When you experience sore muscles, relief is the only thing on your mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to shed a few pounds or if your goal is to be fitter, happier, and healthier than ever before. If you’re exercising, chances are you’ll experience a few aches and pains along the way. Learn more about sore muscle relief and what you can do to ease it after workouts.
In this article:
- Sore Muscles After Working Out
- What Causes Sore Muscles When You Exercise?
- Battling Muscle Soreness Before You Workout
- Cooling Down Your Muscles the Right Way to Avoid Pain
- Applying Heat to Sore Muscles
Sore Muscles Relief Techniques You Can Try After Working Out
Sore Muscles After Working Out
Some fitness enthusiasts consider sore muscles the price you pay for a good workout. Other people consider them a necessary evil in their “no pain; no gain,” philosophies. While the occasional aches, pains, and sore muscles are normal for intense workouts, you don’t need to suffer unnecessarily.
There are many options available to you for relieving your sore muscles after a workout. Plus, there are things you can do before and after workouts to reduce the intensity of muscle burn you experience post-workout. Keep these techniques for managing muscle pain in mind as you exercise. They will help to reduce muscle soreness after your workout.
What Causes Sore Muscles When You Exercise?
When you start a new fitness routine or decide to kick your existing routine up a notch, you are putting your muscles through unfamiliar activities. This creates strains on those muscles that can cause mild pain. It’s natural. Of course, that doesn’t make it feel better when you’re the one in pain.
Most workout related muscle pain begins within 24 to 48 hours after you’ve completed your workout and can last for up to a whole week. Mild pain, at this stage, is nothing to be alarmed about. There’s even a name for it: “delayed onset muscle soreness” or DOMS for short. And it’s a good thing. It means your muscles are adapting to the new demands you’re placing on them.
Now you understand a little more about the sore muscles your workout creates. It’s time to learn how to relieve sore muscles before and after your workout.
Battling Muscle Soreness Before You Workout
There is one thing you need to do before every workout. This one thing will get your muscles ready for the rigors ahead, creating a less painful experience for you once you complete your workout.
What’s that one thing? Stretching, but not just any kind of stretching.
Just a few minutes of intense stretching before you begin your workout provides enormous relief afterward. Seriously. Some people only think warming up is necessary before running. That isn’t the case at all. Even bodybuilders and weightlifters need to engage in a few minutes of dynamic stretching before engaging their muscles with more strenuous activities.
During the workout, there isn’t much you can do to relieve strain and muscle aches. The next step happens after the workout ends.
Cooling Down Your Muscles the Right Way to Avoid Pain
Not only is dynamic stretching important before your workout, but static stretching is an essential thing you need to do after your workout to prevent DOMS. It helps to relieve soreness in your muscles after a workout and helps your entire system recover more quickly. Stretching after your workout reduces the buildup of lactic acid in your system, too. There’s a lot of good that comes from stretching.
The next step you should take is a nice COLD shower. The best idea would be to hop into an ice bath, but not everyone has the luxury of an extra 10 minutes to soak in an ice cold tub. A cold shower is the next best thing. It greatly reduces the amount of residual muscle soreness.
The other thing you must do in order to reduce the amount of pain you experience the day after your workout is to keep moving. You must continue to use your muscles throughout the day, even once the soreness begins to set in. This will decrease the intensity and duration of your soreness.
If the pain is too intense or is beginning to affect how you go about your day, consider taking over the counter anti-inflammatory medications or muscle relaxers to soothe your muscle pain. Additionally, consider a massage, using essential oils, like peppermint, for added relief. Massage is excellent for easing muscle tension and helping you to relax after the intensity of your workout.
Applying Heat to Sore Muscles
Once some time has passed, consider applying heat to your tender muscles for added relief. Sometimes, you may require a combination of hot and cold therapies to maximize relief. Remember, cold first, to maximize its benefit. Then heat, several hours later, to help reduce inflammation. If you’re fortunate enough to have a jetted tub, let the combination of warm water and pulsing jets deliver real relief to your aching muscles.
Muscle soreness comes with exercising but you don’t have to be inconvenienced by it. Here are some stretching moves you can try to improve soreness in your hips:
These are among the best sore muscles relief techniques and tactics you can use at home to ease the aches and pains associated with your workout. Most fitness programs fail due to the pain associated with keeping up with them. These techniques will help you minimize your pain to help pave your path to success. Good luck on your fitness journey!
What techniques do you use for sore muscles relief? Don’t hesitate to share them in the comments section below!