How to recovery from leg day - Tips from "recovery nerd" Pat

Leg day is hardly the most enjoyable day of the week for the majority of us. Because your legs can withstand a lot of weight, they get incredibly sore when you push yourself to the limit.

And, unlike aching arms or shoulders, sore legs frequently make it difficult to walk after squats or a leg workout. So, if you can’t walk after a leg workout regularly, you need to invest some time in resolving this issue – unless you’re okay with waddling around in agony for half the week!

While most people hate leg day at the gym, you’ll end up with skinny legs for eternity if you skip it too frequently! The fact that recovery may be painful is one of the main reasons why so many people despise leg day.

Whether you have a busy week ahead of you or are training for a marathon, your legs need to recuperate correctly before starting your next workout. Follow these easy guidelines to ensure you have a successful leg day recovery!

Why are you hurting after leg day?

We all know that when we train our muscles hard, whether by lifting hefty weights, performing hundreds of repetitions, or burning them up with lengthy or severe cardio, they feel pain. That isn’t exactly a surprise.

But why are your legs aching more than your other muscles? The primary explanation is that your legs have many muscles, and they’re relatively big, which makes it difficult for them to recuperate. On the other hand, smaller muscles, such as the abdominals and biceps, can recover considerably faster. But first, let’s look at the natural processes of muscle pain.

Microtears generated by repetitive muscular contractions or high loads put over a muscle are now recognized to cause muscle pain. Muscular microtears may seem terrible, but they are a natural component of muscle development.

When microtears occur, the skin grows back tougher to prevent additional tearing. As time moves on and you continue to produce muscular tears, the muscles will begin to expand in size, resulting in the apparent muscle gains you may observe after months of training.

Why is training legs hard?

As if leg day wasn’t already on the chopping block, the severe pain is the icing on the cake. But what’s the deal with the legs? Everything boils down to muscular size. Because our legs include some of the biggest muscles in our body, it stands to reason that they will be able to move a lot of volumes—and in this instance, you will feel it when they get burned out.

This impact gets exacerbated by the fact that you use your legs more than nearly any other portion of your body. After all, you’re going to have to use your legs whether you like to or not anytime you need to get someplace.

6 Tips: How to recover from leg day

We’ve created a list of things you may do right now to alleviate the pain caused after a strenuous workout session. While all of these may assist to some extent, only time will restore you to your pre-painful self. Furthermore, while you can combine the techniques listed below, bear in mind that you should do so in a logical order.

For example, icing your legs and having a warm bath will not help. The goal is to keep these things in mind so that you can include them in your routine if required. Many of the recommendations below are also beneficial to your overall health.

1. Keep hydrated

Fluid intake is essential throughout any physical activity. While most individuals bring a drink to the gym, hydration should begin long before entering the gym. Staying hydrated before exercising can help minimize the chance of injury by improving tissue flexibility and fluid flow during exercising.

When you are dehydrated, your body’s cells shrink and become stiff. This stiffness can lead to muscular tears, which can drastically extend your healing period and impede your development.

2. Jump in to some compression recovery boots

We know that compression therapy is a useful tool to ensure muscle recovery and repair. Whether that be a pair of well fitted compression tights or a pair of compression recovery boots – it’s an important piece of the puzzle for those looking for an efficient way to recover from leg day.

Here are some of my most read articles on ‘How to use compression recovery boots‘ and ‘Best Compression Recovery Boots‘.

3. Stretch & Mobilize

When it comes to stretches, the quadriceps and hamstrings are essential. Including exercises that target these muscles in your cooldown regimen can do wonders for reducing discomfort.

While the concept of a cooldown stretch is not widely adopted, even a basic deep stretch that targets the quads and hamstrings would be helpful. Yoga is another alternative for people who want to improve their mobility. Because yoga places your body in situations it would not typically find itself in; you may open up and stretch muscles that would otherwise go unnoticed.

4. Warm up thoroughly

I concur that this is more of a prevention method, but still – it’s an important tip and part of the puzzle!

Working out while your muscles are cold or tight is a recipe for disaster. Not only are you more likely to get harmed if you do this, but you’re also far more likely to be painful afterward.

Instead, consider performing some mild jogging or incline walking on the treadmill before starting your hard squats, deadlifts, lunges, and so on to loosen up your quadriceps and hamstrings.

Warm-up your muscles and get your circulation flowing! It’s also a good idea to ramp up to your work sets appropriately, completing a few scenes with simply bodyweight or much lesser loads to adapt your body to the movement pattern before truly straining your muscles.

5. Foam Roller

If nothing else has been working to relieve the pain, the foam roller is generally the best option. These are brilliant instruments that can go deep in the muscles where specific methods may struggle.

Moreover, foam rolling exercises can help you work out knots in your muscles while enhancing your mobility, avoiding injuries, and recovering faster after intense training sessions. While the rolling procedure might be unpleasant, you will not be sorry after your muscles have relaxed.

6. Pack in some protein

Protein smoothies should get consumed before and after exercises to promote protein synthesis and muscle repair. For quick absorption, combine 10 g of whey with some natural peanut butter or almond milk.

Protein sources such as soybeans or hemp seeds are also healthy but less common in North America since they lack all of the essential amino acids found in animal protein sources such as eggs, lean meats, or fish.

Leg day recovery... there is an easier way...

Leg day may be a frightening training day for many people since they are concerned about leg pain and limited mobility the next day. While there is no way to eliminate muscle pain, you may do steps before and after your workout to assist and reduce the severity of the soreness.

Leg day recovery might seem like a painful process, but if you take the right steps and take help from the tips above, I am sure that you will feel less distraught when leg day comes round the corner.