“Cardio” To Perform When Sore…

A number of years back Eric Cressey came out with an article called Cardio Confusion. Since that article, I’ve been incorporating “active recovery circuits” on my off days.  Now, I don’t do them NEARLY enough, but whenever I do, I feel much better as they 1) help speed recovery, and 2) help improve mobility (which most of us need to improve).  And a nice little “side effect” is some low impact calorie burning to help us with our health and fat loss goals.

One of the worst thing you can do (and way too many people are doing this), is say, “I am SO sore from my workout yesterday!  Therefore I’m just going to veg-out on the couch all day today.”  That will do nothing to speed up the recovery process, and contribute to the build-up of knots/adhesions all over your body.  Going on a fast-paced walk (and moving in general) is a much better way to spend your off days.  Even better though, is putting your body through a full range of motion, as you’ll see below.

There are number of ways to set up these active recovery days;

-You can perform  dynamic flexibility circuits (address areas of your body that are tight).

-You can do low-intensity resistance exercises (pick a handful of exercises and cycle through them).

-Or, as I like to do, throw some dynamic flexibility circuits in WITH the low-intensity resistance exercises.

Here are the exercises I did in yesterday’s active recovery/cardio session…

I just started a new program earlier in the week.  And as you probably know, when you start a new program the chances of soreness are higher.  Going into my cardio session yesterday, my pecs, glutes, and adductors (inner thighs) were especially sore.  So it was perfect timing to perform this active recovery day.  For the purposes of not boring you to death, I only recorded an example with 4 reps per exercise.  Normally I perform 10-12 reps (sometimes up to 20 reps) per exercise (6-10 exercises).

Above, you see

-Goblet Squats

-Push-ups

-RDL/Bent Over Row (hybrid)

-Wall Hip Flexor Mobilizations (to address my tight quads)

-Hip Thrusts

-Reverse Lunge with Twist

I did 3 rounds of this circuit.  I also started off the workout with foam rolling/LAX ball and finished with static stretching at the end of my active recovery/cardio circuit.

Move from one exercise to the next with minimal rest and when it comes time to do the low-intensity resistance exercises, MAKE SURE you pick a lighter weight.  This should NOT turn into another “regular” weight lifting session, as that would just defeat the purpose.

Remember, when you train hard, you have to recovery smart.  Give this, or a similar set-up a try and reap the benefits!