Swollen legs and training: a combo that may seem strange, even absurd! But it can happen if you don’t do things right. Small involuntary mistakes can demotivate us and make us believe that training is useless. Let’s face it, changing your lifestyle and starting to train regularly isn’t always easy; it requires commitment and effort.
Seeing good results (attention, we are not talking about miracles!) as soon as possible can be a valid incentive to do well and continue over time. That’s why finding yourself with swollen and stiff legs and seeing the stairs go up instead of down can push us to give up everything prematurely. What to do, then? Let’s see together a series of useful tips to make your training more effective immediately.
Fitness And Retention
To have lean and athletic thighs, you must work on muscle tone and reduce water retention and subcutaneous fat through a balanced diet. Suppose your goal is to reduce the circumference of your thighs. In that case, you will have to psychologically “endure” that necessary “transition” period during which you will have toned legs but not yet with the desired appearance. With the correct training and nutrition, excess fluid and fat will disappear. Also, remember that if you do toning-based workouts, in the minutes following your workout, you will feel “swelling” due to the normal increase in blood flow to the muscle groups involved. These are temporary effects that can easily be countered. Let’s see how!
Swollen Legs And Training: Things Not To Do
Let’s see what not to do together to make your workouts more performing and avoid the annoying inconvenience of swollen legs.
Fitness And Swollen Legs: Don’t Believe That Sport Makes Your Legs Thicker
First, we must avoid giving up everything thinking that the workouts thicken the legs. It can scare and demotivate, especially the female gender, but it is a false myth that needs to be debunked. Especially in the first period of a new workout, or in any case, when you start training after a long time, the muscles retain a lot of liquids. Therefore, it is not a question of fat or excess muscle mass but water retention.
- But how to counteract water retention?
- Drink the right amount of fluids. Water, but also draining herbal teas and green tea.
- Reduce (without eliminating) salt and too-salty packaged foods,
- Take care of your diet by choosing foods rich in fiber and liquids such as fruit and vegetables
- After the shower, practice a good self-massage. Start from the bottom up with circular movements, perhaps helping yourself with an oil (almond, argan, coconut, olive) or a moisturizer.
Swollen Legs: Avoid Too-Heavy Workouts
Often exhausting workouts are chosen to get the desired results as soon as possible. How many times do we start training by imposing expiration dates such as “for the summer,” “losing 10 kg in 3 months,” or, again, “wearing the wedding dress”? Haste, however, is counterproductive. So avoid heavy workouts.
And, again, avoid massacring specific muscle groups to see that particular area of the body reduced. There is no such thing as localized weight loss, and training your legs every day to remove inches from your thighs is not good! Rest is as essential as training because it allows our body to repair the muscle micro-traumas during the training session, making us stronger and ready to increase the intensity gradually.
Swollen Legs And Training: What To Do?
But what to do then? Start with a workout suited to your level of preparation and gradually increase the intensity of your workouts.
Only Do One Workout At A Time To Avoid Bulking Up Your Legs
Choosing multiple workouts to do at the same time requires some preparation. It can be done, but better to postpone until you are more trained and experienced. Especially at the beginning, it is good to stick to a specific calendar without trying to overdo it. The workouts proposed by personal trainers tend to set training days for the different muscle groups, giving the muscles time to recover. Combining more workouts would throw these cycles out of phase, risking overloading the muscles.
Finish Your Workout Smartly
What does it mean to finish the workout smartly? A good microcirculation is essential to help dispose of training waste and to avoid aggravating water retention that causes swelling. Here’s what to do!
- Especially if you have a gynoid physique, you should finish your workouts with an exercise for the upper body to stimulate the microcirculation and recall the blood flow towards the upper limbs.
- After your workout, lie on the ground, lifting your legs and leaning them against the wall. Try to stay in this position for at least 10-15 minutes.
Respect The Rest Of The Days
Rest is essential to allow our body to recover from the fatigue of physical activity. It allows the muscle to rebuild and strengthen itself and gives the body the time necessary to restore the optimal balance, allowing us to reduce water retention. Adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes correct and adequate nutrition, the right degree of training, and sufficient recovery time is necessary.
Also Read: Zinc: What Is It Used For In The Body? Properties And Benefits
