Muscle Recovery; What Really Happens After Exercise?
You've finished your workout - whether it be setting down the weights or finishing the last few minutes of your cycling, what happens next? Though you may be finished with your workout, your body still has a lot of work to do behind the scenes.
We know that exercising places physical demands on our muscles, connective tissues and energy. Once your session is over, your body begins processes to restore what has been used, responding to stress of exercising and adapting to the demands placed on it.
These processes are what it takes for muscle recovery. And this recovery is much more than simply taking a day off.
So what happens behind the scenes of post exercise recovery?
What Happens to Your Muscles During Exercise?
When you exercise, your muscles are contracting and working like an engine burning, creating heat and getting stronger by repairing tiny bits of damage.
Whether you are lifting weights, cycling, running, swimming or sporting, your muscles repeatedly contract to produce force and movement. The physical demand can be greater the more you exercise and the harder the activity. This creates a mechanical and metabolic stress within the muscles. And, with even more demanding exercise, especially be it something new or high-intensity activity, this results in disruption to the muscle fibres.
This is not a bad thing. it's simply a part of the stimulus that tells the body its time to respond. And this starts as soon as the exercising is finished.
Inflammation After Exercise: Part of the Recovery Process
So not all inflammation is bad...inflammation after exercising is normal and a part of your body's response to physical stress.
Following a demanding exercise session, your body increases activity within the tissues involved in the response. The immune cells and signalling molecules help coordinate what happens next - including removal of damaged cellular material and the processes involved in tissue repair and adaptation.
This is a temporary response which is only one part of the larger process of recovering. It is different from chronic inflammation and is a normal biological response to physical stress.
Muscle Repair: Rebuilding After Exercise
Once the exercise stress has been placed on the muscles, the body starts responding to the demand.
Muscle repair involves replacing and reorganising proteins within muscle fibres and supporting the tissue as it adapts to the training stimulus.
The body simply doesn't return to its pre-workout state. With a balanced combination of training and recovery, it can also adapt to the demands it has experienced.
This is one reason why recovery is an essential part of the training process. Whilst the workout provides the stimulus; the recovery period provides the body with the opportunity to respond to it.
What comes next?
Protein Synthesis: Building and Replacing Muscle Proteins
Protein synthesis is the process used by the body to build new proteins. Exercise, especially resistance training, stimulates muscle protein synthesis as part of the process of adapting to training.
Key to this process is amino-acids - considered the building blocks of protein. Your body uses 20 amino acids to build proteins, of which 9 essential amino acids meaning your body cannot produce these and must come from your diet according to the Cleveland Clinic.
This is where nutrition comes into the picture. Having enough protein as part of your diet helps to provide the amino acids you need so your body can support the body's natural process of muscle recovery.
It's Not Just About Muscle: Connective Tissue Recovery
Movement not only places force on your muscles, but on connective tissues too - including tendons and ligaments.
These connective tissues connect and support the structures involved in everyday movement. They experience mechanical loading during exercise and everyday activity.
Their response differs from muscle tissue, with connective tissues generally adapting more slowly to the changes in physical demand.
Though your muscles may feel ready for the next session, the other tissues may not adapt at the same pace. Recovery is about giving your whole body time to respond.
What Does the Body Need for Recovery?
As you've gathered by now, recovery does not depend on any one single factor. It's the result of several processes working together, supported by the basics of good health.
Nutrition
A balanced diet provides energy, carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals required to support the normal recovery process.
Sleep
Sleep - also a very important piece of recovery. This is when your body carries out a range of processes for physical restoration and normal psychological function.
Sleep supports physical restoration and normal physiological function making good-quality sleep an important part of an active lifestyle.
Rest
Time is required for recovery. It's important to allow sufficient time for your body to rest to adapt and recover.
Hydration
Fluids are also an important part of the recovery. Exercise can result in fluid losses, so replacing those fluids helps to maintain normal hydration.
How Long Does Muscle Recovery Take?
Muscle recovery is different for everyone. How quickly your body recovers can depend on both the type and intensity of exercise, your training experience, sleep, nutrition, age and overall health, plus how accustomed your body is to activities.
A lighter session and an intense strength training workout create different demands. Recovery should not be viewed as a set block of time between sessions, rather an on-going process that changes according to your activity.
Recovery and Adaptation: Why the Process Matters
While exercise provides the stimulus, recovery gives the body time to respond and adapt. Over time, this will build fitness and physical capacity.
Recovery is part of the training process, not simply the time between workouts. It’s a whole body process, supported by nutrition, sleep, rest and hydration. The next training session doesn’t start when you next exercise - it starts with how well you recovered from the last one.