Muscle recovery and self-care go hand in hand because taking care of your muscles = you’re taking care of your body = self-care.
Some people get sore much more easily than others. I am one of those people. There are ways to prevent some soreness, but it can’t be avoided altogether if you’re really pushing yourself during difficult workouts. If you’re never sore, it might be time to up your weights!
“Aching muscles after a workout, otherwise known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), are due to micro-tears in your muscles that occur when you put stress on them. Usually, you’ll begin to feel sore 24 to 48 hours after a workout—that’s how long it takes for your body to produce inflammation as a result of that injury, which is responsible for your muscle pain. (These micro-tears must then be repaired in order to make your muscles stronger in the long run.)” – RunnersWorld.com
Preventing Soreness
You probably know this already, but if not, the most basic way to prevent soreness is to take time to warm up, cool down, and stretch with each workout. Dynamic stretches (stretching with fluid movement as opposed to static stretching) are a great warm up. You can repeat dynamic stretches for a cool down, but also add static stretching at the end as well.
Drink lots of water – aim for half of your body weight in ounces. This is just a good practice to have regardless of if you’re sore or not.
Supplements can be taken to help prevent muscle soreness. Both beta-alanine and quercetin can help with both endurance and muscle recovery. You can find these as standalone supplements or take them together in the form of a pre-workout drink. But please take time to read the ingredients and directions on pre-workout. They are NOT all the same. Avoid pre-workouts with artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, etc.), artificial food coloring, and take note of how much beta alanine and caffeine is in a serving. I prefer to use a lower dose, plant-based pre-workout to keep my caffeine in check. CLICK HERE
Accelerating Recovery
Typically, when I am really sore (like today), I will do a number of things to help accelerate recovery, but most of these tips aren’t very time consuming so do as many as you can!
Post-workout recovery products: Branched-chain amino acids and whey protein have been proven to accelerate muscle recovery as well as muscle protein synthesis (fancy term for making muscle). You could supplement with these things separately, but like the pre-workout I mentioned, you can also just have one product that takes care of it in one shot. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of muscle recovery products on the market. But again, they are not all equal! Always read the label before buying and remember, you get what you pay for. I have tried a few products and this is the one I have found to be both effective and really tasty. Protein powders have a reputation for tasting like crap. This one passes the test. CLICK HERE
Magnesium: Magnesium is an important mineral that most Americans are deficient in. While there are tons of benefits to supplementing with magnesium, muscle recovery and relaxation is one of them. I take magnesium both by capsule and through occasional epsom salt baths.
Baths: This is where muscle recovery truly feels like self-care. Do 2 cups of epsom salt, few drops of essential oil for relaxing smells, your favorite Netflix show, and soak for 20 minutes. It’s a dream.
Potassium: Like magnesium, potassium is a mineral extremely beneficial to the body, especially muscle recovery. When your muscles are sore, they hold on to extra fluid. Potassium helps release some of this fluid retention. It can relieve both muscle cramps and aches. Bananas have a significant amount of potassium which is why you may have heard of athletes eating bananas after workouts. You can get it through food or supplementation as well.
Movement: When you’re crazy sore, the last thing you want to do is move, but I promise you’ll feel better after you do it. Do steady state, low-impact cardio like brisk walking or even fluid yoga can do the trick. Then take extra time to stretch out afterward.
Those are just a few things that have helped me overcome soreness over the past few years. If you have any other tips, please let me know cuz I’d love to try them.
