Muscle Soreness After Exercise: What Causes it and How to Recover Faster
It is normal to feel sore after exercising, particularly when starting to work at a higher intensity, doing a new exercise or returning to exercise after a period of rest. If that is the kind of stiffness you suffer the next morning, it is likely you are experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Generally happens several hours after exercising, not during, and may become most evident in the first 1-3 days after exercise.
Muscle soreness is not a bad thing and is just a part of the body’s response to stress. Research and knowledge of what triggers its onset and how it can be helped on recovery can help you get back to your routine more easily.
What Causes Msucle Soreness After Exercise?
Muscle soreness often occurs when new stresses are introduced to muscles, such as when performing motions that the muscles have never experienced before. When the muscle is being lengthened as in strength training exercises (when you lower the weight) and walking downhill, it may be particularly challenging.
In difficult exercise, there is a microstructural stress in the muscles. The body adapts and repairs itself to that work load. This can temporarily impair muscle function, leading to tenderness, stiffness and weakness.
Remember, a sore workout is not necessarily a good workout. There is no need for a productive training session to leave you really sore and more soreness doesn’t always mean more results.
How Long Does Muscle Soreness Last?
Many people experience DOMS 12-24 hours after the unfamiliar exercise and they may feel it is most intense at 24-72 hours. Generally increases with recovery and adaptation of the muscles.
The length of your training sessions, how hard you train, what you do and don’t do, how long you sleep, what you eat, how you hydrate, and how you recover, all have the potential to impact how you’re feeling after you train. The same workout may not lead to as much pain as it does at first, since as your body gets used to a workout, it doesn’t get as sore as it would the first time.
6 Ways to recover faster after your workout
1. Keep Moving Gently
It is not always needed to have a complete rest when you have mild soreness. Walking, cycling (easy ones), mobility exercises, etc., can help you get active without adding one more load on those muscles.
The aim is to get active but not another workout.
2. Prioritize Protein-Rich Foods
The protein provides amino acids which are used by the body to repair and maintain muscle tissue. Eggs, fish, poultry, yogurt, milk, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds are good choices for everyday snacks.
There is some evidence that sufficient protein is required to help restore muscle function after strenuous resistance training, but protein supplementation doesn’t reliably reduce muscle soreness.
Muscle Recovery Supplements may be a part of a balanced recovery regimen for individuals that find it tough to obtain their nutritional needs from food.
3. Stay Hydrated
Fluids are necessary before, during and after physical activity. Excessive sweating can cause loss of body fluids, thereby leaving you feeling fatigued and unpleasantly affected in your performance and recovery.
Don’t wait until you are extremely thirsty to drink; drink on a regular basis all day long and drink more often during longer or harder workouts.
4. Get Enough Sleep
Recovery from the gym doesn’t end outside the gym. Sleep provides the body with the precious time needed for adaptation and repair and is useful in terms of energy, concentration and training readiness.
Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, and try to have the same bedtime routine. Getting a good night’s rest can be as critical to your recovery plan as your exercise routine.
5. Do Light Recovery Techniques
There are some massage, active recovery and compression or water-based recovery techniques that can temporarily decrease perceived muscle soreness. A review of several different recovery strategies indicated that massage and active recovery may be beneficial for the treatment of DOMS.
For daily muscle soreness after exercise, simple methods like a leisurely stroll or gentle mobility exercises or light massage can work.
6. Increase Training Gradually
Avoidance of excessive soreness is one of the more practical ways to do this, and involves trying not to do too much, too soon. Progressively build up exercise volume, intensity, resistance, and/or duration.
Rest or easier sessions are a part of an effective training program. You’re probably better off sticking to the same type of exercise every day rather than pushing yourself to very hard workouts.
Help recovery to be part of a healthy lifestyle
It’s best to think of muscle recovery as a part of overall wellness, instead of a separate objective. Feelings between sets can range from excellent to poor and are determined by the amount of variety, proper nutrition, water intake, sleep, and training methods.
Your heart health is important as well, especially if you’re active on a regular basis. By developing healthy eating, exercise, sleep and other healthy habits into a healthy lifestyle, you can support Heart Health and maintain your fitness routine.