Training guide
The things that speed recovery most are the plain ones: enough sleep, enough food with some protein and carbohydrate, fluids, and an easy day after a hard one. Massage, compression clothing, cold water and foam rolling can ease soreness a little, but in trials of competitive endurance athletes none beat simple rest for getting performance back, and stretching doesn't help.
This guide covers what recovery means and how long it takes, sleep, what to eat and drink and when, active recovery, each popular method with the size of its effect, why regular ice baths may hold back your gains, painkillers and alcohol, and the signs that tiredness or soreness is something more.
After a heavy session, muscle protein building roughly doubles at 24 hours and is close to normal by 36. Strength and power came back faster when sets stopped short of failure; taking every set to failure delayed recovery by up to 24 to 48 hours. Soreness after something new peaks at 1 to 3 days, as our muscle soreness guide explains.
The NHS says adults need 7 to 9 hours. Sleeping 6 hours or less cut next-day performance by about 8% on average, and one night without sleep cut muscle protein building by 18%.
About 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day was the most that added muscle in trials, spread over meals. Total daily protein mattered more than timing, so there's no 30-minute window to race against.
With less than about 8 hours before another hard session, start eating carbohydrate soon and keep it coming. Otherwise normal meals refill your stores. Drink to stay just ahead of thirst.
In 16 trials of competitive endurance athletes, no recovery method beat simple rest, and a sham bath did as well as the real ones. Massage, compression, cold water and rolling ease soreness a little, but massage didn't speed the return of strength or performance.
Regular ice baths after strength training reduced strength gains and may reduce muscle growth. Stretching barely changes soreness, high daily doses of ibuprofen held back muscle growth in one trial, and heavy drinking after a hard session cut muscle protein building. Tiredness that lasts for weeks despite rest needs a GP: see the warning signs.
Heart rate and breathing settle within minutes of stopping. Muscle fuel (glycogen) refills at only about 5% an hour, so a full refill takes most of a day with enough carbohydrate (our arithmetic). Muscle building stays raised for about a day and a half, strength and power come back within about 1 to 2 days, soreness after something new can last up to a week, and the tiredness of weeks of hard training takes days to weeks.
Feeling less sore, being ready for the next session sooner, or getting more out of training over months. Some methods help the first two at the cost of the third: regular cold water after strength sessions eases soreness but reduces strength gains.
The same session makes you much less sore the second time (the repeated bout effect, as our muscle soreness guide explains). Hard lowering work and new exercises cause the most soreness, long runs drain fuel stores, and sets to failure slow strength recovery. Sleep, life stress, eating too little, illness and age all change how fast you bounce back; our rest days guide found no good evidence that older adults need extra rest days.
In 6 young men who trained one arm hard, muscle protein building was more than double at 24 hours and had almost returned to normal by 36 hours. It's one small study of the arm muscles, which is why our rest days guide grades it emerging too.
Source 1
In 10 trained men, jump height and bar speed recovered significantly faster between 24 and 48 hours when sets stopped well short of failure; taking every set to failure slowed recovery by up to 24 to 48 hours.
Source 2
In a network meta-analysis of 16 trials (273 competitive endurance athletes), no recovery method beat passive rest for soreness, a marker of muscle damage or sport performance, and a sham bath at a neutral temperature ranked at or above every active method. The certainty was very low for most comparisons; the one moderate-certainty finding was that compression clothing doesn't improve performance.
Source 11
The NHS says adults need 7 to 9 hours on average, and that everyone needs different amounts. Sleep experts advise athletes to match sleep to their own needs rather than one number.
Across 69 studies (959 people, 89% of them men), sleeping 6 hours or less cut next-day performance by 7.6% on average, and the loss grew by about 0.4% for every extra hour awake. Afternoon and evening sessions were hit more than morning ones.
Source 4
In 13 young adults, one night without sleep cut muscle protein building by 18% and raised the stress hormone cortisol by 21%.
