Pod Insights Life Kit Plus How to recover after a workout About this episode It's normal to feel some pain or soreness after a workout. But how much is too much, and more importantly, how do you get relief? This episode, build out your post-workout recovery routine. A sports medicine doctor, nutritionist and professional athlete break down everything you can do from the moment your last workout finishes to right before your next one begins – to feel better in your body, minimize your injury risk and get the most out of that gym session. This episode was originally published on Jan. 30, 2025
Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit https://www.instagram.com/nprlifekit/?hl=en
Sign up for our newsletter here. https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit
Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]
Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit http://plus.npr.org/lifekit
See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This message comes from NPR sponsor Viori with the Halo Essential Wide-Like Pant. Receive 20% off your first purchase at viori.com/NPR on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
0:19 Speaker 00 You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.
0:24 Marielle Segarra? Hey, everybody. It's Marielle. A couple of years ago, our producer, Margaret Serino, was at the gym lifting some weights. It was her first time back after a pretty long break, but she was feeling good, feeling strong. Then, when she bent over to pick up her barbell on her last set.
0:40 Speaker 02 I just felt something snap. And I literally said out loud, "That is not good."
0:49 Marielle Segarra? Something in her lower back, some muscle, or tendon, or bone, was not where it was supposed to be.
0:55 Speaker 02 And I just immediately dropped everything and like crawled home from the gym and took all of the pain meds I could find.
1:04 Marielle Segarra? Margaret was mad at herself because this time, this injury, she says, it was kind of her fault.
1:10 Speaker 02 I did none of the things I was supposed to. I was lifting weights for the first time in like a year and then immediately went as heavy as I used to go. I didn't warm up. I just waltzed into the gym, loaded up my barbell, and was like, "It'll be fine."
1:26 Marielle Segarra? It was not fine. She had to work with a physical therapist for months to fix her back. She couldn't do workouts or do the hobbies she liked to do. But the experience taught her that all of those parts of the workout that she used to gloss over, the warm-up, the cool-down, the stretching, those things matter.
1:47 Marielle Segarra? After a lot of treatment and time off, Margaret's back at the gym now, doing the things she used to do, but safely this time. And she's got tips to share so that you don't need to throw your back out to learn the right from the wrong. On this episode of Life Kit, how to prevent injury and recover in between workouts. Margaret talks with a sports medicine doctor, a nutritionist, and a professional athlete about what you can do to minimize your risk of injury, feel less sore, and squeeze the most out of your workout.
2:18 Speaker 02 That was a hard one.
2:33 Speaker 03 Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.
2:37 Speaker 00 This message comes from iXL. The first few weeks back at school set the tone for the rest of the year. iXL is designed to help kids build confidence and get up to speed fast. Covering pre-K through 12th grade, iXL offers personalized, interactive practice in math, language arts, and science. One subscription covers everything for all the kids in your home. Receive an exclusive 20% discount on an iXL membership at ixl.com/npr. This message comes from Midi Health. Most women never get real answers about their hormone health. Midi is changing that. Built by women for women, Midi connects you with clinicians who specialize in hormone health with virtual care covered by most major insurance plans.
3:22 Speaker 00 Getting started is easy. Sign up with Midi and book your first visit with a clinician right away. Understand your hormones. Visit joinmidi.com to book your first visit. That's join m-i-d-i dot com.
3:35 Speaker 03 This message comes from Granger. This is the story of the one. As a procurement manager for a hospital system, she keeps every facility in her network stocked and ready. That's why she counts on Granger to be her single source for thousands of products, from disinfectants to lighting, air filters, and more. And with fast, dependable delivery, Granger helps her keep every facility stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.
4:08 Speaker 02 The way I hurt myself, it turns out a lot of people injure themselves in the exact same way. And that's takeaway one. If you are returning to working out, like I was, if it's been years, or months, or even just a week, go slow. Work out easier than you think you need to, not because you can't push yourself harder, but because you are retraining your body to handle stress. I talked with Dr. Natasha Desai. She's a sports medicine doctor at NYU Langone. And she told me that when it comes to injuries, she tends to treat people for two main reasons. I fall into the first camp. Basically, it goes like this.
4:48 Speaker 04 People are starting to get back to exercise and they try to exercise in the same capacity as they did back when they were 20 and they don't do that post-workout recovery.
