Post-exercise recovery is an essential part of your workout routine.

It's important to keep in mind that a workout or exercise can be any time your body is working harder than normal, including:

• Workout class, from spinning to aerobics
• Athletic event, from softball to a pick-up basketball game, to a professional athletic performance
• Hiking, either a casual day trip or a longer intensive hike
• Power walking

No matter what your athletic performance level, a proper recovery period is essential to avoiding injury, building muscle, and most importantly, letting you get back out there on another day to continue to improve and move.

Post-Recovery Basics

By now, you know the basics of allowing your body to recover after a workout. Let's recap:

• Cool Down. Take at least 20 minutes to engage in some light cardio (such as slow walking), stretching, and massage or acupressure.
• Eat protein and potassium. After the cool down, go for a whey protein shake, or make some eggs or chicken. Pair it with a banana or potato to capitalize on the much-needed potassium to build your muscles.
• Sleep well. Cut out caffeine and screen time to make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep a night.

Add in Acupressure

Acupressure is another essential, but often overlooked, aspect of post-exercise recovery. Acupressure is an ancient Chinese art used to heal the body via the body's natural healing points. By applying pressure to these areas, the body will be stimulated to heal itself. Acupressure will relieve tension, increase circulation, reduce pain, and boost your immune system.

Using the Q-Flex acupressure system, you can maximize your exercise efforts during the recovery period. There are two ways to use the Q-Flex:

1. Local Point Manipulation. This is when you stimulate the area where you are feeling pain or tension. So -- did you work on squats during this workout? Then focus your acupressure session on your legs and glutes.
2. Trigger Point Manipulation. This is a great way to alleviate tension and pain without actually touching the area that is sore or hurts. By using the Q-Flex to manipulate a trigger point, the body will know exactly what you need by improving blood flow to the area.

The Q-Flex will stimulate the muscles to release endorphins and promote circulation. As you experience muscle pain or soreness, that means that there's a lack of blood flow to that area. Q-Flex remedies that situation by telling the body that it needs to improve its circulation, bringing oxygen and nutrients to the affected area. Using the Q-Flex -- either in local point manipulation or trigger point manipulation -- will enable the muscles to relax and elongate, thereby enabling them to absorb the blood from increased circulation and providing you comfort from your workout.

To find out more about the benefits of the Q-Flex and trigger point manipulation, check this out. https://getqflex.com/pages/pressure-points