If you’ve been here for a bit, you’ve likely done some type of flow with me, or tried out animal or primal flows on your own.
These type of movements are amazing for strengthening muscles we didn’t even know we had, as well as for giving us a creative and flexibility boost.
However, flows are also epic for something else: recovery.
While some recovery can and should be bubble baths and saunas, you should also be engaging in another type, termed active recovery. If you’ve done it before, we’re taking it up a level by utilizing flows within it for extra benefits.
Check these out, and hit up a flow with me below on your active recovery day!
Benefits Of Active Recovery Flow
Unlike passive recovery (which is basically pure rest with minimal movement), active recovery aims to utilize movement for repair. The goal is to keep supplying muscles and joints with a fresh circulation of nutrients and fluids in order to promote faster recovery.
Research has shown that active recovery, which includes both post-workout cool-downs and movements on rest days, helps to:
• Reduce lactic acid buildup in the muscles
• Increase blood flow to muscle tissue
• Remove metabolic waste from muscles
• Reduce muscle tears and pain
With flows, we’re taking active recovery to new heights by adding in movements that also simultaneously increase flexibility and mobility.
If you’ve ever used yoga as an active recovery tool, flows are slightly similar in concept (minus the poses), yet still offer enough muscle utilization to flush lactic acid. This is one of the most important aspects of active recovery, since lactic acid buildup is one of the major causes of stiffness and post-session muscle soreness.
This combination of mobility work and lactic acid flushing can not only reduce soreness in the future, but also help extend your range and even increase performance.
Flows, which are likened to animal or primal movements, naturally move your joints and tissues through new ranges of motion (“new” in the sense that you likely haven’t engaged in primal movement patterns since you were a kid!). These movements help loosen and open up tight joints, tendons, and muscles, which can increase your ability to extend and rotate.
This not only benefits recovery since you get more nutrient and oxygen flow into these areas, but also performance. When we have a deeper and wider range, we can engage more muscle fibers … which can result in more gains.
An easy way to think about this is to think about a squat: if you have tight hips due to little mobility training and/or soreness from not regularly doing active recovery work, you won’t be able to sink as deeply into a squat as someone who has flexible hips.
Someone who has flexible hips can sink deeper and easier into a heavy squat, which can engage more muscle fibers, which in the longer run can equal more strength.
Flows, both for active recovery and workouts, also help increase full-body coordination and balance, which benefits every aspect of your life, from handling heavy asymmetrical weight, to carrying tons of groceries (one trip grocery hauls become a breeze).
How To Use Active Recovery Flows
Technically, there isn’t a limit to how many active recovery flows you should do a week. However, it’s going to be beneficial to get in a session after each of your workouts, since this obviously introduces increased circulation and mobility when you need it.
I would also advise to try and get in one active recovery day per week if you’re taking a day/days off; this can be both a flow and/or something like walking, hiking, or swimming. The power of this to help keep stiffness at bay is pretty remarkable, so give it a try!
Get Into The Flow State
Knock out this light bodyweight flow work with me to help decompress from hard training sessions! Be sure to get in:
• 5 sets
• 1 minute each exercise
• Rest 1 minute in between sets
The Bottom Line
Active recovery flows have epic benefits, including:
• Reducing lactic acid buildup in the muscles
• Increasing blood flow to muscle tissue
• Removing metabolic waste from muscles
• Reducing muscle tears and pain
• Increasing mobility and flexibility