5:00 Speaker 02 Maybe you did a bunch of sports as a kid or you were really on top of your workout game in your teens or twenties, but you fell off for a bit and when you get back into it, your body just can't hang.
5:10 Speaker 04 And that's where the micro-injury, the repetitive stress on the tendons, on the muscles, on the joints really do start to take their toll and you see a lot of overused tendonitis, you see flares of early arthritis or even some moderate arthritis by that age and just a lot of kind of soreness and pain.
5:30 Speaker 02 When you work out, whether you're at the yoga studio or on a long run or in a HIIT class at the gym, you are putting stress on your body and you're conditioning your muscles, bones and tendons to handle a certain amount of that stress, over time building up your strength and elasticity.
5:47 Speaker 04 And in between exercise, that is going to decrease. So if you go a long time between exercise and then you go back to exercising, you will feel everything a little bit tighter, a little bit more restricted and not as pliable.
6:06 Speaker 02 So if you stop moving all those muscles and then try to do that same long run or HIIT class you did before, things could break down. That's what happened to me. The other common cause of injury happens when someone does the exact same movement again and again and again.
6:23 Speaker 04 They only run or they only lift and they might overdo it and they don't allow adequate time for recovery between, I always use the analogy, like if you tap your finger on the table long enough, it's going to start hurting.
6:38 Speaker 02 This is why even pro athletes need days off, even though their bodies are conditioned to handle that load.
6:44 Speaker 04 A typical week, we lift about three times a week. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we'll be in the weight room.
6:50 Speaker 05 And then pretty much every day, Monday to Friday, we're on the track at least once.
6:57 Speaker 02 That's Anna Cockrell. She's a professional track and field athlete and Olympic medalist.
7:01 Speaker 05 You're making a face like, I could never do that, girl. I barely made it through.
7:05 Speaker 02 It's true. I was making a face. But Anna told me the reason she can do all that is because she has unlocked her rest and recovery.
7:13 Speaker 05 The things I'm able to do physically are far greater than anything I've ever been able to do in my life. I can run faster. I can run farther. I can do more. But it comes with the caveat of I have to warm up better and I have to recover better. And I have to take that stuff seriously.
7:27 Speaker 02 Anna has one to two days off a week built into her training plan.
7:31 Speaker 05 Typically, on my off day, like, I'm doing like the household movement that I have been neglecting. So I'm like, let me clean my apartment. Let me do my laundry.
7:41 Speaker 02 She's doing household chores or maybe taking a yoga class, nothing strenuous. Dr. Desai says this kind of varied training plan, strength, cardio, scheduled rest, is what everyone should be shooting for.
7:55 Speaker 04 Mixing up some strength training with some low-impact exercise with some high-intensity exercise. That's really for the general masses, right? And also just for long term, like throughout your lifespan. We could talk to the 20-year-old and say the same thing and the 80-year-old and say the same thing.
8:11 Speaker 02 So go slow, plan out time for rest and recovery, and mix up your workouts. I asked Anna what else we could take away from a week in her life. What else could help us recover and perform better? Her biggest advice?
8:25 Speaker 05 There's not one workout. There's not one supplement. There's not one secret. Like, sometimes it's just a grift. Like, people are really trying to make a lot of money.
8:32 Speaker 02 Beware of the grift. If a supplement promises to be the cure-all for muscle soreness or insists it'll give you six-pack abs, those claims are probably not true. It's hard, and maybe we all knew this deep down, but what makes the biggest difference are your habits. Sleeping well, eating regularly, warming up and cooling down, a lot of extras on the market can just cloud that. With that in mind, Anna walked me through her own habits. Everything she does, from the moment she stops her workout to the moment right before the next one.
9:08 Speaker 02 Okay. The recovery clock is starting. Takeaway two: Right after your workout, you want to gradually ease the load on your heart and muscles.
9:17 Speaker 05 I think it's a very bad idea to go straight from your last rep to your car.
9:22 Speaker 02 Anna says, whatever you do, do not skip your cooldown.
9:26 Speaker 05 Whatever that pain you feel, that achy, burny kind of pain, I know it feels better the next day when I cool down and take my time and actually let my body say, we're finished.
9:41 Speaker 02 Scientifically, the cooldown is where your body first begins its mending and recovery. You're bringing your heart rate down slowly so that your body can redirect blood flow to the right places.
9:52 Speaker 04 Because you are now not exercising and you don't need all that kind of diversion of blood flow to your muscles. And you need to redirect the blood flow to your organs and digestive system and things like that.
