Ah, post workout soreness! Personally, I love that feeling, it makes me feel like I really did something. But if you’re not sure how to deal with it, read on!
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Don’t be overly concerned if you wake up the day after a workout with a sore body. This is a natural reaction to exercise, as your muscle fibers have been broken down and damaged. While this seems terrible, your body then repairs itself, making the muscle fibers stronger. As long as you’re not in excruciating pain, muscle soreness after a workout is normal. However, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t a pain to deal with!
The next day or two can consist of you hobbling around and wincing with every movement. Knowing that this is normal can help you deal with it, but you’d prefer to experience some relief of sorts. So, here are a few tips to help you combat post-workout soreness:
Move around
Your body always feels sore when you wake up and haven’t moved. This is particularly true with sore legs – they feel stiff and horrendous before you get up. Your instinct is to rest, but getting up and moving around can help you out. This increases circulation through your body, letting blood get to the sore muscles and flush out any lactic acid that’s causing soreness. This also improves your recovery time, meaning the soreness shouldn’t last for much longer. You don’t have to be super active – walking helps sore legs, some light stretching or yoga will also help, and so on.
Try kinesiotape
Have you ever watched sports and seen the athletes with a strange tape strapped to parts of their bodies? This is kinesiotape, and it’s a unique invention that can help to relieve muscle soreness and treat a range of injuries. When buying kinesiotape, it’s important to check that it’s made from the correct stuff, as this is essential to how it works. Essentially, this tape sits on your skin and lifts it away from the tissues and fascia beneath. This allows for greater movement of lymphatic fluid through your system, which transports more white blood cells to the area of your body that the tape is applied to. In turn, this removes more waste products and promotes healing, helping you feel less stiff and sore. You can wear this tape under your clothes for the whole day, making it a passive way to speed up recovery and reduce post-workout soreness.
Use hot therapy
Hot therapy basically refers to a long list of treatments that involve applying heat or warmth to your body. For example, a sauna is a type of hot therapy – or a hot shower, for those of you without access to a sauna. You also have creams that apply heat to your body, and they can really help when you feel sore after a workout. In essence, the heat warms up the stiff muscles and ligaments in your body, providing more movement in the area. This helps to relieve so much tension and stiffness, pushing away the lactic acid that’s accumulated there.
In summary, post-workout muscle soreness is normal for a day or two after a workout. If you want some relief from your stiffness and tight muscles, try the tactics listed above.
