Everyone wants to make great fitness progress. To do this, though, training hard in the gym isn’t enough. You also need to properly rest after your workouts.

Rest days are when your muscles grow from the trauma you deal to them when exercising. There are 7 primary methods you can rest well after working out and improve your gains.

In this article, we’ll cover these methods, learn why they’re important for post-workout rest, and discuss how you can implement them. Let’s begin.

7 Steps to Resting Well After a Workout

A good post-workout rest consists of 7 steps which you can implement to maximize your gains. They are easy to do, and will require you to consciously repeat them for about 3 weeks before becoming a habit.

The first thing you need to do after your weightlifting/calisthenics session is dedicate time to stretching.

1: Dedicate Time to Stretching

After lifting weights slowly and until failure, it is tempting to just stop right there and hop into the shower. But your workout isn’t exactly finished here. You need to spend 5-10 more minutes on stretching if you want to maximize your progress.

There are different benefits of stretching after working out, such as:

• Improved heart function
• Reduced lactic acid (chemical that causes muscle pain when exercising)
• Reduced muscle and joint strain

By stretching, you boost your blood flow, allow your muscles to relax, and help them recover after experiencing micro-injuries.

When stretching your muscles, make sure you do it as slowly as possible. Hold different stretching positions for 30-60 seconds, and focus on what you feel when doing so to maximize the mind-body connection.

After you are done with relaxing your muscles and waiting for 2-3 minutes, you should hop into the cold shower.

Related article: How to Stay Consistent in Working Out

2: Take a Cold Shower to Properly Rest After a Workout

You’ve probably heard a lot about cold showers at this point. They naturally boost testosterone, dopamine, and maintain testicle health by cooling them down.

However, cold showers also offer benefits for muscle growth and bodybuilding. Just like stretching, they reduce muscle soreness, boost metabolism and blood circulation (which also contribute to better fat loss).

Knowing this, you can integrate cold showers into your fitness life, and take them for 3-5 minutes after workouts to accelerate your progress.

Start by washing yourself under warm, but not hot water for about a minute. Then, decrease water temperature, and apply shampoo and shower gel. Breathe deeply during the shower to stay calm and enjoy the process.

Stretching and washing under frigid water both help the muscles relax and get more nutrients. But where do you get those nutrients in the first place?

That’s right: to properly rest after a workout, you need to eat satisfying meals.

3: Eat a Nutritious Meal to Properly Rest After a Workout

This step is subjective in a way that you’ll need a different approach to dieting based on what situation you’re in. If you train for weight loss, you’ll mostly need to eat lean proteins while avoiding fat consumption.

However, if your main goal is gaining muscle mass, you’ll need to eat as many calories as possible while avoiding processed foods. You can consume tons of junk food to gain quick body mass for about a month, but this comes with serious consequences for your health.

As a rule of thumb, your post-workout meal should include large amounts of protein, moderate amounts of carbs, and healthy fats that assist in hormone production, specifically testosterone. It’s also important that you eat whole foods with the least amount of chemicals.

Here is a list of whole foods you can use to cook healthy and nutritious meals:

• Rice (especially brown version)
• Chicken breast
• Grass-fed beef
• Bulgur
• Turkey
• Olive oil (preferably virgin)
• Eggs
• Tofu
• Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt
• Fish, such as salmon, tuna, cod, herring, and sardines

Cooking simple meals using these ingredients will significantly boost your muscle growth, prevent creation of unnecessary fat tissue, and help you rest properly while eating a tasty meal.

Try your best to cook meals yourself instead of ordering them, as various companies can try putting unwanted chemicals to preserve their qualities. If you have little time, you can cook meals in bulk during weekends, and eat them throughout the following week.

Related article: 8 Best Muscles to Build For an Aesthetic Body

4: Relax and Destress to Properly Rest After a Workout

After eating well, you should eliminate as much stress as possible. Cortisol and prolactin, which secrete when body’s in stress, decrease testosterone in your blood. The less testosterone you have, the slower your bodybuilding progress will be.

There are many ways you can deal with stress. If it’s related to work, mentally leave work problems at the office, and promise yourself to come back home with a clear mind. This also has the benefit of improving your relationships with family at home.

Use box breathing whenever you have racing thoughts: breathe in deeply for 4 seconds, hold the breath for another 4, exhale the air for 4 seconds, and, you’ve guessed it right, hold the breath for 4 seconds more. Do this for 1-2 minutes straight to erase anxious thoughts.

If you have chronic stress and experience problems with it on a constant basis, you should consider integrating meditation into your life. It only takes 10 minutes a day to bring results, and it also enhances control over thoughts.

The more relaxed you are, the more your parasympathetic neural system works, which means that your body will restore and strengthen muscle tissue quicker than usual.

It’s important that you hydrate yourself throughout the day to rest properly after a workout.

5: Drink Tons of Water

Water plays a huge role in the human body. It is the main material of cells, their structures, and the environment where most vital chemical processes take place.

