10 Ways To Deal With Muscle Soreness After a Workout
10 Ways to Deal With Muscle Soreness After a Workout
The dreaded muscle soreness after a workout can derail you from ever wanting to exercise again. You wake up, and there are parts of your body hurting that you didn't even know existed. Sitting on a toilet can be utterly excruciating, and getting up from the toilet is even worse.
You think to yourself, why in the world am I doing this to myself or you may be thinking, you'll never do it again. Sometimes, we wear this soreness as a badge of honor as this must be showing us how hard we're working and we are sure to get better results the sorer we are.
This muscle soreness has a name. It's called DOMS, Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness. It can be prevalent for those that workout, but especially those that are just starting a fitness regimen.
When we exercise, we cause micro-tears to our muscles. Micro-tears are a good thing, and they need to happen to make the tissue growth occur and for you to get the results from your exercising. Elongating and contracting the muscles is what causes DOMS.
DOMS usually occurs 24-48 hours after you've worked out and should slowly dissipate the more you move. The muscle soreness is a small indicator that your muscles are adapting to your fitness regimen.
However, you can feel miserable and hopeless when your muscles are super sore and your mentally exhausted. You waddle when you walk and groan when anything grazes your body. Can you tell I've been here myself?
Here's a list of ways to avoid or lessen your muscle soreness with ease so that you can move onto your next workout and keep reaching your goals. Your muscle soreness should not leave you laying on the couch and skipping your fitness.
#1--Increase Your Water Intake
Your muscle tissues are primarily made up of water, so it is vital that you hydrate your body with lots of water. If your body experiences a shortage of water, your muscles will begin to breakdown and will also affect the absorption of protein to the muscles.
By increasing your water intake, you will also increase your muscle strength. Your body depends on hydration as your muscles are working hard day and night to keep you active and healthy.
Track your water intake to ensure you're consuming enough. Have water on hand at all times. Water keeps your energy levels high, so this will help you stay focused and energized to continue with your fitness regimen. Commit to drinking a large amount of water, and this will help with muscle soreness tremendously.
#2--Electrolytes
If you find yourself sweating a lot throughout your workout, start drinking a sports drink during and after your workout. When you sweat, you're losing salts that regulate your heartbeat, affect your muscular contractions and your nerve function.
You need to replenish these salts with a sports drink. By doing so, you'll avoid adding to your muscle soreness. Drink the sports drink during your exercises to keep your levels in check and your muscles performing sufficiently.
#3--Cold Shower
After a workout, hit the shower but choose the cold water over the hot. Cold water will reduce inflammation of the muscles and help aid in recovering from your workout.
Many people jump into a hot tub or a sauna after exercising but never realize that heat does not reduce inflammation. Cold water and ice help reduce muscle soreness and inflammation.
#4--Pre and Post Workout Importance
Be sure to take a few minutes before and after your workout to warm up and cool down. It's essential that you prepare the body for the exercises and help them recover from them as well.
Warm the body up with a short brisk walk with small, slow stretches before you begin your regimen. Afterward, walk or stretch the muscles again to help reduce muscle soreness the following day.
#5--Caffeine
An hour before you hit the gym, grab a cup of coffee or tea. The caffeine will not only give you a jolt of energy, but it will help with muscular strength and help with elongating your endurance throughout your workout.
Caffeine before a workout will be a big help with aiding in muscle recovery and lessen your muscle soreness. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, which can help relax muscles. Drinking that cup of coffee can help reduce inflammation.
#6--Keep the body moving
When you're doing your exercises, keep moving between your sets. Keep steadily moving while you're exercising so fresh blood will be sent to repair your taxed muscles.
If your soreness kicks in the following day, the worse thing you can do is to lay around. Get up and get moving so you can flush fresh blood into those sore muscles. Go for a walk or exercise again. You'll feel so much better afterward.
#7--Foam roll your muscles
Foam rolling is a sure way to rid the muscles of soreness. Use the foam roller immediately after exercising or on your rest days to rid the muscles of spasms and knots.
It will inflict pain at first, but slowly ease yourself into it. Roll the front and back of the legs, your back, and your shoulders. Set a timer of five minutes and keep rolling. Your body will feel so much better.
#8--Get a massage
When you're super tender and have a ton of knots in your body, a massage will release them and have you back to normal almost immediately. A knowledgeable massage therapist will know precisely the amount of pressure and the areas to concentrate on the most.
The massage will loosen up your sore muscles and relieve tension. Be sure to tell them that you're sore from exercising and the specific areas that bother you the most. A deep tissue massage will increase circulation and break up major knots in your problem areas. Again, hydrate immediately after the massage to replenish those muscle tissues.
#9--Lightly exercise
If you're super sore a day or two after a workout, a light exercise session will help you tremendously. You may be reluctant to hit another workout while feeling this sore, but you'll do the body good by lightly exercising and releasing those muscles.
Going for a nice, long walk will also help relieve your muscle soreness. Keeping the body moving is the best medicine for recovering from DOMS. Not only will you feel better, but you'll keep yourself in the routine of exercising and not get into the bad habit of skipping out. Sticking with your regimen is vital when trying to reach your fitness goals.
#10--Protein
Protein is beneficial to our bodies in many ways, especially when dieting and exercising. Keep track of the grams of proteins you get in a day to be sure you do not lack in your daily protein needs. Try snacking on protein before and after your workout to prevent your muscles from being super sore following your exercise routine.
Protein aids in muscle recovery. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are essential to repairing and building muscles. Protein helps heal the micro-tears to keep the muscles from breaking down. The amino acids will help reduce your muscle soreness.
So if you feel like someone beat you with a baseball bat the day after you exercise, you're completely normal. Implement these tips to shorten the length of time you suffer from the soreness.
Get some water, go for a walk, stretch and foam roll and I promise you, you will feel back to normal in no time. Do not use the soreness as a reason to skip your workouts. Get up and get moving. Your muscles need fresh blood, oxygen, and hydration to repair and recover.
Your body will soon learn how to deal with your new lifestyle, or you have returned to a healthier lifestyle. It won't always be like this. You have to fight through this phase, both mentally and physically. It will be well worth it, I promise.
Be sure to pin this to your Pinterest fitness board. You may find it handy on those days you feel like you’re a walking zombie!
10 ways to deal with muscle soreness after a workout.
I hope these tips and tricks help alleviate your muscle soreness, and you quickly find comfort from them. It is awful to feel so tender, but that is your body working hard on transforming, and you must remind yourself of that during this period.
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Aimee Schwinabart is the founder of The Purely Fit—online workouts, nutrition, and fitness coaching that actually work! She specializes in short (super effective) daily workouts combined with customized nutrition plans to help real people shed excess fat to reveal toned, lean muscles. The Purely Fit approach to looking and feeling great prioritizes small, steady, super efficient workouts and nutrition upgrades to help you stay with it once and for all!
