadays, we love Original Hemp because they boost the power of CBD by incorporating powerful natural ingredients, carefully dialed to work synergistically with the cannabinoid. For example, their Relief+ Capsules use turmeric and Chaga Mushrooms to further increase the anti-inflammatory properties; their Cool Relief+ Roll On leverages pain-relieving menthol and capsicum; their Relief+ Gummies feature calming ashwagandha and muscle-loosening magnesium; and their Advanced CBD Therapy Relief+ 2000mg Drops rock anti-inflammatory Cavacurmin Curcumin Complex and pain-relieving White Willow Bark Extract, and Bioperine. Original Hemp’s products are also all doctor formulated and use some of the highest-quality, whole-plant CBD extracts to maximize cannabinoid absorption and ensure clean, accurate formulas.
Together, these aspects craft especially potent formulations compared to what else is on the market. Current customers are raving about Original Hemp’s powerful products, with many people adding the products as another supplement to their recovery routine.
The easiest way to see the recovery power of CBD is to opt for Original Hemp’s 7-Day Relief+ Trial Kit, which gives you seven days worth of capsules, drops, gummies, and a mini roll-on for just $25.
Bonus: Once you find which formulas fit into your life best, you can score a discount on a monthly auto-fill subscription.
5. Rest and Sleep
If your first thought on seeing this final recovery method is that it’s too simple—well, then you really need to listen up. Taking rest days and prioritizing sleep is hands-down one of the most important things you can do to promote muscle recovery and elevate your training, experts agree.
Proper sleep allows your central nervous system—which controls muscle contractions, reaction time, response to pain, etc.—to recover so it fires at full speed, allows your endocrine system and hormones time to work, and allows your body time to repair cells and muscle fibers. Similarly, taking a day off from taxing, fiber-tearing exercise allows your systems to fully recuperate better.
The best thing you can do to improve rest and recovery is optimizing your potential to actually, physiologically relax. That means avoiding habits that disrupt your sleep quality (e.g., watching TV before bed) and adopting those that help it, like reducing noise and light while you sleep, eating your last meal at least one to two hours before bed, and incorporating CBD before bed, like Original Hemp Advanced CBD Therapy Relief+ Capsules, which is a new and improved formula that further enhances a good night’s rest by incorporating sleep-inducing valerian root and calming chaga mushroom powder into the formula.
Find what product works for you to maximize recovery—now. Use code RELIEF20 to save 20% off at originalhemp.com.
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