Source 5
In 11 college basketball players, 5 to 7 weeks of aiming for 10 hours in bed added nearly 2 hours of sleep a night and improved sprint times and shooting. There was no comparison group.
Source 22
Sleep loss can upset the nervous system's balance in ways that mimic overtraining, and it impairs sport-specific performance.
Source 23
Keep regular wake-up times, relax for an hour before bed, and keep your bedroom dark and quiet, as the NHS advises. Our rest days guide has more on sleep and training.
Source 3
Across 49 trials of 1,863 people doing resistance training, extra protein added muscle up to about 1.6 g per kg of body weight a day and no further. Sports nutrition guidance suggests 1.4 to 2.0 g per kg a day for most people who exercise, and the British Dietetic Association says a healthy, balanced diet usually covers it when you eat enough overall.
Guidance suggests about 0.25 to 0.3 g per kg of body weight at a time (about 15 to 25 g, or 20 to 40 g in another position stand), every 3 to 5 hours over several meals, including after key sessions.
Across 20 to 23 studies, eating protein around a session made no significant difference to strength or muscle gain once total protein was accounted for. A session's effect on muscle building lasts at least 24 hours.
With less than 8 hours before another demanding session, about 1 to 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight an hour for the first 4 hours refills muscle fuel fastest. Otherwise, meals and snacks spread through the day do it, and there's no need to rush.
The British Dietetic Association's practical advice is to drink to "just stay ahead of thirst", and the NHS says to drink extra fluids if you've been sweating from physical activity. If you need to recover fast and you weigh yourself before and after, guidance suggests about 1.25 to 1.5 litres for every kilogram lost; otherwise normal eating and drinking does it.
In 8 active men, about 12 standard drinks after a hard session cut muscle protein building by 24% when taken with protein and 37% with carbohydrate, compared with protein alone. It's one small trial of very heavy drinking, but reviews advise keeping alcohol low after exercise, especially with an injury.
The British Dietetic Association says: "A varied, well-balanced diet should provide the nutrients and energy required for sport. Supplements will not compensate for poor food choices but may be helpful in certain situations." We found no recovery supplement to recommend.
Light activity eased soreness for a short time in pooled studies, and an active cool-down may settle heart rate and breathing faster, but it didn't improve next-day performance and in trials it didn't beat rest. A review of 26 studies in competitive athletes found 6 to 10 minutes of active recovery the most consistently useful for performance, though the findings varied widely.
Across 99 studies, massage had the largest effect on soreness and tiredness of any recovery method, and a review of 11 trials agreed it eases soreness. But across 29 studies of 1,012 people, massage didn't improve strength, jumping, sprinting or endurance afterwards, only soreness and flexibility, slightly. The trials were small and couldn't be blinded.
Across 21 studies, rolling after exercise reduced perceived soreness by about 6% and slightly limited the drop in sprint (3.1%) and strength (3.9%) performance. The authors called the overall effects "rather minor and partly negligible".
Source 30
Across 12 trials, massage guns helped jump performance recover (low certainty) but didn't clearly help strength or soreness. One case report describes severe muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) in a young woman after a coach used a massage gun on her tired thighs following a bike ride.
After muscle-damaging exercise, compression garments moderately reduced soreness and helped strength and power recover across 12 studies, and gave small overall benefits, largest for strength, across 23. In endurance athletes the soreness benefit was very uncertain (9 studies), and compression didn't improve next-day performance.
A Cochrane review of 17 small, low-quality trials (366 people) found cold water immersion reduced soreness for up to 4 days compared with resting. After high-intensity exercise it also helped power, soreness and how recovered people felt at 24 hours, but not strength (52 studies), and it beat other recovery methods for soreness (28 studies). 10 to 15 minutes at 10 to 15°C did best across 9 trials. An umbrella review rated the certainty low to very low.
Used regularly after strength training, cold water reduced strength gains across 8 studies and, more slightly, across 10. For muscle growth the evidence is weaker: across 8 studies it may reduce growth, but the range of likely effects included no difference. In a 12-week trial of 21 men, strength and muscle grew more with active recovery than with cold water. It didn't affect gains from endurance training.