In fact, we are mostly water, as around 70% of the body consists of it. That means, if you want to increase muscle growth and rest well after going all in training, you need to drink tons of water, and do so evenly throughout the day.

When you wake up, drink a glass of water as soon as you can. You can prepare the glass before going to bed, so that you don’t have to fill it after you wake up.

After finishing your ideal morning routine, fill up a 2 liter bottle, and carry it with you throughout the day, both to your workplace and the gym. This method is convenient, saves valuable time, and allows you to focus on other tasks with higher priority.

Note that you should especially drink a lot of water during training, so that you maintain energy levels and replace the fluids you lose when sweating.

To achieve optimal muscle growth and recovery, you should spend time on a hobby you enjoy.

6: Spend Time on a Hobby to Properly Rest After a Workout

Now, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with fitness. The thing about hobbies is that they help you destress and remove unnecessary mental load. Hobbies decrease cortisol in your body, stimulating the production of testosterone and enhancing muscle gain.

Additionally, hobbies provide a sense of achievement, which also stimulates the release of testosterone and motivates you to work hard both in the gym and on your favorite craft.

In contrast, scrolling TikTok for 3 hours in a row does nothing but increase anxiety, overstimulate your mind, and worsen your quality of sleep. Many guys work hard in the gym, eat clean, but neglect the mental aspect of post-workout recovery.

Don’t make the same mistake. Instead of coming back home to doom scroll and watch people live artificial lives, engage in a productive hobby.

You can start by reading a book that interests you, or creating content to post online, like articles, YouTube videos, music, or art. Even if only a few people see your work, you’ll still make a positive impact on them.

A good way to adopt new hobbies is to do them daily in small amounts for 21 days. Instead of reading as many pages as possible, read just 10 pages a day. Similarly, you can solve just a single Sudoku puzzle instead of going all out in the evening.

This approach will help you make long-term changes and amplify your workout gains, as your stress becomes non-existent and your mind isn’t clouded with distractions.

Finally, to properly rest after a workout, you should optimize your sleep schedule.

Recommended article: 15 Things to Do Instead of Scrolling on Social Media

7: Optimize Your Sleep Schedule

Surprisingly, a lot of people these days neglect their sleep schedules. They scroll on their phones until 3 AM, disrupting their brains’ work and rest.

Moreover, a lot of people are chronic party-goers: whenever given a chance, they drink tons of alcohol, dance until 6 AM, and wake up the next day at 1 PM feeling like crap.

I think that you know how important sleep is for bodybuilding at this point. During sleep, your body produces testosterone and repairs broken muscle fibers. Therefore, to maximize your workout gains, you need to improve your quality of sleep.

There are a few things you can do to get amazing sleep:

• Ventilate your room 15 minutes before sleep
• Avoid consuming anything other than protein shakes after 8 PM
• Go to bed and get up at the same time everyday (10 PM – 6 AM)
• Don’t use gadgets 1 hour before bed
• Switch your alarm to a calmer track
• Don’t read any news in the evening

Try to apply all these changes, and you’ll see a massive improvement in the quality of your rest. You can do other things, like buying an orthopedic mattress, but for now, do your best to stick with the basics.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should you rest after a workout?

In most cases, you’ll need to rest the trained muscle group for 2 days, including the day you worked out. After this period, you can train the muscle group again.

What should you not do after a workout?

You should avoid drinking alcohol, eating sweet foods, and training the target muscle again, since these things will disrupt the recovery process.

Should I shower right after the gym?

Yes, because if you don’t, bacteria will grow on your skin, causing unpleasant smell and odor. It is optimal to take cold showers, since they boost muscle recovery the most.

Should I eat immediately after a workout?

It is better to wait for about 30 minutes, then eat a nutritious meal high on proteins for the best results. You can also take creatine shortly after exercising to boost recovery speed.

How long should a workout be?

It depends on the intensity of exercises you perform. If you have a normal mid-intensity training session, 45-60 minutes should be enough.

Can I do cardio on rest days?

Yes, as long as it doesn’t put too much strain on your resting muscle group. It’s a good way to maintain activity while maximizing your gains in the gym.

Rest Well After Your Workouts

If you want to make great progress in your fitness journey, you need to rest just as well as you train. If you go all out in the gym while neglecting all other aspects of bodybuilding, you’ll stay stagnant in both muscle mass and strength.

There are 7 things you can do to properly rest after a workout:

• Do stretching exercises shortly after working out
• Take a cold shower
• Eat a nutritious meal with high protein content
• Relax and destress through mindfulness
• Drink at least 2-3 liters of water everyday
• Spend time on a good hobby
• Optimize your sleep schedule

Implement this advice, and you’ll accelerate your progress in the gym, become stronger, and make your relatives proud.

Remember: it’s all about effort and commitment. You now know what to do, but to make real changes, you need to act. Stretch, take cold showers, improve your diet, eliminate stress, occupy yourself with a hobby, and sleep well. That’s all it takes to win.

Work, exercise, improve, and stay a good person. Good luck, and see you soon, brother.

If you liked this article and found it useful, make sure to share it on social media and leave a comment below. See you next time.