Building Muscle with the Proper Workout Recovery
This post was contributed by Helen Behn. Helen is the founder and CEO of Spand-Ice & HEAT ON-THE-GO.
For those of us who lift weights on a regular basis, microscopic muscle tears and proper workout recovery are all part of the building process. That sore-muscle feeling 24 – 48 hours after lifting (DOMS) is a sign of a great workout, but it’s our responsibility to judge how far to push our weight training goals while avoiding muscle strains when we’ve overdone it.
In many cases where people go beyond sore muscles and get to a point of strained, pulled or even true muscle tears, it is crucial to take the proper care to recover (and check with your physician depending on severity) before pushing it further in your next workout.
After a tough gym session, I sometimes feel on the borderline of good sore / bad sore in my low back. In the past a lot of anti-inflammatory meds, traction sessions at the physical therapist, and time out of the gym were my recovery tools. But today, I lean on an age-old remedy to help me reduce inflammation, recover from fatigue faster and get me back to my workouts: ice.
Inconvenient Workout Recovery
Ice has always been a go-to tool to reduce inflammation and discomfort in many cases of stress, fatigue and injury. When we feel that “uh-oh” moment that we’ve overdone it and something’s wrong, icing immediately dramatically reduces your recovery time, cuts back on inflammation, and allows your body to quickly start the healing process. The problems with ice are that it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, and hard to apply to some body parts. In addition, it’s often hard to find the time.
For me, dealing with chronic lower back fatigue and pain induced by weight training is a tough thing to get around. I struggled with wanting to continue my training, and finding a way to ice without having to come home and lie on the floor on top of 3 icepacks, or try to stick them down my pants while getting ready for my day. This need set me on a course for the next 3 years to create an icing product into a easy, convenient and mobile design that I could use daily without slowing me down.
Enter The Revive Tank
The Revive Tank is a full-zip therapy garment designed to reduce pain and inflammation in the low and mid back. This patent-pending design incorporates dual therapy pockets, reusable hot/cold thermal packs that last up to 3 hours, and an adjustable strap to pull the therapy close to your skin. I designed this garment as a direct result of my own need to get easy and safe therapy for back pain that I can use on-the-go.
Now after a tough lifting session, I throw on my Revive Tank and give myself the recovery needed to get back to the gym the next day. My Tank has also helped others at the Fitness Factory and throughout the Pittsburgh community by allowing for consistent regular treatment, which directly translates to faster and stronger recoveries. Check out our testimonials to see how others are recovering quickly after their workout!
If you feel like you suffer after workouts or have to tone down the intensity due to back muscle fatigue or pain, let us help you manage your pain on the go. Don’t lose another minute of your day while icing your back, and don’t lose another minute of your workout because your back hurts! Get your own Revive Tank and get back to your daily routine.
