SOS Gym Soreness
The British population is finding its way back to health by joining the gym. Around 1 in 8 people have sorted out a gym membership to maintain their health and fitness regime. Whether you’re an enthusiastic gym-goer who knows and understands how to use every single machine on the floor, or you stick to your weekly bootcamp class, you’ve probably experienced gym soreness.
Gym soreness describes the lasting muscle and joint pain that follows your gym visits. For a lot of people, it’s not uncommon to feel sore for days after a workout. Of course, we all have a pack of Ibuprofen in our bag to dim the soreness and carry on with our day-to-day duties, but is it the best way to tackle gym soreness? Indeed, your body might be trying to tell you something. If you want to get rid of the painful post-exercise experience, you need to understand what triggers the soreness. We don’t all hurt in the same way!
You need to rest
When you train, you create micro-tears in your muscles. These tears need to heal to help your muscles to grow stronger – not specifically in terms of bulk, but in terms of performance and resistance.
Your body, however, needs to schedule appropriate resting time to heal the muscles. While you may be planning your workouts with plenty of time in between to relax, you also need to focus your attention on the quality of your sleep. Indeed, when you sleep, the body can focus its attention on repairing itself. Therefore, a good night’s sleep is the best thing you can do to reduce soreness.
Try to create a bed routine that helps you to fall asleep, such as limiting the use of screens in the evening and switching off the TV at least one hour before going to bed. Improving the bedroom can also help you to rest at night. It might sound silly, but creating a welcoming sleeping decor can dramatically reduce muscle pain!
Help your joints and muscles lubricate
Unfortunately, not every body is built the same. Your joints are protected by a lubricant, called the synovial fluid, which acts as a cushion to prevent rubbing against the skeleton as you move. The lubricant sits within your cartilage. However, previous injury, poor posture, or natural vulnerability can affect and tear the cartilage. As a result, your joints lose their natural lubricant and are more likely to rub against the bones as you move.
As a result, you might experience ligament inflammation and joint pain. In the long-term, it could even develop into arthritis. But in the meantime, you can tackle the issue by replacing your natural lubricant with organic ingredients such as CBD oil for sale, which you can rub as a topical lotion to ease the pain. You might also notice slight swelling around your main joint areas, such as the knees and wrists. The swelling will resorb as you maintain lubrication.
Don’t overdo it
Staying fit is important. But your body needs to recover. If you train too often and too much, your muscles are constantly trying to heal, which can lead to chronic soreness. Overtraining can also affect your resting heart rate, your sleep, and your mental health. You need to schedule rest days in between your gym visits to reduce soreness. More importantly, you might be trying to push yourself too much. Reduce the intensity of your training – as well as its frequency – until the pain goes away.
Give your muscles the food they need
Your muscles need food to recover. If you’re the kind of person to grab the first chocolate bar as a reward after a hard workout, you may not be helping the healing process. Instead, try to focus on essential ingredients. Berries, for instance, tackle DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness –, and can speed up the recovery process. Eggs, are filled with proteins that assist with tissue repair, helping your muscles fix the micro-tears. Finally, leafy greens reduce inflammation, which reduces the sensation of pain.
Work on your posture
Lastly, your posture might be aggravating the phenomenon. Indeed, correcting your posture can prevent neck pain and low back pain. Poor posture can lead to physical stress, which can accentuate vulnerability in your body and create weaknesses in some muscles. As a consequence, some workouts might cause pain because your body tries to compensate for the perceived weakness. It can be necessary to identify and train weak muscles to avoid further soreness.
Ouch, do you hurt after going to the gym? A little soreness is healthy. However, if you feel handicapped by muscle pain, there might be an underlying issue. Helping your body to heal itself and grow stronger is crucial the make the most of your gym membership!
Published by
