Rest and recovery are a crucial parts of any exercise program. After putting your body through a significant amount of stress during a grueling workout, you have to give it time to recover, repair, and ultimately, come back stronger.

I, for one, am admittedly bad at properly recovering. I’m known to go on a long run (like, 12 to 20 miles long) and replenish with a plate of eggs—they’re fast to make—followed by going directly to the couch, foregoing any foam rolling, and not thinking twice about if I’m rehydrating properly. After a long workout, the last thing I want to do is think about doing any additional “work” to recover, even though I know it’s probably not in my best interest. Check out the latest proven reviews.

In an effort to break my own bad habits, I decided to reach out to a handful of different athletes to see what their go-to rest and recovery routines are.

To be clear, athletes are known for having, at times, really specific recovery rituals and routines that they swear by. But the truth is that while some of these methods have been researched and shown to potentially make a difference in soothing sore muscles and improving recovery, it’s hard to say what will or will not make a significant difference from person to person. Plus, the positive results people notice from some recovery methods may be simply due to placebo effect (which, if it makes you feel better, is worth something). This is how peak bioboost works.

The bottom line is that everyone has their own methods that work for them, and it will probably come down to trial and error to figure out what helps you feel the most rested and renewed after a hard workout. Hopefully these different recovery tactics will inspire you to think about yours more seriously, and find what works best for you. They certainly did for me.

Tassana Landy is a long-time cyclist who recently fell in love with rowing. A hard workout on water is a 20-plus-mile row, which can amount to over four hours of moving. For her, recovery is centered around food and dogs (two of my favorite things). “After a long row, I have a protein bar and drink a lot of water, followed by a hot bath and more food. This week it’s egg and cheese sandwiches every day, but other times it’s avocado, beets, berries, or yogurt. Then I do corpse pose [Savasana] upside-down in a comfy chair. I usually fall asleep for a quick nap, then take my dog on a leisurely walk.”

“A hard ride for me is anything over 30 miles that has lots of elevation gain, at least 3,000 feet,” says mountain biker Alfredo Saracho. Surprisingly, he explains that his body doesn’t actually crave grease and salt after climbing the unforgiving ascents in Boulder, Colorado. “I like to eat something healthy, like a salad with tofu or chicken. And then I hydrate. I actually have a 64-ounce growler that I typically only fill with water. I’ll chug one of those after a hard ride.”

Aika Yoshida is an adaptive climber. For her, a hard workout includes carrying most of her rock climbing gear, plus food and water, in her pack to the climbing area, using two hiking sticks and a leg brace made out of carbon fiber. Then she climbs six to eight routes, which are about 70 to 80 feet each. After that workout, Yoshida fixes a meal of whole foods—mostly veggies and meat—with plenty of sweet potatoes and butter (even though she otherwise eats a pretty low-carb diet). Yoshida also enjoys mobility workouts like yoga, uses “the stick” and foam roller for soft tissue work, and does specific functional bodyweight movements (like squats and broad jumps) to help her stay loose and keep her pain under control.