Occasionally, people have sore muscles while working out, especially after training hard. When you find yourself in this situation, the important thing is to find suitable ways to speed up muscle recovery. The last thing you want is the crippling muscle ache to affect your productivity.
The pains you feel are the best way your body can tell you to take a break. What is certain is you will come back stronger after you recover fully. There are different ways to help your muscle recover quickly from soreness. Luckily, we found an effective method to relieve you from the after-workout fatigue.
Your recovery from sore muscles begins with identifying the cause of discomfort after your workout session. This guide will provide detailed insight to identify and prevent soreness for subsequent routines.
Key Takeaways
Speeding up muscle recovery is an efficient way to discover the causes of sore muscles and take the proper measures to prevent them. It also includes adjusting your workout and recovery habits to keep after-workout soreness under check. Using a handful of treatments such as rest, hydration, pre-workout nutrition, and tropical cream are effective measures.
What is Sore Muscle?
A sore muscle is an aftermath effect of exercises that causes the muscle fibers to tear. The minor tears lead to pain, initiating inflammation 24 hours after a workout. You will get better without doing anything to the soreness, but it will take longer to heal.
The pain you feel is an indicator that you overdid the exercises. While that is the case, your body begins to adjust to the development. In that process, your muscle will grow stronger after the fibers recover. Soreness to the muscles is a part of muscle building that helps you gain more strength.
However, if the soreness continues after every workout, it doesn’t translate to muscle development. Excessive sore after a workout is a counter effect to your fitness objectives. It keeps you away from exercising for several days because of the severe pains.
The workout intensity determines the degrees of pain. For example, a beginner who starts with an intermediate workout will like to have severe tears. Other factors that determine the level of pain include genetics and dehydration. So, if you are feeling excruciating pain after a workout, it is not normal.
Exercises that Cause Muscle Soreness
There are two phases of workout, namely the concentric and eccentric phases. The latter has to do with muscles contraction, while the former is related to expansion. The chances that you will have sore muscles are high when you engage in eccentric workouts. This is because it creates tears in the muscle fibers.
The eccentric phases require the active participation of your muscles. The forces exerted by the muscles will make you experience soreness. Knowing the exercises that push your muscle beyond the limit can help you manage your workout well.
Types of Muscles Soreness
Pains come in different forms to the muscles. The common ones are delayed onset muscles soreness (DOMS), acute muscle soreness, and actual injuries.
Sometimes, we feel pain when we have our workout session. This type of soreness is acute because it is happening during the process. The pain we feel about 24 hours after exercise is associated with DOMS. There is direct pain in a particular location when you injure yourself during workouts.
There are levels to the pain you experience depending on what causes your muscles soreness. Acute and DOMS get better after about three days. On the other hand, you will need proper care if it is an actual injury. See a therapist as soon as possible for diagnosis.
To an extent, you can do your exercise even when experiencing DOMS. However, if the pain is unbearable, it would be best to stay away from your routine for a while.
How to Speed Up Muscles Recovery?
There is no consensus on what helps to heal fast when you have sore muscles. But, the highlighted tips below are effective to speed up muscles recovery. These are a handful of treatments to relieve you quickly.
Spend more time resting
At this point, your body needs enough rest. Your muscle fibers will recover very fast by relaxing your nerves and sleeping well. Not only will the recovery be quick, but also come back stronger.
This is an underrated treatment because it does look like you are taking any medication, but it’s effective. While spending some time resting, you can engage in light exercise. We suggest you go swimming or do light jogging.
Stay Hydrated Regularly
Water keeps you hydrated and removes toxins that could prevent fast healing of the torn muscle fibers. You can even feel more pain from the muscle soreness if you are dehydrated.
It is essential for post-workout recovery, especially for those with muscle soreness. Ensure you drink enough water more than the sweat you lose during workouts. Mineral consumption is ideal for your nervous system. So, ingesting it in your water intake won’t be a bad idea.
Workout Supplement is Effective
Consuming Branch-chain amino acids before a workout reduces muscle soreness after workouts. It also aids quick recovery if you are experiencing it. Eating a healthy diet also affects how soon you can heal when you have sore muscles.
Protein inclusion in your nutrient consumption supports muscle development and recovery. The protein you consume should be enough to hasten your muscle fibers’ recovery.
In addition to staying properly hydrated, consider incorporating hydration drops into your post-workout routine, as they can help replenish electrolytes and boost your recovery efforts. Water alone may not always be sufficient to address your body’s specific needs after an intense workout.
Cold and Heat Therapy
Using cold or heat therapy depends on what you feel after the workout. If you notice swollen spots, ice can help to reduce the pain. Heat, on the other hand, alleviates tension. So, you can take a warm bath to relieve yourself of the pain.
It offers temporary relief to your muscle soreness. It is a safe and straightforward method to help you get over your pain.
Other techniques include elevating your leg, reducing stress, and dancing to your body tune. Also, giving yourself a soothing massage is an effective post-workout recovery you can use to relieve yourself.
Conclusion
To maintain your fitness goals, it is important to Speed up muscle recovery when the muscle is sore. You will achieve your objectives only when you fully recover from the sore muscle. Risking your acute muscle soreness or DOMS can lead to an active injury. Follow the recovery plan we suggested, and you can be confident of staying on track with your goals.