Ask-A-Coach: What is Active Recovery?

You’ve already finished two hard exercises back to back. All you want to do is rest, and your coach tells you to grab a pair of dumbbells and take them for a walk. You think to yourself, “Why am I even doing this?”

Well, you finish the second lap, put the dumbbells down, and go right back into the first exercise. What you just did is considered an active recovery exercise!

Let’s talk about it and how it can help us! We’ll talk about the two use cases for active recovery; first, within the context of a workout, and second, in the context of a rest day.

With strength training, groups of exercises, or supersets, are the most efficient way to complete multiple exercises in a shorter period of time. This lends perfectly to our style of training, as we’re trying to maximize each session to get as much completed as we can in 45 minutes. But there is a push-pull to this, as there can’t be too many fatiguing exercises in a row, or else there’s an increased likelihood of injury as the individual fatigues.

The most effective solution is to break these supersets up with something meant to be easier to help us recover, like a farmer’s carry or a standing quad stretch. This allows the individual to lower their heart rate and get their energy back before going back into a difficult lift, while also achieving a separate goal, such as strengthening an accessory muscle or increasing the range of motion in a particular joint.

The second use of active recovery is intended between workouts. After a tough workout, our body is fatigued and there’s a ton of tears in our muscles at the microscopic level. We need genuine rest to recover from the damage we (intentionally) did to ourselves.

However, that doesn’t mean that every day off from training has to be a complete stop to activity. An active recovery in this case would be completing some easy, low-level cardio or some recreational sports or hiking. As long as the activity isn’t extremely fatiguing, we can still recover well from the strength training on top of whatever we accomplished during our day off!