5 Best post workout supplements for recovery

Muscle recovery isn’t as simple as taking a pill or swallowing a tincture. Certain supplements, however, might help you recover better from an average day at the gym or adventure out in nature. Learn why workout recovery is so important, and discover the top five supplements you can take for exercise recovery.

Exercise is good for your muscles, but it also damages them. After you’re done working out, you need to give your muscles what they need to repair themselves to take full advantage of the gains you’ve made.

When you recover properly, you ensure your muscles receive adequate blood circulation, and you improve the process of removing waste substances that accumulate in muscle tissue. Improved blood flow leads to enhanced nutrient intake and enhanced muscle growth.

Supplementation can be an important part of the recovery process. No supplement can ever replace, however, the basic habits you should observe if you want to recover from exercise effectively. Some examples of good recovery-promoting practices to follow after exercising include:

As you practice other good habits for exercise recovery, consider giving the recovery-promoting power of supplements a shot as well. There are quite a few supplements available online nowadays that are believed to help with muscle growth and exercise recovery, and the right supplement might help you recover faster or experience less pain during the recovery process.

Some of the top supplements both athletes and average people use to recover from exercise include:

Whether it’s CBD gummies for pain or CBD tinctures for overall relaxation, CBD products have become remarkably popular for exercise recovery purposes. The potential benefits of CBD for pain have been a major target of research into this non-intoxicating cannabinoid, and scientists have also looked into the possibility that CBD might help with exercise recovery.

Unlike THC, CBD won’t get you high, and it’s available online due to the 2018 Farm Bill. Full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD products offer the entourage effect, which could boost this cannabinoid’s workout recovery potential.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are natural supplements derived from protein rich foods. Research has found that BCAAs help with workout recovery by reducing levels of damaging enzymes in your muscle tissue, allowing your muscles to recover faster and with less resistance.

While research into the usefulness of creatine specifically for muscle recovery has delivered mixed results, it’s clear that this natural supplement is useful for overall muscle growth and health. Many athletes swear by creatine for recovery, so it’s certainly worth adding this supplement to your post-workout smoothie.

Scientific studies show that beta-alanine increases levels of carnosine in your muscles, a critical component of muscle growth. As one of the most-researched post-workout recovery supplements, beta-alanine is a reliable addition to your recovery kit.

A staple of Ayurvedic medicine, ashwagandha has recently attracted significant scientific interest due to its potential recovery-promoting properties. A randomized controlled trial from 2015, for instance, found that “ashwagandha supplementation is associated with significant increases in muscle mass and strength” while also helping with the recovery process.

With so many natural supplements available, it simply doesn’t make sense to go it alone as you recover from the muscle damage that inevitably occurs after exercise. You have plenty of allies in the struggle to achieve optimum muscle recovery, but picking the right supplements still takes a bit of work.

When it comes to CBD, for instance, it’s vital to find a company that uses either broad-spectrum or full-spectrum hemp extract, publishes batch-specific lab reports, and has plenty of customer reviews. Whichever type of recovery supplement you’re considering, it’s also critically important to take a look at the ingredients and extraction processes used. As long as you perform proper research, you’ll collect an ideal selection of muscle recovery supplements in no time.