Across 12 studies, stretching before or after exercise reduced soreness by about 1 point or less on a 100-point scale, and in 10 trials of 229 people, stretching after exercise didn't speed strength recovery. Stretch for flexibility if you like, not for recovery.
In one 8-week trial of 31 young adults (aged 18 to 35), taking 1,200 mg of ibuprofen a day, the most you can buy without a prescription, roughly halved the growth in thigh muscle from training compared with a low dose of aspirin. Occasional use is unlikely to matter, and across studies anti-inflammatory painkillers didn't improve the recovery of performance or strength after resistance exercise. The NHS advises taking the smallest dose you need for the shortest time.
If a doctor has prescribed you an anti-inflammatory, keep taking it as prescribed, and ask your doctor or pharmacist before changing it (our suggestion).
These trials can't be blinded, and a sham bath did as well as the real methods, so believing in a method may explain part of its effect. If something makes you feel better and fits your week, that's a fair reason to use it.
Source 11
Our editorial sequence, built on the cool-down guide (3 to 5 minutes), the sports nutrition position stands and the protein meta-analysis (Thomas 2016; Kerksick 2017; Morton 2018), the recovery meta-analyses (Dupuy 2018; Davis 2020; Wiewelhove 2019; Bleakley 2012; Piñero 2024) and the NHS sleep advice.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Treadmill walking
Our muscle soreness guide's editorial starting point is 10 to 20 minutes of walking or easy cycling at a pace you can chat at, if it helps you feel better, and our rest days guide's is 20 to 40 minutes at 2 to 4 out of 10 on a rest day. It eases stiffness while you move, but it won't make soreness go any faster.
The rolling move pages' dose: "About 90 seconds for each muscle you roll, for example 2 or 3 slow rounds of 30 to 45 seconds." For the foot, 1 to 2 minutes per foot. Keep the pressure to one you can breathe through, and see the warning signs for what not to roll.
As in our rest days guide: a few minutes before bed of slow breathing with no holds, 4 rounds of 4-7-8 breathing if holds feel fine, and 2 minutes with your legs up the wall. Leave out the holds with heart disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure, glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, as our breathing workout says.
On the day after a hard session, our 25-minute active recovery workout is easy cardio, a mobility flow and optional rolling for sore spots. It won't make you recover faster than resting, but it eases stiffness and counts towards your week.
A 25-minute easy session for rest days and sore muscles: easy cardio, a gentle mobility flow, optional rolling for sore spots, and slow breathing to finish.
25 minBeginner11 movesCardio machine, A wallA 10-minute cool-down for after a run, a class or a gym session: a few minutes of easy movement, stretches for the muscles you used, then slow breathing.
10 minBeginner9 movesCardio machine, A wallSeven stretches for after a run: calves, soleus, quads, hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes.
10 minBeginner7 movesA wallA 10-minute foam roller routine for calves, thighs, glutes and upper back: about a minute per area, moderate pressure, slow rolls.
10 minBeginner6 movesA foam rollerRoll then stretch each part of the leg, feet to hips, and finish with springy calf bounces. About 20 minutes.
20 minBeginner14 movesA massage ball, A foam rollerA steady 30 to 45 minute cardio session at talk-but-not-sing pace: walk, cycle, row or cross-train, counting toward weekly activity guidelines.
40 minBeginner3 movesCardio machine, A wallA 20-minute yoga cool-down for runners: calves, hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes, one balance pose and a rest, after an easy run or on a rest day.
20 minBeginner11 movesA wallA slow, 10-minute floor routine to unwind before sleep: child's pose, twists, happy baby and slow breathing.
10 minBeginner7 movesFirm cushion, A wallA 6-minute breathing routine: slow breathing, crocodile breathing, alternate nostril breathing, box breathing and 4-7-8 breathing.
6 minBeginner5 movesNo equipmentPlans with easy days and lighter weeks built in do much of the recovery work for you.
