Unleash Your Potential: With These Recovery Tools!”

We think, that development and progress are achieved in practice. However, it is the opposite. Magic happens during the recovery phase.

In the workout, you break the muscle down, and it’s about how you replenish it.

In this blog post, I will share 7 tools I use to maximize my recovery.

Supplements.

Even dough supplements are only the tip of the iceberg. When you try to push your body to its limits every day, and it is your job to do so, then every detail matters.

There are hundreds of supplements on the market, and to figure out which are the ones for you requires testing — you will need to do blood work, go to a nutritionist, and check other aspects of your health.

Nonetheless, here is the list of what I use.

Omega-3

Vitamin — D

N -acetylcysteine (NAC)

Magnesium

Cherry extract

Massage gun

I usually practice twice a day, and I take one day off. During those workouts, my body takes a lot of beating, and soreness definitely builds up, and that’s where the massage gun comes in.

It is a perfect way to relieve tension in certain body parts. I use it before and after workouts.

The only difference is that before a workout I will go through each body part faster to get the blood flowing. However, after the workout, I will spend more time on each muscle and go through them much slower, sometimes even stopping and holding the gun at trigger points.

I got my massage gun last Christmas; since then, I haven’t skipped a day without it. I truly recommend buying one, and I believe it’s one of the best investments you can make for your health.

Protein bars

Every active individual who tries to build muscle and recover properly from training sessions has to consume enough protein during the day.

For me — it is 2 grams per kilogram, weighing 70 kg — my goal is to hit 140g of protein. Suppose you use pounds — one gram per pound of body weight. It is not that easy to achieve.

Therefore, I have found protein bars to be very handy. If I can consume one or two — it’s already 20- 40 grams. Of course, most of the bars in the market are very processed.

However, when you practice intensely, undereating and calorie deficit will cause more harm, than eating one processed bar. The same applies to individuals who are busy at work and skip meals.

Active recovery

During the week I get plenty of movement as I practise twice a day. However, on my day off — Sunday, it is easy to be lazy and stay at home all day watching Netflix.

Unfortunately, that is the worst thing you can do for recovery. Science supports the opposite that light exercise is the best thing you can do to recover from physical activity.

Even when you can’t sit on the toilet after a leg workout, it is better to hop on a bike and pedal for 30 minutes than it is to sit on your couch.

Of course, there are times when the only solution is your bed. For example, if you are fighting sickness or just finished an ultra marathon. These are good enough reasons to stay in your bed, but other than that, it’s your laziness.

Compression gear.

Compression gear is another great tool to improve your blood flow.

I remember a couple of years ago, I was suffering every day because of shin splint issues, but as long as I didn’t develop a stress fracture, staying on the sidelines wasn’t an option.

Therefore, I had to find tools to bear with the pain, that’s when I started using compression socks — the pain didn’t disappear, but it was more tolerable.

I remember pulling those socks up to my knees and laughing with my teammates that I look like a cheerleader because nobody wears their socks like that on a basketball court. I didn’t care how I looked — a cheerleader or a soccer player, it didn’t matter. What mattered — it helped.

Sleep

Sleep is the most important tool for the recovery. However, it’s hard for me to elaborate on it because I haven’t mastered it yet.

I use supplements, I shut down the blue light at night, I do yoga Nidra, and — yes, those tools have helped me a lot, but sometimes when I put my head on the pillow, there’s a war of voices in my head, and I can’t help it.

But when I do get a good night’s sleep, my performance goes through the roof.

Ice Baths

Ice baths are another great tool to recover from workouts. Some research shows that if your only goal is to build the most amount of muscle mass, then ice baths can’t slow that process down.

However, being a professional basketball player, pure muscle mass is not the goal. Of course, I want to get stronger, but I want to recover so I can develop different kinds of adaptations as well, like skill, speed, endurance, and others.

If I can recover better and I only have to sacrifice 1–2% of my ability to build muscle — I will take that. If your goal is not to be Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, you probably shouldn’t worry about it.

That is the list I hope you found it useful and applicable. Let me know what you think in the comments or just give it a clap.

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