Q&A: what to do if your muscles are sore after a workout?

Q&A: what to do if your muscles are sore after a workout?

Why everything hurts after workouts and how to prevent it.

Muscle soreness is a common occurrence, especially for those new to the gym. Many athletes believe that pain after a workout is a sign of progress and muscle growth. Is this really the case?

Why do muscles hurt?

The cause of such pain is most often micro-tears and micro-traumas of muscle tissue, as well as excess lactic acid in the muscles. The destroyed muscle tissue enters the bloodstream and stays there until the body excretes or repairs it. The body ache usually lasts 2-3 days (24 hours for advanced athletes) and is a sign that you’ve done a good job in the gym.

There is another type of muscle soreness – delayed soreness. It occurs 2-3 days after training, most often when you have changed the program and intensity. Such pain can last about a week (in advanced athletes – 1-3 days).

However, there is a third type of pain – with muscle trauma. Most often occurs due to a muscle tear, accompanied by swelling, redness, increased pain with sudden movements.

What to do when the body hurts?

• Do not give yourself a break. Go to the gym and do your usual training program, but reduce the weight of the load by half. For example, if you do 10 squats with a 50-pound barbell, do the same 10 squats with a 25-pound weight.
• Do not train until your muscles fail completely. Even if you still have strength left, remember that the purpose of such training is to rebuild muscle tissue.

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• In case of muscle injury – avoid loading on the damaged area of the body, in case of severe pain – refuse to train and consult a doctor.
• Drink water. Before training, drink a glass of water diluted with ½ teaspoon of baking soda. This way you will lower the acidity of your blood and the pain threshold of your muscles will be higher, which will help avoid soreness and burning. If you do not want to drink with baking soda – just drink enough water. It removes slags and toxins and creates favorable conditions for recovery processes.
• Treat yourself. No, we are not talking about candy or a delicious cake, but about bathing procedures. Take a contrast shower (40 seconds under cold water, a minute under hot water), go to the sauna or swimming pool, let them give you a massage. Your muscles will definitely say “Thank You” to you.
• Take omega-3, omega-6 and fatty acids. They have anti-inflammatory effects within the muscle tissue. Use flaxseed oil, nuts, fish oil as sources.
• Warm up and mash up. Warm up your muscles before your workout and do stretching afterward – this way you will greatly reduce the risk of soreness.

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• Use gels and ointments. If you feel that the pain does not go away, use special ointments for muscles and joints – “Ben-Gel”, “Viprosal”, “42 Gel Balm” and others.

Remember that the effectiveness of training does not depend on whether your muscles hurt after it or not. Increase the load gradually and be able to listen to your body, and then success is assured.