No matter if your goal is to build muscles, lose fat or increase athletic performance such as gaining speed or strength, it is important to recover after a workout. Even if it’s a practice sport that you do every day or go to the gym, you won’t see progress if you don’t recover.

You don’t get progress by doing workouts or exercises because they just act as a stimulus, you get real progress only after recovery. So, there are a few things you should be doing to recover better, which will help in your progress.

1. Cold shower

A cold shower helps you when you are suffering from muscle soreness and body pain. Usually, people take a hot shower because it is comfortable and feels good. Cold shower, however, increases the blood flow in your body and it kicks in your central nervous system by which your body will slowly start getting recovered. You can feel uncomfortable with cold showers at the very beginning but once you get used to it, it will give you a lot of benefits and you should give it a try.

2. Post-workout nutrition

Workouts are not just important. The meal you take or the food you eat after the workouts are one of the most important parts because it will help you feel better after your workout is finished. So, make sure you are eating a good combination of protein, carbohydrates, and foods containing low fat as a post-workout meal. Usually, this should be the most important meal of your day and you can rely on lean sources of protein like egg whites, chicken, fish or protein shakes and carbohydrates like rice, fruits, noodles or pasta. However, there is a myth saying “you should eat within the 30 minutes of your workout”. This is not necessarily true but it is important to eat within 1 or 2 hours after your workout.

3. Massages

When you workout, your muscle tissues break down and scar tissues are formed in the healing process. These scar tissues may hinder with proper circulation of blood and hence affect recovery. Thus, it is important to consider deep tissue massage at least once a month. This will help in the proper blood circulation in your body and also helps in faster recovery.

So, try to get enough rest and follow these steps and make sure you progress better with increase recovery.