10:07 Speaker 02 So when you skip a cooldown, Dr. Desai says you could experience post-exercise hypotension or a big drop in blood pressure. You might feel dizzy, low energy. To counteract that, you don't need to do anything special. You just want to make sure you're not going from the hardest movement of your day to vegging out on the couch.
10:26 Speaker 05 We finish the workout. I give myself a couple of minutes and then I'm like slow jogging, sometimes even like walking, then jogging, then walking, then jogging for maybe 10, 15 minutes, if I'm being very dedicated.
10:41 Speaker 02 Anna says for her and really for everyone, this is non-negotiable.
10:45 Speaker 05 So if you've got an hour to get your workout in, think about spending 10 minutes cooling down, thinking of that as like my workout is not complete until I cool down.
10:57 Speaker 02 Okay. You spent 10, 15 minutes slowly lowering your heart rate. Maybe you did a light jog or a speed walk on the treadmill. That's what I like to do. Next on the clock, it's time for some stretching. Now, important caveat, the research out there says that soreness benefit from stretching is pretty minor. So it's something you'll have to try for yourself and monitor how you feel. Also, you might like the feeling of being sore. It means you did the work. But Dr. Desai says you want to avoid that intense soreness that you might feel a day or a few days later. The kind of soreness where you feel like you've been hit by a bus when you wake up and you can't get out of bed.
11:42 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's too sore. You want to avoid that.
11:45 Speaker 04 Because that means there's so much tension in that muscle that if you went and worked out hard, the same workout that you just did a few days earlier, you could, you could really injure yourself by either tearing the muscle or creating a lot of inflammation.
12:02 Speaker 02 Take a few minutes and stretch out any muscle that feels tight or that you just used a lot. Since I like to lift weights that can be heavy on my legs, I'm usually doing quad stretches and pigeon poses. You know, things to loosen up my hips and thighs. Anna usually does toe touches, hamstring stretches, calf raises, some seated leg straddles.
12:24 Speaker 05 Just like a set of eight to 10 of those.
12:27 Speaker 02 Really, she just does what feels good.
12:29 Speaker 05 I don't usually put a watch to that stretching. It's more just kind of getting the movement in.
12:40 Speaker 02 We'll have more Life Kit after the break.
12:49 Speaker 00 Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from iXL. The first few weeks back at school set the tone for the rest of the year. iXL is designed to help kids build confidence and get up to speed fast. Covering pre-K through 12th grade, iXL offers personalized, interactive practice in math, language arts, and science. One subscription covers everything for all the kids in your home. Receive an exclusive 20% discount on an iXL membership at ixl.com/npr.
13:23 Speaker 03 This message comes from Angie. Angie has been helping homeowners find skilled pros to get their home projects done well for over 30 years. For everything from minor repairs to major remodels, find reviews, pricing, and booking at Angie.com or on the Angie app.
13:43 Speaker 02 Let's talk food now. Takeaway three, nutrition and recovery go hand in hand. Right after your workout, your body needs to take in protein to help it build more muscle. So next on the clock, you want to get some protein in, especially if you're not going to be able to eat your larger meal until much later.
14:01 Speaker 06 Having a quick protein in the form of a chocolate milk, a protein shake is a great thing to do because that kind of carries you over until you're able to eat.
14:11 Speaker 02 That's Jeremy Ford. He's a sports dietitian and nutritionist at the University of South Carolina. And when we eat protein, our bodies break it down into amino acids that are then incorporated into these new muscle cells. So eat a protein bar on your walk home from the gym or drink some milk right when you get home. Exact timing isn't as important as making sure you're getting that protein in. Fast forward a couple hours, you're home now, maybe you're getting a little hungry and it's time to eat a bigger meal. And I won't lie, in the world of fitness, the way we talk about nutrition can feel incredibly confusing. There are micros and macros and meal prepping and so many diets to sift through and all of them are claiming to be the best.
14:56 Speaker 02 It's a lot. Anna agrees.
14:58 Speaker 05 Every time I tried to do a lot of intense like macro counting or calorie counting, I either got way too obsessed with it or it was just something that I could not maintain. And then I felt bad about the fact that I couldn't maintain it.
15:08 Speaker 02 So let's strip this down to the basics. What do you actually really need to eat? Jeremy goes by the rule of thirds.
