Active Recovery Workouts
Written by Shoshana Pritzker Thursday, 30 June 2011 19:41
Active Recovery Workoutsby Kari Keenan
Should you hit the gym when you’re feeling a bit under the weather? How about the week after a show? What about when you’ve been training hard for several weeks and your body feels like it got hit by a Mack truck?
All of the situations above have something in common: an over-stressed Central Nervous System (CNS). Instead of taking time away from the gym and facing a potential setback on the path toward your goals, try an Active Recovery workout!
Adapted from the Bulgarian weightlifters, Active Recovery workouts are designed to allow your body to rest but not regress. When your CNS is taxed, it needs time to recover; however, just because your CNS is taxed doesn’t mean your muscles are taxed. You can still train - just train with less intensity.
I know training less intensely sounds counterproductive to all you hardcore fitness fiends! But trust me - it’s essential to give your body a break sometimes. Active Recovery workouts will let your CNS recuperate while still stimulating and maintaining your beautiful, hard-earned muscles.
Essentially, the workout consists of one exercise per body part, three sets of ten each. An example of a workout could include:
● Pushups
● Shoulder Press
● Bicep Curls
● Squats
● Pullups
● Tricep Pushdowns
The order of the exercises is not important; you just want to make sure you hit each muscle group. Use weights that won’t completely fatigue your muscles. At the end of each exercise, you should feel like you worked your muscle, but didn’t completely exhaust it. For these workouts, it’s okay to walk out of the gym feeling like you could’ve worked harder. Remember, this workout is for maintaining - not building - muscle!
If you’re interested in seeing a sample Active Recovery workout, check out my video! I’ll walk through a typical workout, give you some tips about the exercises, and demonstrate how to perform them.
Kari Keenan
National-Level NPC Figure Competitor
FigureGirlWorld.com