Exercise is love, and the way you feel after a solid sweat session is amazing, thanks to the happy hormones or endorphins. But exercise only helps or should say benefits, when you do not overdo it, like all good things! Just because you love dark chocolate, does not mean you eat the entire bar! Even if it is healthy. Moderation, my dear friend, is still the key. Some people exercise seven days a week. They proudly announce, ‘ hey, I killed it all seven days in the gym.’

Really? What about fatigue, muscle ache, rest and recovery, or active recovery? You need to give that body of yours a rest. Imagine working all seven days in a week. No, we don’t even want to imagine that! That Sunday is everything. It rejuvenates you and makes you up for that Monday. We do like to hate!

So, leave room for rest days or active rest days when you do some light activity, nothing too intensive or punishing. Think of a long leisurely walk or a swim? Well, we are coming to the options. A little bit of activity is like that Sunday you need and cannot do without. An active recovery day may mean using at least 60 to 70 percent of your effort. It will help circulate your achy and tight muscles and help you get stronger. Here’s what you can do on your active recovery days.

Tai chi

This low-impact form of martial arts is one of the best exercises to increase strength and balance and good for people of any age group. The slow deliberate movements can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system. And this helps you to take a break from your stressful everyday life.

Tai chi even has some pain-relieving benefits. Tai-Chi is also one of the best exercises that are good for your body and good for your mind, like Yoga our second choice when it comes to active recovery exercise options.

Crawling

The last time we went to the gym on a Saturday and our trainer suggested we do a bit of crawling, we started laughing? Really crawling? What next? But crawling is in fact one of the best exercises, in fact, a full-body workout that can increase your strength, focus, and help improve your posture! It can even challenge your heart, lungs, and muscles, even giving your joints a break. It can also make you feel relaxed instead of tired, the very aim of active recoveries. You can begin with a baby crawl and graduate to a leopard crawl! A few minutes a day and you are done!

Yoga

Yoga, ah what can we write about yoga, that has not been written before. But it is our favorite, sorry for being biased! But that one hour on the mat can help us deal with our grumpy bosses with renewed energy!

Also, it makes us flexible, we never knew that we could stand on our heads or reach our legs right behind our heads lying down we mean, (Halasana.) Also, yoga has a way of helping the blood flow reach the corners of the body, which we never knew existed! Our muscles, love it, our mind loves it. But wait is there something that we hate about yoga? Nay! that’s a no-brainer!

Light resistance training

Now for that guy we were discussing earlier in the article, you know the one, who exercises all seven days of the week and looks like he wants to give The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) stiff competition in bulking up! Mr you can do light resistance training if you want! When we mean light, we mean light, so take those light dumbbells and increase the reps!

We know you would hate to do that. But still, it is a good option for you. But our advice is you should still avoid it if you are sore from that intensive super long leg day workout and you are still reeling under the effect.

So, here are our favorite workouts when all we are looking for is activity but not hard enough and not intensive enough! The next time you see us crawling in the gym on a Saturday, don’t laugh instead join us for a fun recovery session.