A full week that mixes intensities: three strength days, two cardio days, a mobility day and an easy day, never seven hard days.
3 training days45 minBeginner6 days a weekA 6-day push/pull/legs plan for experienced lifters: two push, two pull and two leg days, with sets, reps, rest and lighter weeks.
6 training days55 minAdvanced4 days a weekAn 8-week beginner 10K plan: three runs a week plus strength, a long run that grows about 10% at a time, optional hills and tempo runs, and a light race week.
4 training days45 minBeginner4 days a weekAn 18-week first marathon plan from half marathon fitness: three runs a week, a long run built about 10% at a time, strength, a 3-week taper and race-day fuel.
4 training days60 minBeginnerShort dips in performance that recover after a few days of easier training are a normal part of getting fitter. When performance stays down for weeks despite rest, with fatigue, poor sleep or low mood, the answer is rest and a check for other causes, as our rest days guide explains.
Source 20
Across 12 studies of trained endurance athletes, short-term overreaching showed up as lower power output, lower heart rates during hard efforts, sessions that felt harder and changes on mood questionnaires.
Source 47
A systematic review found no study that had tracked athletes' performance and mood from healthy to overtrained with objective measures. Before assuming overtraining, check the basics on this page (sleep, food and how fast your training went up), and see a GP if tiredness lasts (our suggestion).
Source 48
If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise.
For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; severe difficulty breathing; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining, or comes with numbness or weakness, difficulty speaking or loss of vision. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
After hard or unfamiliar exercise, these are not ordinary soreness. They can be signs of rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that NHS clinical guidance describes as potentially life-threatening; its main danger is damage to the kidneys. Get urgent medical help if you have:
NHS clinical guidance links it to exercise that is unaccustomed (too much, too fast, too hard or too soon) or done when fasting, dehydrated or ill. Symptoms may not start until hours or days after the exercise, so don't ignore them. If you take a statin such as atorvastatin, the NHS says to call 111 if you think you might be having serious side effects, which include muscle cramps, severe pain and weakness.
Throbbing pain in one calf or thigh, with swelling and red, blue or darkened skin around it (a possible blood clot): the NHS says to ask for an urgent GP appointment or contact NHS 111. Don't roll it.
Never roll a calf that is swollen, red or darkened, or throbbing.
Don't roll over bruises, varicose veins, open wounds, recent surgery or a bone injury, and keep the pressure light if you bruise easily or take blood thinners.
A pop or tearing at the front of the armpit or chest during a lift, followed by bruising into the chest or upper arm, a change in the shape of the chest or armpit, or weakness pushing, can be a torn chest tendon. Don't wait for it to settle: get help the same day from NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre, as our pec strain guide explains.
A sudden pop at the front of the elbow during a heavy pull, with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E (in the US, urgent care or the emergency department), and don't wait for it to settle: repair is best done within the first 2 to 3 weeks.
Soreness that isn't better after a week, keeps coming back after normal sessions, or is in one spot (our suggestion).
Source 3
Training hard on too little food harms health and performance in women and men; experts call this relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs). If you're worried about your energy, your periods or repeated injuries, see a doctor.
Reduce or stop training when you have an infection, and allow time to recover. Avoid hard exercise if you have vomiting or diarrhoea, then ease back in with lighter sessions.
Get into cold water slowly, never alone in open water, and leave cold baths out if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure unless your doctor agrees: sudden cold water makes you gasp and breathe fast, and cold water immersion has been linked with cardiac arrest and drowning (our suggestion).
Source 51
If a doctor has prescribed you an anti-inflammatory, keep taking it as prescribed, and ask your doctor or pharmacist before changing it (our suggestion).
Lie down with your legs raised, or sit with your head lowered between your knees, and drink some water. Crossing your legs while standing, rocking up and down on your toes or clenching your fists can help. Call 999 if someone faints while exercising.
Stop straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, the NHS says, and contact 111 if your symptoms worry you or don't go away.
