What to Do on Recovery Days for Faster Healing & Long-Term Gains

Rest and recovery are essential for athletes and fitness enthusiasts committed to enhancing performance. Despite this knowledge, many struggle to prioritize rest days and recovery. Instead, they push through fatigue and soreness, thinking this is the only way to improve. However, not only can this mindset lead to burnout and injuries, but it can also derail an athlete's progress. Incorporating the best recovery tools for athletes, such as massage guns, compression therapy, and cold plunges, can significantly speed up muscle repair and reduce soreness. Activities like cross-training, foam rolling, and stretching can also help build strength and endurance so athletes can get back to training faster and perform better when they do. This article will explain how to recover quickly on recovery days while building long-term strength and endurance.
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Why are Recovery Days So Important?

Exercise is stressful for the body. When you work out, whether riding a Peloton Bike or lifting weights, your muscle fibers are tearing, and your heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature all soar. “You provide a stimulus to the body, and the body adapts. You provide a greater stimulus, and the body adapts,” says Yuri Feito, Ph.D., associate professor of exercise science at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. “But if you continue to do that, the body will start breaking down at some point. That’s when you start feeling aches and pains and are at a greater risk of injury.”

Some stress, followed by proper recovery, will strengthen you. After a workout, torn muscle fibers begin rebuilding, enabling your muscles to get bigger. “Recovery allows those fibers to heal and muscle proteins to synthesize so those muscles can grow and be ready for the next training session,” says Dr. Feito. “Your body’s recovery process is where most of the growth occurs.”

Your Body Can Repair Itself

When you work out, your muscle fibers get tiny, microscopic tears. Unlike an injury, these tears are nothing to be alarmed by; Your body repairs them independently, leading to muscle growth.

But your body can't take on those repairs if you constantly ride, cycle, or lift with no breaks. If you’re training as hard as possible but not seeing the gains you want, try taking a rest day, which may be the key to improving your mile time or PR. 

You’ll Prevent Injuries

You might joke that you’re addicted to chasing new PRs on your Peloton or otherwise, but the truth is that training as hard as possible daily has a cumulative wearing effect on your body. By ignoring rest days, you risk two types of injuries: overuse and acute injuries.

Overuse injuries stem from training nonstop, without any time for recovery. You’ll experience an overuse injury in the muscle group doing most of the work in your fitness activity of choice. Runners, for example, may be prone to shin splints, plantar fasciitis, or stress fractures, while cyclists could include cyclists’ knee or tendinitis. The only prevention? More rest.

Acute injuries happen suddenly (rather than overuse injuries, which build up over time). An acute injury is likely tied to muscle fatigue and an inability to maintain good form. 

‍Translation: You’ve exhausted your muscles, and they can no longer perform how you want them to. Poor form leads to injuries, such as tearing a muscle or spraining an ankle from landing improperly. Taking a few rest days regularly helps your body reset so you can tackle the next workout with full strength. 

You’ll Perform Even Better

You know that feeling when you’ve had a great night of sleep and are bound out of bed ready to take on the world? Rest days are like that but for your muscles. After a legit rest day, you’ll feel the benefits of being fully recovered. Think: 

• More energy
• Slower to fatigue
• Optimized fast-twitch muscles
  

Just as important as physical performance, your mental performance improves after a rest day, too. You’ll avoid burnout by taking a break from your usual workout schedule, and you’ll be more excited to hit the Bike or Tread when it’s time to work out again. “I think an important part of recovery days is deliberately taking time to reflect on what you’ve already achieved,” says Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby. “When you can see your progress, I believe it motivates you even more to get back at it the next day.” 

You’ll Improve Your Sleep

You might think, “Wait, I thought wearing myself out through exercise was key to sleeping well.” While singular physical activity sessions can significantly impact sleep, the real benefit comes from regular, moderate-intensity exercise over long periods.

How do rest days fit in? When you’re exercising, you’re increasing cortisol levels, a stress hormone, and adrenaline in your body. If you’re exercising regularly (which is excellent!), you may be at risk of overproducing these hormones, leading to restlessness, agitation, or higher stress levels than usual, making it harder to get that quality zzz at night. A rest day, meanwhile, lets your hormones return to homeostasis (aka their balanced levels) so you can get that sweet, sweet shut-eye. 

Support Mental Health

Time off also gives your mind a break from strenuous training. You can use rest days to relax, clear your head, and focus on other forms of self-care that help relieve stress. That could mean doing a hobby, getting a massage, or spending time with loved ones.

