How To Make the Most Out of Active Recovery

A lot of us tend to go full-throttle when hitting the gym or exercising at home. The faster and harder we move, the more we hope to improve our strength and endurance. But everyone — even seasoned athletes — needs to rest every now and then.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stop moving altogether. You can still rely on active recovery workouts to help keep up the pace and quicken your recovery.

Sports medicine specialist Lauren Wichman, MD, shares the science behind active recovery and the different ways you can use it to elevate your performance.

What is active recovery?

Active recovery involves doing low-intensity physical activity after completing an exercise that’s strenuous or high-intensity for you. For some, this means stretching after a brisk walk. For others, it might look like doing yoga on days between weight-lifting sessions. By continuing to move during a time of typical rest, you’re helping your body recover in a number of ways while still building your strength and endurance.

“The goal of active recovery is to build on where you’ve been before,” explains Dr. Wichman. “No matter what level of physical fitness you’re at, implementing active recovery into your workout routine can help you continue to grow.”

Benefits of active recovery

Active recovery is about keeping things moving. By staying active with low-intensity exercises, you can experience the following benefits:

• Less muscle soreness
• Better blood circulation
• Faster recovery time
• Greater mobility
• Lower risk of injury
• Reduced stiffness
• Enhanced performance
• Improved mental health

Types of active recovery workouts

Dr. Wichman says you can use active recovery in a few different ways, with the help of low-impact exercises, like:

• Walking or jogging
• Stretching
• Yoga
• Foam rolling
• Pilates
• Cycling
• Swimming

“Any low-impact exercises you can do in between sets, after working out or on rest days fall under the umbrella of active recovery,” she adds.

If you’re already doing these exercises on a regular basis or if these low-impact exercises are intense for you, you can switch to another low-impact exercise as a form of active recovery. Reducing your speed or the number of sets you do can also be a form of active recovery.

“Active recovery is about paring back from what you usually do while continuing to move in a way that’s comfortable,” she clarifies.

While exercising

In between exercises, it helps to keep moving in a less intense way. “If you’re doing sprints or lifting heavy weights, you can focus on intervals of walking, stretching, yoga or foam rolling as forms of active recovery,” suggests Dr. Wichman.

Part of your cool down

Active recovery exercises are often useful immediately after an intense workout. When you’re running on a treadmill, a five-minute cool down in the form of walking helps relax your muscles while maintaining movement. A stretching routine after lifting weights has the same effect.

For beginners who are just getting started by taking a walk around the block, active recovery might look like a light stretching routine or walking at a slower pace.

“If a walk around the block is challenging for you, anything you do after that exercise that’s still allowing you to move is a form of active recovery because it’s getting your heart pumping and your blood moving,” says Dr. Wichman. “That’s been shown to have significant benefits.”

On rest days

You might be more inclined to sit or relax on days when you don’t plan to exercise. Instead, Dr. Wichman recommends doing different activities that involve different kinds of movement to help you recover in a more active way.

For example, if you’re a runner, you might want to cycle or swim on a day when you’re not running several miles.

“When you’re running, you’re using those same exact muscles over and over again, and over time, they can become fatigued if you’re not giving those muscles adequate recovery,” illustrates Dr. Wichman. “With active recovery exercises, you’re not going as intensely as you are on running days, and you’re using different muscles that also continue to build your strength and stamina.”

Alternatively, frequent swimmers or hikers can turn to walking, cycling or yoga as forms of active recovery to help them feel better and more prepared on exercise days. Beginners into yoga might turn to foam rolling or stretching as a form of active recovery on days they’re not practicing, too.

Necessary precautions

There are moments when passive recovery (or true rest) becomes more important than active recovery. You may want to avoid active recovery exercises if you’re:

• Injured
• Sick
• Not getting enough sleep
• Don’t feel up to the activity

“There are other recovery strategies that fall under passive recovery, like sleep, massage or cryotherapy, that can be extremely helpful alternatives when active recovery isn’t an option,” says Dr. Wichman. “Listen to your body, and if you think active recovery might be too much, you can always scale it back or switch gears.”

Why active recovery is essential

If you practice active recovery, you’ll notice over time that you’ll feel less sore and more energized to take on more physical activity. Balance is key when it comes to any physical activity, so do what you can to make sure you continue to move when it makes sense.

“No matter how old you are, if you’re participating in any exercise or activity, your body is in a state of stress and breakdown,” explains Dr. Wichman. “You need some sort of recovery to allow yourself to continue to participate. Active recovery workouts set you up for success so you can achieve more and continue to improve.”