How to Reduce Muscle Soreness After Working Out

How to Reduce Muscle Soreness After Working Out

We all feel the effects of muscle soreness after working out, but what the heck can you do about it? Glad you asked! Up front I need to let you know that as long as you are increasing the load and intensity of your workouts, some degree of soreness is unavoidable, and in some cases only time will heal these aches.

The good news is, that there are some things you can do to reduce the occurrence of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), so when you experience the aches and pains we’ve provided some tips to ease the pain. Let me know how some of these suggestions are working for you, and if there are some strategies that you use that aren’t listed below, please by all means leave a comment below for your fellow mass trainers.

Complete the full range of motion for each exercise. Most exercises have a concentric phase where your muscles are forcefully contracting as the fibers shorten; and an eccentric phase where the muscle contraction takes place while the muscle is lengthening. Both phases are important for proper muscle development and joint flexibility. Neglecting the eccentric or stretching phase of an exercise while training can result in reduced flexibility (as well as range of motion), and lead to excessive muscle soreness.

Proper hydration may not completely prevent soreness, but dehydration will sure make it worse. Serious lifters usually carry jugs of water around with them, because they understand the value of staying hydrated. Being dehydrated will not only ruin your workout, it will also interrupt your gains in muscle mass and make you really sore.

Poor nutrition exacerbates muscle soreness. Within two hours of leaving the gym be sure to have a meal or consume a protein or weight gain shake. After that be sure to keep yourself from becoming hungry by consuming some type of meal every 2-3hrs (except the 2 hours leading up to your training session) during the day, before you go to bed and when you first rise in the morning.

Insufficient sleep also makes soreness worse. If you don’t get enough rest to allow your muscles adequate time to repair not only will you experience increased soreness, if you continue to train sleep deprived you might even be breaking down muscle tissue. So make time some sleep in, it is especially important in the early stages of your training.

Warm up and then stretch before you get into your mass training regimen. Not everybody does this, but all experienced weight trainees do this; so I would suggest doing this. Take the time you need to get ready for the exercises you are about to do. Once your muscles are warm and supple you are one step closer to a great workout.

Finally, make sure to allow your body to fully recover before performing another DOMS producing workout. Failure to do so will only increase the risk of injury and make you feel more fatigued.