We’ve all been there. You’ve done a hard workout, trained your legs and glutes and now you can’t walk up the stairs, let alone step foot back in the gym. Want to know the secret to taking your workout routine to the next level and avoiding all that muscle pain? Simply add in some extra equipment!
As the fitness industry is bursting with new gadgets and tools, choosing which type of equipment will best fit into your workout routine can be a difficult decision. After reading this article, you can forget about having excruciating pain post leg day or upper body, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about muscle recovery equipment and other gym tools to ensure you are spending your money wisely!
What is muscle recovery equipment?
You might be wondering what muscle recovery equipment is and how it can boost your workout regime. Well, muscle recovery equipment is equipment used to stimulate blood flow and penetrate those sore areas to increase range of motion (ROM), improve flexibility and essentially help your body recover better and faster.
After you have completed a particular gruelling workout, your body will have been put through its paces and might feel a little achy. Ultimately, using muscle recovery equipment will enable you to perform your workouts better to achieve maximum results. Allocating specific time and allowing your muscles to recover thoroughly will provide heaps of benefits for both your mental state and physical state. Upgrading your workouts to incorporating muscle recovery equipment and other gym equipment will allow you to witness gym gains much quicker.
How and why equipment can boost your workout regime?
In this article, we’re here to talk about the various gym equipment and how they can make your workouts effective. We shine light on muscle recovery equipment and how important it is to stretch out those muscles and if you don’t listen to your body, you could cause damage.
Here are details on the numerous pieces of gym equipment and how muscle recovery is so important.
Cardio equipment
In any gym you’ll come across rows and rows of cardio machines, from treadmills to ellipticals, all intended for different types of cardio workouts. These are useful when you want to get your cardio in whilst also staying indoors! Afterall, you must be crazy to enjoy water droplets falling into your eyes and getting soaking wet on your outdoor run!
Prices vary for this type of cardio equipment and which one is best for you entirely depends on your individual preferences. Stair machines are great for cardio and building strength in the legs, but can be a little hard on the knees. Stationary bikes are easy to use and provide an excellent cardio workout but can become uncomfortable after a while. You also have ellipticals and rowing machines which give more of a full body workout as you’ll be using your arms, legs and core muscles at once.
We recommend trialling different cardio machines in the gym, finding which one you prefer the most and also swapping equipment regularly to work a range of different muscle groups!
Strength equipment
If you’re just starting out, it’s a good idea to get a few basics for strength training. You can’t go wrong with a set of dumbbells which can help aid workouts for any muscle group. Ankle weights are also useful for some extra resistance when performing strength exercises… but also for cardio if you want to make your morning run a bit more of a challenge!
Resistance bands are used to help aid strength training by providing a bit more resistance to make your muscles work harder. You can purchase these in a variety of strengths. As many schedule strength training as part of their weekly exercise routine, strength training is a great way to improve muscle definition and strength. The next time you have to have an arm wrestle with someone, you’ll beat them hands down when you begin strength training.
Don’t forget about supplements
Over the years as technology and science evolved, it allowed us to monitor pretty much every aspect of our daily life including our gym visits. When you know what your body needs it is much simpler to get to your goal. Whether it is muscle recovery, fat burning, bulking, or anything else.
As explained by bulksupplementsdirect.com, supplements that can help your muscles and body recover should be taken regularly. Overall opinion is that both pre-workout and supplements that are used after the workout should be included in the diet to maximize the results and see the transformation much sooner.
Gadgets
By no means do you need to add technology to your fitness routine to make it beneficial, but there are some really useful gadgets to help keep you on track. Smart watches and Fitbits can be used to track steps, count calories and even keep a record of how well you’re sleeping! Although, they might be annoying for those office workers who are consistently being told to get their steps in when they physically cannot leave their computer screen!
You could also try smart scales if your goal is to lose or gain weight. These can be connected to your phone and even calculate your BMI and fat percentage. Don’t forget there are plenty of apps and online guides to follow to help you establish a routine and stay on track!
Recovery tools
Last but by no means least, this is the important one! Allocating time to allow your muscles to recover is so important. If you don’t allocate enough time to allow your muscles to repair, consequently you could encounter injury that might put you out of your workout regime for weeks on end! Therefore muscle recovery after training should be a key part in everyone’s routine.
As muscle recovery is where the magic happens and the real results start to take place, you could try using a foam roller which works by stimulating blood flow to the muscle to ease pain and soreness. It also helps to prevent painful knots forming when used regularly. There are a range of brands on the market offering brilliant muscle recovery products, the likes of Pulseroll in the UK offer foam rollers, massage balls and other vibrating muscle recovery equipment to really dig deep into those painful muscles.
A massage gun could also be beneficial for reducing muscle pain by getting deep into specific trigger points. It’s a deep tissue massage tool that uses rapid strokes to stimulate blood flow to the muscles. It can be used all over the body, but works particularly well on the back and shoulders.
Why not check out our top picks for gym equipment, listen to your body and workout the way your body wants it to today!
If you want to learn even more about home gym equipment, visit sites like homegymreview.co.uk