Ashwagandha is an adaptogen in ayurvedic medicine and is supposed to help the body cope with stressful adjustments it has to make.
Everyone here is "undergoing" some of that with the workout you are doing for your body, which may benefit from ashwagandha extract.
When you abuse your body, it needs to recover and rebuild.
That’s where adding ashwagandha to your recovery routine might come in handy, especially considering its effects on muscle tissue.
Description: In this article, we’ll take a look at how ashwagandha is beneficial for post-exercise recovery as well as for overall recovery.
Why Ashwagandha for Recovery Post-Workout?
Ashwagandha is an ancient ayurvedic herb that has been commonly used to improve vitality and overall health, including testosterone levels.
It also enhances your body’s response to various stressors —including the kind you get from a workout — as an adaptogen.
When you exercise, your body goes through a repair cycle, which involves inflammation and muscle recovery.
Ashwagandha may help to tamp down inflammation to support muscle repair and even damp down some of the soreness that follows a workout, enhancing overall physical performance.
That’s perhaps one reason the stress-evaporating herb might make a difference between workouts in terms of how quickly you bounce back and feel better — whether you’re getting ready for strength, endurance, or overall health.
Ashwagandha Positive Effects On Post-Workout Recovery
Ashwagandha and Recovery: Transform Your Post-Workout Recovery - Check out these top ashwagandha benefits, which give you that extra edge to recover post-workout and improve muscle gain.
Reducing exercise-induced muscle inflammation and soreness is one of the benefits of ashwagandha.
Post a tough workout, and muscle inflammation is part of the process.
But extended inflammation might heighten soreness and stall recovery.
Ashwagandha also has chemicals that might reduce inflammation, but its effect is a faster and less painful recovery for those who have been previously stressed out.
Studies have shown that the anti-inflammatory effects of ashwagandha could potentially lessen the muscle damage that occurs when you perform highly repetitive, high-intensity workouts, allowing you to exercise again faster (1).
Ashwagandha supports steady training with reduced muscle soreness.
Supporting Muscle Repair and Growth
Small tears are made in the muscles during exercise, which causes the muscle to grow back through the repair.
Ashwagandha can help with this muscle repair by helping to promote protein synthesis, which is the cornerstone of muscle repair and muscle building, while also enhancing antioxidant effects.
That muscle-supporting action could be useful to people trying to increase muscle mass and strength or endurance.
Several studies also state that ashwagandha can increase muscle strength and size, making it useful as a complementary supplement for athletes in their recovery time, especially in conjunction with other supplements like ashwagandha (2).
Ashwagandha for bodybuilding and ashwagandha for muscle growth in men's fitness.
With regular use, ashwagandha for muscle keeps getting you closer to your fitness and life goals, helping you achieve significant muscle gain.
Enhancing Energy and Reducing Fatigue
If you’re working out too hard, you might be worn out, or you might just need relaxation to reduce stress and fight for the strength.
It has been demonstrated that ashwagandha increases vitality and may even help avoid the fatigue that comes with exercise, allowing you to return to your full potential sooner and for longer.
Some of this energy shot might come from ashwagandha — which mellows levels of cortisol, a stress hormone — that when too high, can sap energy and delay recovery.
In the process, it helps the body come back into balance — and be less wiped out — after working out by lowering cortisol.
If you’re an athlete or a regular at the gym, this ayurvedic herb might be able to assist you with your overall energy levels and feeling charged.
Better Sleep, Better Recovery, and Better Testosterone Levels with the help of ashwagandha root extract.
Sleep is one of your most powerful recovery tools for enhancing testosterone levels.
Ashwagandha improves the quality of sleep and relaxation – i.e., for the body to recover during sleep.
When you sleep more soundly, your muscles are better able to repair, and your stress decreases.
The calming effect of ashwagandha can make winding down and getting the deep, restorative sleep your body craves even easier.
If you haven’t been able to relax in the way that you would like after a good workout and have been falling into bed wide-eyed, ashwagandha may be exactly the supplement for you.
Improved sleep is a good step towards improved recovery, and over the long run, this can clearly pay dividends in terms of performance.
How does Ashwagandha function in Your Body to Aid Recovery?
Here’s what it does that may help to enhance your body’s own recovery processes after you’ve logged that grueling workout.
Cortisol and the stress response can be managed with the help of ashwagandha extract.
One of the main reasons ashwagandha is great for recovery, specifically, is because of what it does for cortisol.
In order to help the body respond to the demands of exercise, the stress hormone cortisol rises when the body is physically stressed.
At the other end of the spectrum, when cortisol is constantly high, you might end up with muscle trauma, slow recovery, and greater fatigue, which ashwagandha supplementation can help mitigate.
Ashwagandha regulates high levels of cortisol, which is why the body also recovers better from the stress of exercise (3).
Proper cortisol levels lead to less fatigue and more efficient metabolism, so you can become leaner and stay leaner.
Boosting Antioxidant Levels with ashwagandha for muscle recovery.
Physical activity raises oxidative stress, which damages cells and slows the pace of recovery.
High in Antioxidants: Ashwagandha may help promote cellular repair and free radical scavenging, showcasing its antioxidant effects on muscle tissue.
These are the chemicals that might help militarize you even faster against exercise-induced stress at the cellular level.
Ashwagandha protects muscle cells against oxidative damage by reducing the bad effects of oxidation, which increases muscle strength and recovery and limits damage over time caused by hard exercise.
