What Is Active Recovery & How to Approach It
We’ve all been there. You’ve just finished 50 minutes of HIIT or a five-mile run. You’re hot, you’re sweaty, you got things to do with the rest of your day. All you want to do is jump in the car and split. Maybe grab a smoothie and then get on with the rest of your day.
Don’t do that.
Instead, make sure you’re setting aside time for active recovery. This blog will help you understand more about what active recovery is and how to incorporate it into your workout routine during rest days.
What is Active Recovery?
Active recovery is a workout routine that has a lower intensity than the workout routine it's following or replacing. Active recovery can also take place on your day off, or on a day that you’re just totally spent.
Another way to put it is that active recovery is a scheduled time between sessions of high-intensity workouts, just like all your other scheduled workout sessions.
Choosing to prioritize active recovery helps to prevent a lot of the most common experiences after a tough workout session: delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), muscle damage, inflammation, and a feeling of physical fatigue. Don’t panic - the muscle damage is actually normal - it’s small, microscopic tears that can occur when a muscle is stressed beyond what it's used to in daily activity.
Research suggests that doing nothing might not be the best recovery technique. So, much as you’re tempted to, make sure you are getting in active recovery just as much as any of your other exercise priorities.
Three Ways to Approach Active Recovery
Active recovery can be done in three ways:
Between exercise sets.
Immediately following a tough exercise session.
Between exercise days.
Between exercise sets:
Studies show that active recovery can sometimes increase the length of time you can perform without burning out during a workout. So, instead of laying down in between sets or sitting down when your partner works, try some active recovery until it’s go-time again.
Research from Western State Colorado University found that active recovery beats passive recovery every time when it comes down to performance. The study found that “when compared with passive recovery, active recovery has been shown to increase the length of time the athlete could perform without reporting fatigue and help athletes sustain power output.”
Immediately following a tough exercise session (The Cool-Down):
Active recovery is recommended for 6-10 minutes after a workout session
Light cardio exercises like walking or cycling can help bring your heart rate down
Between exercise days:
Typical active recovery activities include walking, swimming, cycling, jogging, yoga, or active stretching
The key is to find an activity that’s low-intensity and keeps your heart rate at 30-60% of your maximum heart rate
If you don’t track your heart rate or don’t know what your maximum is, you can use the talk-test
How to Plan Active Recovery
Since active recovery is a scheduled time between sessions of high-intensity workouts, we need to make sure we are planning active recovery just like we plan everything else.
So, for example, if you’re strength training four days a week, maybe you’re hitting the weights Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Then, on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday we would plan for some sort of active recovery.
What are Active Recovery Workouts
Active recovery workouts can be done by walking outside or using cardio equipment such as a bike, rowing machine, elliptical, or swimming. Maybe you hit the pool for 30 minutes, or maybe you do some easy cardio for thirty minutes.
Of course, we’re not doctors, so make sure you ask yours before you go doing anything wild. But here are some ideas of what active recovery might look like for you.
30-minute cardio-based workout
5-minute warm-up, 20-minute steady pace, 5-minute cool-down.
Foam roll: Calves, hip flexors, and pecs.
Foam roll - calves, hip flexors, and pecs
Slowly roll over the entire area until you find the tender spot
Hold still on this spot for 30 seconds up to 2 minutes
Stretch: Calves, hip flexors, and pecs.
Circuit: Banded bridge, lateral band walk, and reverse fly.
Perform 12-15 reps of each exercise in a row for 1-3 sets, depending on how much time you have
Banded bridge:
Lay down on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the mat, your arms extended at your side and your palms up.
Keep your feet flat and press through your heels as you squeeze the glutes to raise your hips off the mat.
When your glutes touch the mat, go right back up into the bridge.
Lateral band walk:
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and toes pointed straight ahead.
Keep your knees bent and your upper body tight as you step sideways.
Take 10-15 steps one way and 10-15 steps back the other way.
Reverse fly:
Reverse fly: Hold the band in front of you with your hands shoulder-width apart. The band will stretch as you open your arms out to a "T" position. Squeeze the shoulder blades together and keep your shoulders down. Hold the “T” position for 2 seconds while you squeeze your upper-back muscles and then slowly return to the starting position (taking about 4 seconds to do so).
Finding the Right Active Recovery
There are many methods of active recovery to choose from, just as many as regular workouts, so it's important to know which one will leave you feeling more energized than exhausted.
Make it fun: Choose an activity that you enjoy. Yoga, swimming, cycling, walking, and stretching are all low-intensity activities, but you can think outside the box and make it fun! Check out these beginner stretches for some ideas!
Don’t go full send: Monitor your performance to make sure you’re not hitting it too hard on active recovery days. How do you feel when you get back to the gym? Do you feel rested and refreshed or not? Adjust accordingly.
Treat yourself: Consider including foam rolling or getting a massage as part of your recovery routine.
Some Active Recovery Ideas
As cool down following a workout
As a cool down following a workout, stop and sit or lie down.
If you keep moving, it can greatly help you recover.
Gradually reduce your effort from there.
During interval (circuit) training
If you participate in interval or circuit training, a set of active recovery exercises between sets is also beneficial.
A study by the American Council on Exercise found that athletes who ran or cycled until the point of fatigue recovered faster while continuing at 50 percent of their maximum effort versus stopping completely.
On rest days following strenuous activity
On rest days following strenuous activity, you can still participate in active recovery.
Try going for a walk or an easy bike ride. You can also try stretching, swimming, or yoga. Active recovery on your rest days will help your muscles recover.
An active recovery day should include different activities from your usual workout at the gym. You shouldn't be working at maximum effort. You should go slow and not push yourself too hard.
Water Exercise
Swimming is a low-impact exercise that's easy on your joints and muscles. And at Deep End Fitness you get all of that and a badass community to join. Plus, a lot of research suggests that water may help reduce inflammation.
Tai chi or yoga
Research shows tai chi offers a host of aerobic fitness-boosting, pain-relieving benefits. Yoga increases flexibility, body control, and breathing. It also promotes blood flow to help repair your broken-down muscle tissues. Everyone can benefit from that!
Walking
Walking is so underrated. It’s one of the best forms of active recovery, and there are almost no barriers to entry to getting outside and getting fresh air. Walking at a leisurely pace can enhance blood flow, improve circulation, and help with recovery.
Cycling
A stationary bike is a great alternative to other impact movements like jogging since it’s so low impact. Regular cycling reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and increases lung health, circulation, and more.
The Goal of Active Recovery
The goal of any recovery technique is to help your body return to its idea of “normal.” People are different, and their bodies are different, so that baseline of normal will be different for everyone.
And, it might change! As you get stronger and used to heavier weights and longer workouts, your idea of normal will shift. Your workouts, and your active recovery, should change too.
Many Benefits to Active Recovery
Active recovery can really offer a lot to athletes anywhere. By using low-intensity, low-impact movement to increase blood flow, bring oxygen-rich blood to tissues, and remove the cellular waste produced during exercise you can continue the positive side effects your regular workouts bring!
Another way to look at active recovery is that it’s a way to deliver important nutrients to your muscles so that they can recover faster than if you were just wasting the day away, sitting on the couch.
But don’t forget - while active recovery is generally considered safe. If you’re in pain and suspect you have an injury, avoid active recovery and see a medical professional. If you’re injured, in pain, or very fatigued, your body may need passive recovery instead. You earned it!