How to Ease Muscle Aches After Exercise

You might think of it as a good pain, if pain can ever really be called good. But, nobody really likes the muscle aches that are all to easy to get after exercise. You will probably feel like you never want to exercise ever again. However, these muscle aches won’t last forever, and there are steps that you can take to help alleviate them. It is a commonly believed misconception that sore muscles are simply a sign of a great workout, and whilst it is true that you might ache, not all muscle aches are good ones. So, you might need to take a look at how you might prevent these types of injuries in the first place.

Stretching

Stretching is your friend when it comes to exercise. And, whilst so many people understand the benefits of stretching before exercise, they somehow seem to skip any post-exercise stretching as part of their exercise routine. But stretching can be an incredibly beneficial first line of defence to those aching muscles immediately after your workout. When you are exercising and working your muscles hard they contract, and muscle fibre becomes shorter. Stretching can aide with mobility and this can of course help to your body to make a better recovery. Aim to do at least five minutes of good muscle stretching after you have completed a rigorous exercise session. Your body will thank you for it later!

Eat the aches away

Before you get too excited about this, we are not talking large quantities of those types of food that are not really good for you. we are talking about rather a well-balanced selection of healthy fats, Carbs and proteins. In other words, a well balanced nutritional meal will go a long way towards helping you to ease the ache in your muscles. Not only will this help your muscles post-exercise. But, it is also a great way to prepare them before you do any form of exercise. You might also like to consider some extra protein a couple of hours after exercise. You can take this in the form of a protein shake or something similar. If you do this before you sleep, then you are making sure that your body has plenty of access to amino acids whilst you sleep. These are the building blocks of your body. Timing your protein intake well will ensure that your body has them when it needs them the most.

Heat

This is a great way to relieve all those muscle aches. However, it is important to remember that heat immediately after exercise could exacerbate any inflammation of the muscles that you have. Having said that, if you are between workouts a soothing jacuzzi could be just the thing to ease those aching muscles.

Keep moving

If you have muscle ache, one of the worst things that you can do is sit still and wait for the discomfort to go away. Moving, although it may hurt you a little, will actually help to reduce those muscle pains. Just make sure that you keep it gentle and don’t do anything strenuous.