We’ve all felt it. That uncomfortable feeling of soreness from exercising, provided we didn’t overdo it and hurt ourselves, is our sign of a good day’s workout. That soreness is caused by damage to muscle fibers. However, this kind of feeling and damage is the essential process that our body experiences when it is rebuilding and growing the muscle. To better help reduce that feeling and get you that post workout relief, we’ve put together a simple guide below.
- Rest: Proper and sufficient rest and sleep, in general, helps our body to heal and recover. Insufficient sleep affects metabolism, hormone balance, and protein anabolism (a function of building muscle) which may reduce the speed of recovery.
- Sufficient Nutrient Intake: Balancing one’s own diet and ensuring the sufficient intake of necessary nutrients may also help muscle build up. For example, a lack of Potassium will affect muscles and their ability to contract, low protein intake will affect muscle growth, and so forth.
- Stretch and Massage: Appropriate stretching and massage (preferably someone massaging you) can not only help relax and relieve muscle tension, but also speed up circulation to help reduce the recovery period.
- Light exercise: It has the same effects as stretching and massage. Light exercise can slightly relieve that uncomfortable feeling of soreness. This needs to carefully considered as exercising again too soon, even light exercise, may lead to injury. If you did not suffer an injury in your first workout, after some good rest or sleep, eating well, and stretching, you may be able to try some light exercise to help further alleviate the soreness of exercise.
It is important to keep in mind that post exercise soreness, when done correctly, is the process that helps us to build muscle to become stronger. Following the simple tips above may help lead you to relief from that uncomfortable feeling and bring more happiness when exercising.