Active recovery: Making the most of your downtime

For many athletes who train regularly, taking a day off to recover can be close to traumatic. But taking time off from your regular workout at least once a week is important to help you recover. Luckily, active recovery is a form of exercise that still means you can recover without having to go without your daily dose of exercise.

What is active recovery?

Active recovery is a form of very low intensity exercise that you can use to fill in your recovery days or to recover after a competition. In fact, some research suggest that active recovery, especially after a race, may be better for you than complete rest. Active recovery includes the cool down after exercise, and the period of gentle exercise for a few days after competition, or as a recovery period.

How to recover actively

Your active recovery workout has to be tailored to you. You should measure your level of physical activity against the rest you need and determine what low intensity means to you. Here are some ideas for active recovery workouts:

• Yoga. This low impact workout is a double-whammy if you use it for active recovery because it also helps you to stretch out any tired and sore muscles [link to delayed onset muscle soreness article] you may have and help to stave off overtraining [link to overtraining article part 2].
• Walking. Walking is low impact and refreshing. Walking outside can also help to reduce stress [link to stress article].
• Swimming. If you’re not a regular swimmer, it can be quite intense. But getting into a habit of swimming [link to swimming article] once a week for your recovery day can help build up your swimming fitness. It also has benefits for improving your lung function and muscle tone.

Use a heart rate monitor, or the sensors on gym equipment to monitor your heart rate. Keep your heart rate at between 30-60% of your maximum heart rate to ensure that you are maintaining your recovery zone.