Recovery is a highly misinterpreted and overlooked aspect of physical activity. In order to optimize athletic performance, you need to optimize recovery. Without the latter, you would likely be short-circuiting your athletic potential, delaying your repair duration, and causing damage to your body without even possibly noticing it. When it comes time to perform, you'll want to ensure your body feels like it's ready to take on the task in front of it.

When recovery periods are not properly implements or when it's an afterthought, the risk of injury increases dramatically. This goes for any part of your body that you are "performing" within an athletic setting. Muscle tears, cramping, prolonged soreness, fatigue, and muscle weakness are just some of the side effects of not recovering properly. Furthermore, these side effects can become serious issues if you decide to perform with max exertion over time, when you've already been experiencing these effects and are under-recovered. Fortunately, there are plenty of options that allow our bodies to recover smoothly and efficiently.

Make sure you cover the basics of recovery by properly priming ("warming-up") your parts of the body before a workout that are about to be most actively used. Foam rolling is a quick and easy way to help accomplish this. During the workout, ensure that these same body parts are in an active state - that they are in constant movement to ensure peak blood flow; avoid periods during your workout where they are idle. After your workout or performance, implement another period of foam rolling followed by static stretching for optimal muscle contractions and recovery.

Cold exposure, like taking cold showers, is an easy way to improve the overall recovery process. Furthermore, if you have access to an infrared sauna, that is another tool that can be useful in speeding up recovery time.

When looking specifically at recovery, there is perhaps no supplement that reduces inflammation quite like Curcumin does. Its anti-inflammatory properties make it a perfect match to combat exercise-related injuries and soreness. Fish oil, magnesium, and amino acids are also useful daily supplements to maintain good recovery speed.