A strenuous work out is always satisfying. However, muscle aches cast a shadow on your mood and may prevent you from functioning normally during the day. We’ve gathered the most sure-fire ways to reduce your muscle soreness.
Warm up before resistance training
Even a five-minute effective warm-up can help to minimise delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and even decrease any risk of injury. A proper warm-up is especially important before deadlifts, pull-ups or single-arm rows. Warm-up involves slow eccentric movements to lengthen muscles.
Cool down
Take 5-10 minutes to jog slowly if you’ve just completed a tough workout. Once your heart rate has slowed, static stretching can help to improve your range of motion.
Take a cool bath
Working out may cause microdamage to your muscles. It can result in swelling, soreness, and inflammation. This is a normal process, as the muscles are adapting to the workload and becoming stronger. Taking a cool bath can help to reduce inflammation.
Elevate your legs
Elevating your legs up a wall for at least 5-10 minutes can help to reduce swelling in the muscles.
Wear compression tights
Wearing compression garments can aid in the recovery of exercise-induced muscle damage. Such clothing may also help to reduce the inflammation, and reduce your perception of muscle soreness. Tight t fabric can help to promote blood flow through the deeper blood vessels rather than the surface ones, which may aid with clearing waste and providing nutrients to the muscle fibres.
Hydrate yourself
Drinking clean water is essential for post-workout recovery as it restores your electrolyte balance. Electrolytes include minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, and are found in most foods. The minerals are important for your nervous system and muscle contraction.
Take a post-workout snack
A snack containing both protein and carbohydrate help you to recover more quickly by providing essential nutrients your muscle tissue requires to begin restoration. If you follow a plant-based diet, try eating tofu, chickpeas, almonds, and other high-protein vegetarian foods.
Think about a workout supplement
Trainers and athletes often use branch-chain amino acids (BCAAs) before a workout to lessen post-workout soreness and achieve shorter muscle recovery time. However, if you follow a healthy diet, these supplements may not have a noticeable impact because BCAAs are found in whole foods like tuna, yoghurt, eggs, and milk.
Try magnesium oil
Magnesium helps your muscles recover faster after a strenuous workout by fighting inflammation,replenishing the energy stores, and raising your antioxidant levels and in your muscles. It also aids with hormone balance, stress, psoriasis, sleep, and more. Applying magnesium directly to your skin is the most effective way to get the good stuff into your body. Magnesium oil spray (which you can apply on your legs in the gym) or magnesium bath salts will boost your recovery whether you’re an athlete or not.
Take CBD
CBD is one of the 100+ organic cannabinoids the cannabis plant includes. Numerous studies show that CBD inhibits some anti-inflammatory properties, so it reduces the recovery time and alleviates tension and inflammation in the tissue. The CBD supplements athletes take to alleviate muscle tension are not psychoactive because they lack THC. You can choose the form you prefer: CBD isolate, full-spectrum, broad-spectrum oils, CBD capsules or even gummies.
