Post-Workout Herbal Teas

If there’s one time of year when more and more people look at their health and take action – it’s the spring. This is the perfect time of year to start manifesting all of those health and fitness goals you’ve had for yourself so that you can look, feel, and function your very best! Whether you hit it hard at the gym, put the rubber to the pavement, swing kettlebells at home, or do laps in the pool, there are all kinds of herbal teas that can help you recover fast once your workout is over.

Recovery herbal teas help fight inflammation and swelling, cut down on joint and muscle pain, provide the body with essential nutrients to help it build strong muscles, nudge the body towards burning fat, and help us feel amazing even when we’re totally exhausted after our session. You can enjoy any of these herbal teas iced or hot, or you can just add these herbs to your favorite blend to get their healing benefits.

How Herbs Help With Workout Recovery

There are lots of ways that herbal teas can help you feel great after a workout and stay ready for what you’ll be doing tomorrow…

• Help with inflammation and swelling
• Aid in healthy circulation and delivery of nutrients to muscle tissues
• Help shred fat
• Increase muscle tone
• Support detoxification and healthy cleansing
• Support hydration
• Offer natural nutrients that help the body build muscle, repair tissue, and strengthen bone
• Generate positive attitudes, confidence, and joy
• and much more!

Herbs are an amazing addition to any muscle-building, fat-loss, or general fitness program, and many of them have some pretty impressive reputations for being extremely effective, gentle, and easy to work with.

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Post-Workout Herbal Teas

Here are some herbs you may want to add to your favorite blend. Further down the page I’ll also share a delicious iced recovery herbal tea recipe with you!

Fat Loss

Many people take up working out to help their bodies burn excess fat while building healthy, lean muscles. There are lots of herbs that can help boost metabolism, detox the body for better fat release, add extra energy to your cardio routines, or just help the body favor muscle over fat. Here are a few of them…

Ginger Root

Ginger is one of my personal favorite herbs and I add it to just about every herbal tea blend, juice, and smoothie I create. Ginger root gently raises metabolic rate so that you end up burning more calories while you work out and keep burning them even when you’re at rest. Ginger also helps the body with digestion and can increase how much nutrients we’re able to get from the food we eat which could mean that we feel fuller for longer. Ginger is also anti-inflammatory so it can help relieve pain and swelling in muscles and joints after a long workout. If you’re working out to lose weight, I think ginger root is a must have! Here’s my favorite:

Rosemary

The same spice you use in your kitchen, rosemary does some pretty amazing things to fat in the body. It helps the body fully break down and digest fats so that they don’t get stored – both from the food we eat and from the fat stores we already have! It also helps the body gently detoxify itself when we workout so that we’re less prone to hold onto fat due to imbalance or toxicity. Rosemary is warming and savory – it makes a wonderful iced herbal tea with mint and ginger to sip during a workout. If you push too hard and end up feeling tired, sick, or burned out, rosemary tea can help with a speedy recovery so that you can get back to feeling amazing again sooner.

Dandelion Leaves & Roots

Detoxification is essential to helping the body feel safe enough to release fats and focus on building muscle. Dandelion roots and leaves are both loaded with amazing nutrients that helps our bodies recover and grow from workouts, and they also help flush toxins from the body while we workout so that we can look, feel, and perform in amazing ways. I am a huge fan of all things dandelion and try to get as much of it as I can. One of my favorite ways to benefit from the healing properties of dandelion is to add the leaves to my salads and smoothies. Give it a try!

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Muscle Building

Here are some herbs that can help you build muscle, tone and strengthen, or just train your body into muscle support instead of fat storage…

Donq Quai

This champion Chinese herb has been used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it’s one of my favorite’exotic’ herbs. I love using this herb in any blend that supports muscle and joint health – and it’s found a special place in my personal post-workout iced herbal tea recipe (see below). Dong Quai has been used to build ‘chi’ energy in the body and aid in recovery and strengthening in a super effective way. It makes me feel great after an exhausting workout, and I feel that it adds to what I’m able to do the next time. It also helps the body heal and repair muscles and joints. If you have swelling or injury in the muscles or joints, try a warm compress made from Dong Quai and Ginger Root – it’s amazing! Here’s my favorite no-nonsense Dong Quai herbal tea…

Raspberry Leaf

This sweet little plant is literally loaded with essential nutrients that help build muscle, strengthen bones, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and skin, and help with overall strengthening. With every sip of raspberry herbal tea you’re getting vitamins A, many Bs, C, E, calcium, niacin, magnesium, iron, zinc, silicon, potassium, and much more. Combine this with alfalfa and you have an herbal tea that rivals some of the most popular synthetic vitamin waters out there!

Marshmallow

Forget those sugar-laden fluffy treats – marshmallow herbal tea tastes just as good and it’s got nothing but amazing benefits for your body! Marshmallow is my favorite go-to herb to all things muscle pain. It helps with soreness and tension after a tough workout, and it helps my body recover super fast. It has impressive anti-inflammatory properties as well. Marshmallow is also packed with plant proteins that the body easily digests in herbal tea form. I’m vegan, so I rely on this in my post-workout herbal tea as a way to get a boost of natural protein my body can use to start building up those new muscles!

As promised, here’s my personal recipe for my workout herbal tea. I tend to make this iced and sip it during my workout. Whatever’s left when I’m done gets quickly consumed and I follow it with some coconut water to replenish any lost electrolytes. This tea is actually super inexpensive to make in your own kitchen. I get the smallest 4 ounce bags and they last up to a year!.

• 1 part Ginger Root
• 1 part Marshmallow Root
• 1 part Raspberry Leaf
• 2 parts Dong Quai
• 1 part Alfalfa
• 2 parts Peppermint (or any other herb of your choice for flavoring)
• 1 part Carob (caffeine-free) or Cacao Nibs (lightly caffeinated) – optional

Combine all herbs. Store in a glass canning jar or other glass jar with a well-fitted lid.

Hot – Steep 2 teaspoons of blend in 16 ounces boiled water for 8 minutes. Strain and enjoy!

Cold – Follow the instructions below to make the perfect iced herbal tea! I make the cold steeped version each night and then transfer it into my water bottle for my workout. Easy!

How To Make Cold Steeped Herbal Tea

How To Make Iced Herbal Tea

If you’re making movement part of your overall health and wellness plan – good for you! Exercise helps us balance out weight, lose fat, build healthy muscle, lower stress and anxiety, calm thoughts, get creative, build self esteem, and meet new people. Keep it up!