15:16 Speaker 06 So it would be a third of protein, a third of carbs, and a third of fruits or vegetables. By following a plate like that, it makes it very simple to cover all of your bases from a recovery perspective, but also just kind of a general rule of thumb for when you eat meals in general.
15:34 Speaker 02 Maybe that's some chicken or fish in one portion of your plate, a nice scoop of rice or pasta or potatoes and the other third, and then your favorite veggie in that last section, whatever you got in the fridge. Also, protein doesn't necessarily mean meat. Legumes are protein, nuts are protein.
15:50 Speaker 06 We can think of anything from lentils to lima beans to kidney beans. You can think of almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds. You can even look at soy products and tofu, edamame, things of that nature can all provide additional protein sources.
16:09 Speaker 02 Now, we already talked about why our bodies need protein, and we have a whole episode on how to get more of it for optimal muscle gains. You should queue that up after. But as for the other parts of the plate, your body's main energy source is carbohydrates, and you've just spent a lot of energy during that workout. So now you need to re-up. And those fruits and vegetables also give you carbs, as well as necessary vitamins and minerals that you'd be missing otherwise. But first and foremost, Jeremy's biggest recovery advice is to make sure you're eating in the first place, even if it's imperfect.
16:40 Speaker 06 And so when I say that, I mean, don't skip a meal, right? When we're not properly fueling our bodies, it puts us at a risk for injury because we're pretty much asking our bodies to drive a car with no gas in it.
16:57 Speaker 02 Let's get back to Anna's schedule and that recovery clock. At this point in the day, she's left the track, driven home, had her big meal. Now it's evening and time for her deeper, mindful recovery. Takeaway four, recovery continues into the night. Anna likes to do a nighttime stretch routine to wind down her body before bed. And again, just like that immediate post-workout stretching, this doesn't need to feel like a whole big thing.
17:22 Speaker 05 It really can just be turning on the TV and stretching when the ads come on. Like, OK, I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna touch my toes for this whole 30 seconds. I'm gonna get on the ground and get in a lunge. So that you're, yeah, you're still doing your TV time, but you're starting to get your body on that path to recovery, back into movement, so that the next session isn't quite so hard.
17:44 Speaker 02 This could be a good time to use any recovery gadgets you have. Again, nothing fancy. If you do want to purchase something, Anna says a foam roller will be your biggest ally.
17:53 Speaker 05 Because you can just hit so many different parts of your body, and all you have to do is put it on the floor and rock back and forth on top of it.
18:01 Speaker 02 Also, I just want to say, recovery doesn't need to feel like work. You could treat it like an indulgence. Maybe light some candles and draw yourself a bath.
18:10 Speaker 05 I think sometimes we make recovery more complicated than it needs to be. My grandmother loved an Epsom salt bath. If it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me. So like, three to four times a week, honestly, I'm in the bathtub. And I've got all my little essential oils, too. So I feel like I'm seasoning the water with my different oils and types of Epsom salts and magnesium flakes. I got the whole thing.
18:34 Speaker 02 And when you're done, seal it with the final and most important part of your wind down.
18:39 Speaker 05 Now that I've started sleeping more, I do notice a difference on the days where I got a lot of rest versus the days that I didn't.
18:46 Speaker 02 Get your sleep in. Sometimes life gets overwhelming, and you can't squeeze in eight hours. And sometimes even when you do make the time, your sleep isn't quality. You're tossing and turning, or stressed about the fact that you can't sleep. Anna says, don't fixate on sleep to the point that it stresses you out, but take it seriously. So let's fast forward on this clock to your next workout. Maybe that's the next day, or maybe a few days from now. Whenever it is, I'm gonna trust you've been good about your sleeping and eating and stretching in between. So you're rested, you're a little sore, but not too sore. Now, take away five, let's get our energy back up and warm up our bodies.
19:26 Speaker 06 Knowing that we are going to do activity and activity demands energy of us, we want to be thinking of foods that can give our bodies energy. Simply put, that would be focusing on carbohydrates.
19:40 Speaker 02 Jeremy says if you're two to four hours out from your next workout, that's a good time to eat a solid meal.
19:46 Speaker 06 We can think of more whole food types of options. So that could be a full meal that includes a rice, a pasta, a potato, and maybe some side items that go with that. Right? Just things that our body can take its time digesting.
