As an avid athlete, you love the challenge and thrill of completing a hard workout. But, you don’t love the inevitable stiff muscles and soreness that will keep you from working out for the next few days.
While muscle soreness is a sign of an effective workout, it is inconvenient as it causes pain, stiffness, and can make life uncomfortable.
If you’re looking to improve your recovery faster, read on for our top tips on muscle recovery, and why they can work for you.
1. Stretch Daily
Stretching after a tough workout is a great way to relieve an aching body. Create a full-body routine that will stretch all of your major muscle groups, even if you don’t feel like they were a focus of your workout.
Stretching works best when you take your timetoo many people rush through their stretching in a hurry to be done. However, try to really focus on the stretch and hold it until you start to feel the benefit, which is usually at least 30 seconds.
Stay hydrated as well, as this will go a long way to help with your recovery process.
2. Keep Moving With a Gentle Walk
Exercise to recover from exercise? It may sound counterproductive, but it works. Often, after a long workout, we tend to remain stationary, which causes us to stiffen up.
An active recovery workout the next day, such as walking or swimming, helps keep your muscles moving and can go a long way to help ease body ache all over.
Keep your body moving with something easy and relaxing to avoid the dreaded muscle soreness.
3. Use a Roller on Stiff Muscles
Have you tried a foam roller? Rollers work by applying direct pressure to sore muscles, having a similar effect as a sports massage.
Anyone who works out can see benefits from foam rolling. It can help loosen sore muscles and muscle knots and easing muscle soreness.
The feeling can be intense if you’re not used to it, so go gentle at first and build up the pressure over time. They range from soft to firmer textures, including rollers designed for deep tissue release.
Endurance runners, cyclists, skiers, and anyone who has a challenging glute, quad, or hamstring workout can benefit, although the roller can help all the major muscle groups.
4. Take Anti-Inflammatories
Although you don’t want to reach for medicine after every workout, it can provide occasional relief when you’re seriously sore.
Ibuprofen and Aleve, generic name naproxen, can help with muscle soreness by reducing inflammation and treating pain.
There are many benefits of peptides as well for muscle recovery.
Give your body the time it needs to recover as well, which you can do by making sure you get at least eight hours of sleep.
5. Use Ice and Heat
Ice and cold water act as an anesthetic, easing sore muscle pain, helping with swelling, or relieving inflammation. Although it can be intense, a cold shower, ice pack, or dip into a cold bath can provide much-need relief for serious athletes.
It can help to keep an ice pack in the freezer, so it’s ready when needed. Or, in a pinch, a bag of frozen veggies can do the job as well. Ice is also helpful for strained muscles and swelling.
However, for less intense muscle pain, try soaking your sore biceps and legs in a hot bath. It’s relaxing and can ease pain.
Try adding some Epsom salts to help with the recovery, or just enjoy the well-earned luxury of a bath as a reward for a completed workout.
If you have access to a hot tub or jacuzzi, the water jets in the tub feel incredible on a sore back or shoulders.
Or, even a hot water bottle or a heating pad can provide helpful pain relief.
6. Protein
A nutritious dinner and breakfast the next morning can really help with your delayed onset muscle soreness. Prepare meals high in proteinwhy protein?
Protein helps repair and rebuild muscle cells, which are broken during exercise. Protein can help them rebuild quickly, increasing muscle mass, which is why a high-protein diet is so popular with bodybuilders and weightlifters.
There are many tasty and enjoyable foods rich in protein, including eggs, chicken breast, almonds, tuna, and lean beef. Vegetarians and vegans have plenty of options for protein as well, such as oats, quinoa, lentils, and broccoli.
Although it can be tempting to splurge on an unhealthy meal after a hard workout, your body will thank you the next day if you make healthier choices.
Potassium can also help with electrolyte recovery after a workout, so snack on a banana, avocado on toast, or coconut water.
7. Get a Massage
For an occasional splurge, a proper sports massage can do wonders for sore muscles.
A qualified professional can listen to your concerns and tailor a massage to your needs. It can help relieve tension, reduce injury risks, improve mobility, and get you back into action faster.
A good massage can be very effective, and they are something professional athletes use to recover after training.
Sports massage works by stretching and kneading muscles and soft tissue and target nerve points to get rid of tension.
Your health insurance may cover some remedial massage sessions, so look into this as it can help you with costs.
However, if you’re experiencing acute pain, you may be best avoiding the massage and seeking the advice of your doctor.
Boost Your Recovery Today
Now that you know how to help recover from stiff muscles, you can ease the post-recovery pain with the techniques above.
Exercise and endurance sports can improve our health, bring fun and joy to our lives, and can improve our confidence and sense of achievement when we meet our goals.
Get back on the field or in the gym by looking after your body and taking care of your muscles.
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I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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