A dull ache in your muscles for a day or two after something new is normal. Joint pain that's sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day means switching to the easier option, and seeing a GP or physiotherapist if it carries on (our plans' rule). Our muscle soreness guide has more.
Speak to a GP first if you haven't exercised for some time, or if you have a medical condition or concerns. Get advice first, too, if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, have recently had a heart attack or an operation, or are pregnant or have recently given birth.
Source 52
If you have a heart condition, follow your cardiac team's advice on how hard to work, and stop for the warning signs above. People with long-term conditions may wish to ask their specialist before starting. With uncontrolled high blood pressure, avoid straining against a held breath; the high blood pressure guide has more.
They ease soreness, but used regularly after strength sessions they reduced strength gains and may reduce muscle growth.
It changed soreness by about 1 point on a 100-point scale and didn't speed strength recovery.
Total daily protein mattered; timing didn't once that was accounted for, and a session's effect lasts at least 24 hours.
Blood lactate returns to normal on its own, lactate isn't what causes next-day soreness, and active cool-downs made little difference to soreness, as our cool-down guide explains.
Source 19
In competitive endurance athletes, no method beat passive rest, and a sham bath did as well.
Source 11
Anti-inflammatory painkillers didn't speed the recovery of performance or strength, and high daily doses held back muscle growth in one trial.
Heavy drinking after a hard session cut muscle protein building by 24 to 37% in a small trial.
Source 18
The British Dietetic Association says a varied, well-balanced diet should provide what you need for sport and that supplements "will not compensate for poor food choices".
Rolling eases soreness a little, by about 6%. We found no evidence here that it prevents injury; our fascia guides cover what rolling does to tissue.
Source 30
Sleep 7 to 9 hours, eat enough with protein at each meal, drink to thirst, and take an easy day or a rest day after a hard session. Massage, compression or a cold bath can ease soreness a little, but none beat simple rest for getting performance back in trials.
Usually 1 to 3 days. Muscle building stays raised for about a day and a half, strength comes back within about 1 to 2 days (longer if you trained to failure), and soreness after something new can last up to a week.
A normal meal with some protein (about 0.25 to 0.3 g per kg of body weight, around 15 to 25 g) and carbohydrate within a few hours. You only need to rush carbohydrate if you'll train hard again within about 8 hours.
No rush: total protein over the day mattered more than timing in pooled trials, and a session's effect on muscle lasts at least 24 hours. Aim for about 1.6 g per kg a day if you're building muscle.
They ease soreness for up to about 4 days and helped power the next day after hard sessions, but used regularly after strength training they reduced strength gains and may reduce muscle growth. Save them for when you need to perform again soon; 10 to 15 minutes at 10 to 15°C did best in studies. Get in slowly, never swim alone in open water, and ask your doctor first if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure.
A little: rolling after exercise eased soreness by about 6% and slightly limited the drop in sprint and strength performance. About 90 seconds per muscle, at a pressure you can breathe through, is enough.
It eased soreness more than any other method in pooled studies, but it didn't speed the return of strength, sprint or endurance performance. Enjoy it if it helps you feel better.
They modestly reduced soreness and helped strength recover after muscle-damaging exercise, mainly after strength sessions. In endurance athletes the evidence is very uncertain, and they didn't improve next-day performance.
Not much: stretching changed soreness by about 1 point on a 100-point scale and didn't speed strength recovery. Stretch for flexibility, not recovery.
Not for recovery itself: light activity eases soreness while you move, but in trials it didn't beat rest for performance. Choose whichever you enjoy; our active recovery workout takes 25 minutes.
Yes. Sleeping 6 hours or less cut next-day performance by about 8% on average, and one night without sleep cut muscle protein building by 18%. The NHS says adults need 7 to 9 hours.
Ordinary soreness doesn't need it, and in one 8-week trial of young adults, taking 1,200 mg a day held back muscle growth from training. Avoid it before or during long races because of the risk to the kidneys. If a doctor has prescribed you an anti-inflammatory, keep taking it as prescribed and ask your doctor or pharmacist before changing it.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
