No matter whether you have had a cardio-vascular workout or been hitting the weights, what you do after your workout will be equally as important as what you do during it if you want to avoid injury and help your body recover as quickly as possible.
The first thing to ensure that you do is a cool down. If you have been running, make sure you walk briskly for 5 to ten minutes afterwards and if you have been training with heavy weights, consider dropping to a much lower weight before stopping completely.
What you eat or drink after a workout will also have a major effect on how you feel and what your body does once it has finished training. Consuming an Optimum Nutrition recovery shake can help ensure that your body has the exact nutrients that it needs to not only recover quickly and effectively, but also to ensure that your muscles get the maximum benefit of the workout you have done. Always try to get good quality protein and complex carbohydrates inside you within an hour of exercising.
Whilst an Optimum Nutrition recovery shake will help your muscles recover, you also need to be sure that you replace fluids as well as energy. Not only will this keep you feeling focussed and healthy, but it will also aid muscle recovery, increase metabolic function and improve nutrient transfer too, helping you get far more from any supplements you take.
Be sure to stretch out after any exercise, even if it is only gentle, and always be sure not to do too much. Allow yourself time to rest before you exercise again to be sure that your body can repair itself in the right way.
Whether you wish to use body building supplements to increase the impact of any weight training you have done or whether you simply wish to trim down as much as possible, the right warm down and focus on nutrition is as likely to help you get there as the training itself.
