Rider, you finish your race or riding day after a few hours on the bike, you stop it, drink some water and eat the meal you had prepared, sort of in a hurry because tomorrow you’ve got to go to work.
The next day you have a hard time getting up from, your body feels heavy, your back aches, your mouth is dry and you are insatiably thirsty.
Once again, you haven’t been able to recover fast from racing and riding for Enduro or Motocross.
Why is it that every time you go out with the bike, your body aches for a week? Isn’t there something you can do to not feel so low in energy the following days after racing or riding?
In this video, we show you 4 simple tips to do right after you jump off your dirty bike, in order to speed up your recovery process and have good sensations the days that follow a race or a trail riding (turn the subs on, we’ve translated it for you).
The first thing to recover fast from racing or riding is hydration
Riding is a great physical effort, you sweat and lose so much water and minerals. This kind of “hangover” you have after racing is due to dehydration, so you need to gain back all those lost fluids and minerals asap.
If you have the POWERING APP, you could use the hydration calculator to create te perfect mix to add to your hydration bladder or your shaker to stay hydrated and with energy during riding or racing days. But, what about after?
If you did a good hydration while riding, now you just need to have a bottle of water with sea salt ready in your van, to drink right after finishing riding.
We recommend sea salt because it is less processed and preserves a better sodium-potassium balance.
Ideally, you should drink 150% of your lost fluids, which represents around 1,5-2% of your body weight. This means that if you weigh 75kg, you must have something between 1,5 and 2 liters of water with sea salt in the next 6 hours after finishing with the dirty bike, to help you recover fast from racing or riding for enduro or motocross.
Now is time to eat: post-workout meal
After a physical effort, your body also needs to restore the glycogen reserves that have been emptied, and it does most effectively if you eat in the first few hours.
We recommend you to add whey protein powder to your sea-salted water bottle, and as for the carbohydrate load, add maltodextrin.
You should also have some high glycemic index pieces of fruit, such as banana or orange. A mix of melon and watermelon is a great option because it contains a lot of water as well.
If you want to know more about what you should eat after riding your dirty bike, check out now our post about the post-workout meal for riders.
Third tip to recover fast from racing: stretch
I know after riding your feel between excited and physically drained. But if you want to take good care of your body and avoid the pains that follow the days after racing, you should do some stretching right after you stop your bike.
This will soften your muscles and allow you to move properly the next days. It is something very important to do if you want to recover fast from racing or riding for enduro and motocross.
The benefits from stretching are incalculable and it takes just a little time. To take around 20 minutes to stretch after riding is something we say to all the riders that condition their physiques with us at Powering Performance.
In the video we give you some examples of the parts of your body your must pay attention to when stretching:
- Anterior chain
- Shoulders and scapular area
- Back
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings and Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL)
- Dorsal and lower back area
- Pyramid
- Gluteus and lower back
- Calfs
Fourth: do this before going to sleep
Usually, after finishing your race you have to sit on your van while driving back, which takes a while and shortens your muscles back again.
In the video above, we suggest you do four simple stretches that come straight from yoga and are highly beneficial for riders. You will be able to do them easily and hold each pose gently for around 20 seconds:
- Warrior
- Pigeon
- Downward dog
- Pyramid
These stretches dispose your body towards a better night sleep. This way, your body will work better on your muscle recovery and on Monday you’ll feel like new to begin the week again.
These four simple tips can make a difference on how you feel the days after racing or riding.
The choice is yours: you can either carry the tiredness and the muscle pain caused by riding around the whole week, or you can follow our tips to recover fast from racing and feel energized since Monday.
Remember that the more you take care of yourself outside of the bike, the more chances are you will be able to continue riding without breaking your body. And if your riding friends are interested too, don’t doubt on sending this post to them and help them become better riders 😉
