Nutrition

Eating the right nutrients soon after you exercise can help your body repair and grow your muscle fibres. It's best to ensure you incorporate healthy carbohydrates and protein after you workout. The timing does not have to be exact, but consuming a healthy meal of carbohydrates and protein within 45 minutes of exercise is highly recommended.

Post workout meal examples:

• Brown rice and boneless skinless chicken breast
• Fruit smoothie with yogurt
• Turkey on whole-grain bread with roasted vegetables

Stretching and Foam Rolling

Dedicate time in each of your workouts to stretch to assist with muscle recovery and overall comfort. Stretching can be incorporated in your warm up or cool down, this article will focus on post-exercise static stretching to focus on muscle recovery. Post-exercise stretching will return tight, tired muscles to their normal resting lengths as you go about the remainder of your daily activities. Post-exercise stretching should be targeted to the muscles worked but can incorporate other muscle groups as well.

Stretch regularly to:

• Improve flexibility and posture
• Calm your mind
• Release tension

Foam rolling is also an excellent way to relieve muscle tightness and to initiate the recovery process to reduce soreness. Used in a combination with stretching, foam rolling is integral to relaxing tight muscles and reducing muscle soreness.

Foam Roll regularly to:

• Relieve muscle tightness, soreness and inflammation
• Increase your range of motion
• Relax tight muscles

Stretching does not have to take place after your workout or in a cool down. Try dedicating an entire 10-15 minute session to just stretching and foam rolling.

Sleep

While you sleep your body produces the majority of it's growth factors and hormones that aid in daily muscle repair and recovery. We’re not suggesting to take a nap directly after your workout, rather try to get in a routine of obtaining an adequate amount of sleep each night. College students are notoriously sleep-deprived due to an overload of activities and irregular schedules. College aged students should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep every night, if that’s not possible try adding a one hour nap if you have time. Exercising regularly during the week can also help improve a restful sleep. Try avoiding exercise for a few hours before you sleep as it tends to keep some people awake.

Benefits of sleeping:

• Time to recover
• Improve hormonal balance
• Boost your mood