The Idea
The idea of active recovery is to keep your body moving to improve circulation, aid in muscle recovery, and reduce stiffness or soreness without pushing yourself too hard. This could involve activities like walking, yoga, swimming, hiking or stretching. The goal is to promote recovery without causing additional stress on the body.
What does Active Recovery look like?
An active recovery day is a day where you engage in light physical activity or gentle movement to help your body recover from high intense workouts like CrossFit. So what does an active recovery day look like? It can be as simple as taking a stroll around your neighborhood for 30+ minutes or going on a hike in the many parks around the Fuquay/Raleigh NC area. A few of my favorite activities to do during a recovery day are listed below.
Ideas:
- Hiking in the Carroll Howard Johnson Environmental Park in Fuquay Varina, NC while enjoying the beautiful nature. This park has multiple hiking trails, ranging from easy to moderate difficulty. Each trail varies in length and terrain, providing options for hikers of all experience levels.
- Bike the Neuse River Trail in Raleigh, NC. A casual bike ride along the Neuse River Trail is another great idea. This can be low impact but elevate your heart rate to a good steady level. This also quenches my thirst for a good workout without having to come into the gym and do a hard workout.
- But, my all time favorite thing to do is head to Harris Lake County Park near Fuquay Varina, NC for kayaking, fishing, and hanging out lakeside. This is very relaxing but going for a quick swim, kayaking for a few hours or fighting to reel in that big fish will allow you to get a quick sweat on without picking up any weight or worrying about losing your fitness because you’re not in the gym.
Whatever you do during your recovery day, be sure to enjoy every minute of it. That is what living a fit lifestyle is all about.