Rest days serve as a great distraction from the grind of routine training. They can help you beat boredom and stay motivated. After a break, you’ll be mentally prepared for your next sweat session. If you have more focus, energy, and strength to devote to your workouts, you can perform optimally and stay on track to reach your fitness goals. 

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Exactly What to Do on Your Recovery Days

Rest days and recovery days are not the same. Rest days are exactly what they sound like: no exercise at all. Recovery days involve low-intensity exercise, such as walking, to help promote healing. “I tell my clients it’s useful to think of these days like a good night’s sleep,” says Tim Montgomery, a coach and owner of NUMA Speed Elite in Gainesville, FL. “The point of that is to give your muscles a break on a molecular and cellular level,” says Megan Sloan, an RRCA-certified run coach and physical therapist at Smith Physical Therapy and Running Academy in Crystal Lake, IL. “Your body requires a full night of sleep each night to function properly daily. Why would this theory not apply to a runner and their run legs as well?” Time away from our running shoes allows the muscles to repair themselves, giving us what we need in return: more miles on fresh legs.

What's an Active Recovery Day?

An active recovery day, on the other hand, “is more like a short nap than a good night’s sleep,” says Montgomery. “It includes lower-intensity activities to get the blood flowing to your muscles to help them recover.” Active recovery can include any kind of cross-training like walking, hiking, cycling, swimming, and strength training that lets your body move differently, which can benefit your running and help prevent injury without adding more strain to your muscles, adds Loncar. 

Think about walking compared to running: 

It’s a similar movement pattern, but you use your muscles differently, stress your ligaments and tendons in other ways, and expose your body to less impact. The key with these active recovery workouts is to keep the intensity to 30 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate, according to a 2019 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research review. “These lower-intensity activities are enough to warm the body, loosen it up, and shake it out, but don’t put large recovery demands on your system,” explains Loncar. Because every athlete differs, the amount of rest and active recovery days someone needs will vary. 

What Should You Do on Full Rest Days?

A rest day can mean melting into your couch for 24 hours. The whole point is not physically taxing your body; if that’s what works best for you, by all means, become one with those cushions. “Culturally, some of us have issues with doing nothing, but it is totally OK and healthy to do nothing on a rest day,” says Loncar. “If you have trouble switching out of a type A mindset, you can try taking up mindfulness or meditation practices to help you relax more quickly.” 

However, a more innovative way to spend your rest day would involve being intentional about recovery work. “A rest day can involve recovery tools such as a foam roller, lacrosse ball, stretch strap, massage gun, or any other tool that helps your muscles,” says Sloan. 

How to Enhance Recovery Days

Foam rolling after intense workouts relieves soreness over the next two days, according to a 2014 study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. In a 2019 study published in the Journal of International Medical Research, massage guns used immediately post-workout reduced delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). 

‍You can also splurge a little:

“On my full recovery days, I advocate getting a massage, ice baths, or getting into a hot tub. These were always my favorite ways to bounce back!” says Montgomery. Massage is one of the best recovery techniques for reducing DOMS and perceived fatigue, according to a 2018 meta-analysis published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology. Cold-water immersion was found to reduce DOMS in a scientific review conducted in 2012 by the Cochrane Library, while a hot bath increases circulation to fatigued muscles and joints, as found in a 2016 study in the Journal of Physiology. 

‍The biggest thing: Pick something not because you think it’s good for you but because you feel good doing it. A considerable part of rest and recovery is mental, so if you do something you enjoy, whether treating yourself to a massage or binging Squid Game on Netflix, that will make you feel your best.

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Sample Example of an Ultimate Recovery Day

7:00 AM: Rise and Shine

Waking up at 7 a.m. on recovery days helps get your day off to a good start. Why? Because getting enough sleep before and after recovery days is crucial. When you sleep, your body repairs:

• Muscle fibers
• Restores energy levels
• Regulates hormones like cortisol

If you're not getting enough sleep, recovery can be slowed, hindering your performance. Good sleep may help you perform better if you have a big training day ahead. 

7:30 AM: Meditate

Meditation helps improve focus, reduce anxiety, increase pain tolerance, and decrease stress, all important for athletes recovering from hard training. Research shows that meditation can also improve sleep, which is crucial for recovery. “Athletes tend to go rough on their bodies, and meditation can help them understand the relationship between physical exertion and mental awareness,” says meditation specialist Chandresh Bhardwaj. “It’s a practice that can help them ease into recovery and even enhance their performance.” 

