Anyone use light cardio and some stretching afterwards the day after a heavy leg workout to aid in recovery? Will it help, or just stunt my gains?
Read the GPP article by Dave Tate at T-mag. Those guys even do some high rep light lifting to aid in recovery.
I stretch after the work out and do light cardio the day after, usually the bike. I believe it helps my growth a lot. Both help the blood reach it’s destination in the muscles.
extra workouts will aid recovery as long as you don’t over do them. build up slowly.
This is an area which i have an avid interest in. After completed many of Coach Davies workouts I have come to a greater apprication of active recovery. What I would recomend is stretching after your workouts (for 15-20 min) and then on “off days” doing higher rep work. It’s never very long, but it is quite intense. Best of luck.
“What I would recomend is stretching after your workouts (for 15-20 min) and then on “off days” doing higher rep work. It’s never very long, but it is quite intense.” This is a misnomer, high rep work may be ok, intense work is pretty much a no no for recovery…
I do my cheerleading workouts everyday for a couple of hours and they are anything but easy. And ive made more progress in the gym since i started cheerleading than in the last two years combined. I say do some weird stuff like rock lifting, wheel barrow pushes, or even gymnastics. You may be suprised.
I’ve thought for a long time that stretching after a workout for reduced muscle soreness was a myth. I guess there’s every chance I could be wrong, but through experimentation it’s done nothing for me. [shrug] I figure that the soreness is due to the microfibre damage present, so stretching while pumped should technically make it worse…