Maggie's Farm

Generally speaking, your body derives little benefit from an exercise itself because exercise (as contrasted with a normal active life) is designed to stress the body, to hurt it, really. That's why going for a hike, playing a round of golf, or playing doubles tennis is not exercise: it's recreation.

The benefits obtained from exertions are obtained during the recovery phase from the stress and damage. This can take a few days, and much longer to repair damaged muscle and to build new muscle fibers and blood vessels and to ramp up neural connections. Progress is thus slow.

The approach I use for recovery is to try for a good diet with high protein and enough carbs so as not to lose weight or maybe to gain some in 5 smallish meals/day, and "active recovery" meaning days of aerobic exercise between days of intense work-outs. Also, days off for pure recreational activities like sports or hiking.