8:30 AM: Eat breakfast

You should generally eat as you would on active exercise days, but pay more attention to protein intake and hydration, says certified yoga teacher and dietitian Keri Gans, M.S., R.D.N. Aim for a breakfast high in fiber to keep you full, with ample protein for muscle repair. “I recommend a bowl of oatmeal cooked with low-fat milk, chia seeds or nut butter and half a sliced banana,” she says. 

And don't forget your BFF coffee make it your favorite chai spice latte to celebrate recovery day. One study published in the Journal of Pain found that exercisers who drank coffee saw a 48 percent drop in delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

9:30 AM: Move 

Remember the key difference between rest and recovery. According to Fetters, movement helps circulate blood and nutrients to the muscles and is essential for your body to function and recover properly. 

However, that movement should look a little different today. “Don't get hung up on having to hit 10,000 steps per day, but your steps shouldn't nosedive to 1,000 on recovery days.” Go on a slightly longer walk with your dog. If you take the subway to work, walk to the other end of the platform. If you drive to work, park farther away.

12:30 PM: Have lunch

Like breakfast, lunch on an active recovery day should be protein-rich. Gans suggests trying a salad with avocado, sweet potato, chicken, and almonds. 

3:00 PM: Do some light cardio

To reiterate why recovery matters for those “gains,” exercise creates micro-tears in your muscles, which grow stronger when they repair. So without proper rest, you're not giving your muscles the time they need to strengthen, says Fetters. That means active recovery should be gentle enough to prevent you from further tearing the muscle fibers that were torn during your last few days of exercise but also “active” enough to get the blood pumping to initiate repair. 

‍How do you find that sweet spot? “How much cardio is too much is going to depend on the person, the intensity of your other workouts, and your fitness level,” she says. “This is where listening to your body and paying attention to how your recovery days fit into your plan is important.” Light to moderate cardio work can be anything from a brisk walk to a bike ride or a short swim, and it should be done at about 30 to 50 percent of your usual intensity, adds Fetters. And don't forget to drink lots of water.

4:00 PM: Foam roll

Self-myofascial release using a foam roller relieves tension from the connective tissue surrounding the muscles. Research has shown that rolling out your muscles can help reduce DOMS, increase hamstring flexibility and balance, and even improve exercise performance. Here are 10 ways to use a foam roller for everyone's unique body composition. 

7:00 PM: Enjoy dinner 

Focus on filling your plate with whole grains and protein and produce filled with antioxidants. Gans recommends a dish that follows a Mediterranean style of eating:

• Veggies
• Fish
• whole grains
• Plant-based proteins,
• Dairy 

So you can feed your body the whole-food nutrition it craves. And if you want to treat yourself (whatever that looks like for you) on this recovery day, go for it (in moderation). 

8:00 PM: Take an Epsom salt bath

There's a lot of confusing information about the benefits of Epsom salt baths, and the science isn't there to back up the purported benefits derived from soaking in magnesium sulfate heptahydrate. Digesting magnesium has been shown to enhance exercise performance, keep blood pressure in check, and regulate blood sugar, but the jury is out about absorbing it through the skin. 

Studies have found that soaking in an Epsom salt bath can help people feel relaxed, and there's no harm in grabbing some wine and sinking into a warm tub. However, don't make the water too hot, as that can dry you out, and hydration is crucial on active recovery days, says Fetters.

9:00 PM: Relax and have a snack

Consider some Greek yogurt if you're used to having a pre-bedtime snack. “Casein protein is a great pre-bed snack because it's a slow-digesting protein and can help your muscles rebuild all night long,” says Fetters. You can also find casein protein in other dairy products, such as cottage cheese if Greek yogurt seems to fill shortly before bed. As a bonus, throw some tart cherries on your pre-bed snack. 

Research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports found that marathoners consuming tart cherry juice had reduced muscle soreness due to antioxidant compounds in the cherries called anthocyanins that help decrease excess inflammation in the body. 

10:00 PM: Get ready for bed 

Set yourself up for a good night's sleep (see above why that's so important) and a restful morning with a calming ritual like making a cup of chamomile tea or rubbing lavender oil on your temples, says Gans. You could also do these yoga stretches to help you fall asleep faster. Whatever you choose to do to prep your body for rest, just know that you've spent the day setting up yourself and your workout for success tomorrow.

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