Since I workout outside, there’s never a time when I don’t finish a workout without some sort of chunkage attached to my body in one way or another. Along with the chunkage my clothing is always soaking wet and often salt (from sweat) infused. I look pretty bad sometimes. Today an old Chinese couple seemed very impressed with, or possibly concerned by my appearance as I bounded through my stair climbing/run. I have no idea what they said as they smiled politely and yammered, they had quite a bit to say. It was the hand gesturing that made me come to the conclusion that it was my sweat-covered body and dusting of salt that caught their attention.
My point — No mater who you are, post workout you need to take the time to stretch, eat and clean your body, preferably in that order. You need to stretch out your muscles, feeding them with oxygen rich blood to alleviate soreness, prevent injury and prepare them for future workouts.
Eat as soon as possible after an intense workout — The rule of thumb is to eat a small protein/carb rich meal within one hour of your workout. I eat as soon as I can muster the strength. This window of time is when your body is best suited to replenish what it’s used during your workout, supporting better recovery. Eat real food or suck down a “recovery drink.” I’ve used both, but I prefer real food.
Hit the showers — You stink and there’s fungus growing on those wet cloths and in all your cracks and crevices. The best thing to do is to immediately change out of your wet cloths, stretch and eat. After you’ve eaten, get in the shower and loofah up. Don’t forget to moisturize, all that sweating dries your skin.
After that I usually lay on the floor with my legs up to rest my legs. Do what you like, just make sure to be good to your body and let it recover so it’ll be even stronger for the next workout.
Ooh! Don’t forget to rehydrate with water while you’re doing the above!
P.s. If you liked this post, you may find this earlier MS post interesting.
Physical Funness for the Motion Starved 