Physical training can feel like a balancing act sometimes; you need to push yourself to incrementally increase your overall fitness, strength and endurance. At the same time you have to make sure that you don’t push yourself too hard and injure yourself. An injury can put you out of the game for days, weeks, and if you’re really unlucky; months.
The best way to avoid injury is to work recovery into your routine. Some (gung ho) people balk at the idea of recovery days; they want to push it to the limit, and a day away from the gym is a day wasted. These people generally do something terrible to their body and then never go to the gym again. Anyone who’s serious about getting into the best possible shape knows that the time you spend away from the gym is just as important as the time you spend in it.
When you work out you are doing damage to your body, don’t worry, this is the objective. When exercise you are gradually creating tiny tears in your muscles, this is what causes that feeling of soreness after a workout and it can be hard to get some pain relief while keeping up your exercising. When your muscles heal from this they will reconstruct their fibers into stronger formations and increase in mass.
Muscles need a certain amount of time to heal and grow. The amount of time can vary from person to person, but it is generally thought to take roughly 48 hours. The real gains you want will happen in your down time, not when you’re on the bench press.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of the main chemicals in cannabis. These chemicals are known as cannabinoids and they interact with a part of the human body known as the endocannabinoid system. This system affects everything from your appetite, to the brain chemistry that causes seizures.
For athletes, there are two properties that CBD has that are of great interest, its pain killing ability, and its anti-inflammatory effects. These effects can ensure that your recovery time is shorter, allowing you to get back to the gym and go further in less time.
Reducing the soreness you feel after a workout can help you enjoy your recovery time a bit more. There is a physical and psychological element to this; reducing pain allows you a greater range of movement which helps you stretch out sore muscle more easily, and if you aren’t hobbling around you’ll feel a bit more positive about returning to the gym after your recovery.
The anti-inflammatory properties of CBD will help your muscles heal more efficiently by reducing the inflammation and swelling that can slow the healing process. This combined with a good warm up/cool down, and plenty of water will cut down on your recovery time.