Bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger has a sweet solution to help you bounce back from a strenuous workout. In his Arnold’s Pump Club newsletter, Schwarzenegger discussed how consuming cherries before exercise boosted post-workout recovery.
Conquering the Mr. Olympia stage on seven occasions, Schwarzenegger built his legacy from the ground up, later transitioning to Hollywood as an actor and becoming one of the most famous action stars of all time. At 76, he trains seven days a week and remains committed to offering his fanbase free and useful advice for optimizing health, recovery, and fitness.
In his latest endeavor, Schwarzenegger laid out the antioxidant benefits of regular cherry consumption, which could aid with soreness, muscle damage, and inflammation. He also revealed when and how often you should consume these power-packed snacks.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Explains How Cherries Pre-Workout Could Help You Bounce Back After Exercise
Citing a recent review, Schwarzenegger revealed that cherries could help you recover from an intense workout.
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“Do Pre-Workout Cherries Improve Post-Workout Recovery?
The foundation of exercise recovery includes sleep, diet, movement (low intensity, like walking), and hydration. But there might be a few other simple behaviors that can also help.”
“A recent review found that cherries could help you bounce back faster from your hardest workouts.
Scientists determined that eating cherries can improve muscle strength recovery, soreness, and inflammation. Schwarzenegger also says new evidence suggests it could help with mental fatigue, exhaustion, and blood pressure.
“Scientists reviewed 14 studies and found that cherry juice improves muscle strength recovery and muscle soreness and helps with muscle damage and inflammation.
There’s also emerging evidence that it could also reduce mental fatigue, exhaustion, and blood pressure.”
As for the type of cherry needed pre-workout, Schwarzenegger shares why that’s not as important:
“While most research focuses on tart cherries, a deeper dive suggests any type of cherries might be effective. The secret ingredient in cherries appears to be anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant that offers anti-inflammatory benefits. And anthocyanins are found in all cherries, not just the tart ones.”
Schwarzenegger says you can buy cherry supplements and that it would take approximately 100 cherries pre-workout to effectively aid recovery.
“There’s no shortage of cherry supplements available. But, if you want to eat your way to recovery, you could also load up on cherries. Research suggests that to get the nutrients your muscles need, you need to eat approximately 100 cherries.”
He adds that cherries need to be consumed before exercise and daily for optimal benefits.
“But there appears to be a catch: if you want the recovery benefits, you can’t simply enjoy cherries or cherry juice after your workout. Research suggests that cherries need to be consumed daily to hit a “critical mass” and might be more effective if consumed before your workouts.”
With nutrition one of his top priorities, Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered fans his best eating strategies. His ‘unbreakable diet’ is a plan that favors flexibility, underlining that strict eating patterns often fail over time.
“You’re taught there are good foods and bad foods. And that adding flexibility means sacrificing results. In reality, diets built around extreme restrictions increase stress, anxiety, and cravings. And that can cause so many good intentions to fail.”
The next time you’re in the grocery store, keep an eye out for cherries or cherry juice. It might alleviate some of the fatigue or soreness you’re dealing with after pushing through a tough workout.
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