And by adding ashwagandha to your routine, you can make your body strong and adaptable, thereby improving your muscle tissue health.
Directions: How to Take Ashwagandha for Optimal Recovery After Exercise
To maximize the benefits of ashwagandha, dosage and timing are important factors.
Dosage: Doses of 300 - 500 mg of an extract standardized to contain 1.5% to 5% active compounds (withanolides) have been taken daily without significant side effects.
Again, if you were going to take ashwagandha for sleep and muscle repair, exercise recovery is generally when you would want to — post-workout or evening.
It’s all about consistency because you’re not going to “feel” the effects of ashwagandha until it’s had a chance to build up in your body through regular supplementation with ashwagandha.
You will feel rejuvenated and more energetic within days to 2 weeks with regular use.
Choosing the Right Ashwagandha Supplement
Not all ashwagandha supplements are created equal, and it is important to choose one that is high-quality and effective.
Look for standardized ashwagandha, including KSM-66 or Sensoril®, which have been studied for strength and effectiveness.
You simply cannot go wrong by including this high-quality standardized extract in your recovery arsenal.
Ashwagandha supplements are awesome for their potential effects on muscle and overall recovery.
If you want purity, potency, and transparency, try Daily Nutra.
A good ashwagandha supplementation can help you heal faster and feel better after working out.
Some great quality supplements to add into your routine are a game-changer when it comes to supporting your overall health (and make it less painful to worry that you’re not giving your body what it needs to really thrive in the knowledge that you are).
Potential Side Effects and Considerations: It's important to monitor your intake of mg of ashwagandha to avoid adverse effects.
While ashwagandha is generally safe, there are a few caveats.
Some people may also experience some slight digestive complaints when they first start taking ashwagandha.
These side effects are often temporary and may stop as your body becomes accustomed to spironolactone.
If you are taking other medications or have health concerns, you might want to talk to your healthcare provider before taking ashwagandha.
Furthermore, the evidence above is not strong among pregnant or breastfeeding women, so play it safe and avoid ashwagandha if you are pregnant or nursing.
Only by doing so will you be able to take advantage of ashwagandha's supposed benefits for muscle size and that, safely!
Real Life and Research: Ashwagandha and Rejuvenating or Regenerating. The restorative powers of ashwagandha are also not purely anecdotal -- there is some evidence that this herb could, in fact, do the trick.
One such supplement, ashwagandha, has been shown in testing to increase muscle strength and endurance and reduce muscle damage.
According to one study, weightlifters who took ashwagandha supplements saw noticeably bigger increases in strength and muscle mass than those who took a placebo.
These findings reinforce what scores of athletes already know: That ashwagandha might just be a game-changer in recovery, particularly in clinical trials focused on muscle strength.
Beyond the official research, there are countless people who assert that consuming ashwagandha daily makes them feel more energetic and less achy.
This positive effect contributes to the ongoing efforts on the health and athletic potential of ashwagandha root extract.
Final Thoughts
Ashwagandha root is an all-purpose herb with powerful post-workout recovery benefits for muscle strength and recovery in the game.
Very anti-inflammatory, energizing, tissue repair, and so fantastic for anyone involved in regular training.
Helping to balance cortisol levels and the associated stress, ashwagandha improves healthy, natural sleep, aiding your body in recovery.
If you are an athlete, even if a recreational one, ashwagandha can also be a game-changer in how you feel and how you perform.
💪Ready to crush your recovery? Add ashwagandha to your post-workout routine for faster healing, better sleep, and more strength gains 🚀
FAQs on Ashwagandha for Recovery After Exercise
Should we take Ashwagandha after a workout?
Yes, the opinion is that ashwagandha root is good post-workout for muscle recovery and inflammation.
Does Ashwagandha speed up recovery and enhance testosterone levels, contributing to better muscle gains?
Yes, ashwagandha is likely able to help your recovery along by taming inflammation, stress, and aiding muscle repair for faster recovery.
Can ashwagandha help with injuries and support physical recovery?
One study found that ashwagandha might help in healing injuries by reducing inflammation and promoting the repair of cells, though this is not a substitute for medical treatment.
How long does it take for Ashwagandha to work for recovery?
Recovery results from a few days, but the best results are achieved with massage for 4~8 weeks of treatment, 1 time/day.
Does ashwagandha help with getting better sleep quality for physical recovery?
Yes, Ashwagandha will lead to better sleep quality, which in turn promotes faster recovery and enhances the effects of withania somnifera.
Related Studies
1. Title: Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial (Wankhede et al., 2015)
In resistance-trained men, 300 mg twice daily of ashwagandha significantly decreased serum creatine kinase (muscle damage marker) and improved recovery versus placebo.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-015-0104-9
2. Title: Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial (Wankhede et al., 2015)
The same RCT showed greater gains in 1RM strength (bench press, leg extension) and muscle size in the ashwagandha group compared to placebo.
DOI: 10.1186/s12970-015-0104-9
3. Title: A Prospective, Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Safety and Efficacy of a High-Concentration Full-Spectrum Extract of Ashwagandha Root in Reducing Stress and Anxiety in Adults (Chandrasekhar et al., 2012)
In stressed adults, 300 mg twice daily for 60 days reduced serum cortisol by nearly 30% compared to placebo.
DOI: 10.4103/0253-7176.106022