20:03 Speaker 02 You can eat complex carbs like those since you're not in a rush to digest everything. But once you're closer to workout time, about an hour or less, you want to simplify those carbs. So if you like to work out in the morning and don't get up early enough to fit in a full meal, just get something small in you. Think of quick snacks that your body can digest on the fly.
20:24 Speaker 06 Because the reality is is when we are doing activity, our body is prioritizing the activity, not digestion. And so that's why we want to make sure that we're really finding what works for us beforehand.
20:38 Speaker 02 That could be applesauce, fruit snacks, goldfish, cheese, pretzels, peanut butter, Rice Krispie treats. My personal favorite is yogurt. You might have to play around here and figure out what snack your body likes best. And also, how much of that snack you can hold in you.
20:54 Speaker 05 Like if I have a sandwich, I'm gonna take a few bites of my sandwich. When I have an hour, I'm like, I need to eat something. What do I want to eat? What am I comfortable eating? What's gonna sit well in my stomach? And that's what I go with.
21:05 Speaker 02 Just get something in your body so you're not running on an empty tank. And drink lots of water.
21:12 Speaker 05 Dehydration increases your injury risk. So I always go into a workout trying to make sure I'm hydrated.
21:18 Speaker 02 One last thing, and then you're ready to get going. Remember how important that cooldown was to slowly lower your heart rate? It works both ways. So before you get into the high-intensity meat of your workout, you need to warm up.
21:32 Speaker 04 When you're warming up, you're actually trying to From a cardiovascular perspective, increase the blood flow to the body. So adrenaline helps increase the heart rate, which increases the cardiac output, more blood flow to your brain, allows you to focus and decrease the kind of pain feedback loop, and more blood flow to the muscles, which allows them to swell and have a steady flow of oxygen, so they perform their function, which is to contract, right?
22:03 Speaker 02 And warming up preps your body for all of the stretching, tearing, yanking, pulling on those muscles. It makes your muscles a little more pliable, less stiff, so they can handle what's to come.
22:18 Speaker 02 Okay, that's our recovery clock. Everything you can do from the moment your last workout finishes to right before your next one begins. It's time for a recap. Takeaway one: If you took a break from working out and are just getting back to it, go slow. Go easier than you think you need to, and budget lots of time for rest and recovery. Also, mix up your workouts. Takeaway two: Starting up that recovery clock in the first hour after your workout, you want to spend 10 or 15 minutes cooling down, then do some stretching. Takeaway three: Make sure you get a bit of protein in on your way home from the gym. Once you're home and starting to get hungry, you can help your body recover by following
23:01 Speaker 02 the rule of thirds. Cooking a meal that's a third protein, a third carbs, and a third veggies. But most importantly, don't skip meals. Takeaway four: Build some recovery into your nighttime wind down. That could be more stretching, foam rolling, or a hot bath, and make sure you're taking your sleep seriously. Takeaway five: A few hours out from your next workout, get some complex carbs in you, then right before, eat more easily digestible snacks. Budget time to warm up. And lastly, remember to celebrate your recovery, just like you would a workout.
23:39 Marielle Segarra? That was Life Kit producer Margaret Serino. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We have one about how to think about pain differently and another about women's health myths. Also, we love hearing from you, so if you have episode ideas or feedback you want to share, or questions for us, email us at [email protected] . This episode of Life Kit was produced by Margaret Serino. Our digital editor is Malika Gharib, and Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor. Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Claire Marie Schneider, Sylvie Douglas, and Mika Ellison. Engineering support comes from Robert Rodriguez. I'm Marielle Segarra. Thanks for listening.
24:29 Speaker 03 Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.
24:33 Speaker 00 This message comes from Midi Health. Most women never get real answers about their hormone health. Midi is changing that. Built by women for women, Midi connects you with clinicians who specialize in hormone health with virtual care covered by most major insurance plans. Getting started is easy. Sign up with Midi and book your first visit with a clinician right away. Understand your hormones. Visit joinmidi.com to book your first visit. That's join M-I-D-I dot com.
25:01 Speaker 03 This message comes from Google Workspace with Gemini. Ever notice how every new AI tool asks you to explain your business to it all over again? Google Workspace with Gemini skips that. You get Google's AI built right into the premium versions of Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, and more. No new tools, no extra logins, just one subscription that gives you personalized AI right inside your actual workflow. Try Google Workspace with Gemini at g o o dot g l e slash workspace with Gemini.
Previous How to avoid this year's common tax scams Next Good vibes only? The science behind optimism and manifestation Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
