As you continue working out during pregnancy or postpartum, it’s important to have some workout recovery tips that you can apply to your self-care routine. I’m going to highlight three things you can do every week to increase your recovery between workouts and keep your body feeling strong. But first…
It’s not about going hard on the time.
I should be clear, you need to have recovery time. You should schedule within your workout routine at least two days to recover throughout the week. Depending on what stage you are in during pregnancy or postpartum, it may be up to three our four recovery days. Remember, if you want to go far and get results faster – you need to honor recovery days. This is when the muscles are built and strength is gained.
#1 Recovery Tip: Practice Active Recovery
Okay – if you have never heard of that term it may be confusing however this is NOT a ‘chiller’ workout. Some people have different opinions about this but for me I think it’s important. Unless recovering from surgery or massive trauma (birth) having some form of movement is good every day. Having active recovery days just simply means you aren’t being sedentary all day. It can look like taking a leisurely walk or hike, playing with your kids, swimming (not 3 miles worth of laps but enough to get the blood flowing) or evening gardening.
Active recovery days are important because it helps the blood flow towards the muscles and tissues, this speeds of the recovery process compared to you just vegging all day.
#2 Recovery Tip: Hot Epsom Salt Baths
This may just be a personal preference but let’s be honest – it definitely doesn’t hurt! I swear by it. Epsom salt baths are amazing at relaxing tense muscles and offering some relief to sore or achy muscles. When starting a new program that increased in intensity – I’ll always take at least 4 baths a week to help my muscles recover. Plus it’s a quiet space where you can get some ‘me time’.
#3 Recovery Tip: Mobility on Most Days
This may fall into the active recovery day depending on what you choose – but going through one or two sets of the mobility portion of BSP helps keep your joints and muscles loose and feeling good. If you haven’t invested in one of my programs, doing a simple shin box flow or chest opening exercises are great. I focus on internal and external rotation of my hips, some nice thoracic rotation and shoulder mobility when I do mine. Whatever places feel tight or stiff, just add 5 minutes of mobility work (different than static stretching of the muscle) to help it warm up. This will keep your body feeling good and not as ‘crunchy’ or stiff.
Have questions? I’d love to connect. Email me at blanche@strongmomma.fitness or pop in my DM’s on my insta @blancheschuchardt.
You got this.
