Workout Recovery 101: How To Avoid DOMS
Did you know that too much exercise can actually be bad for you? When you work out too frequently, and your body doesn’t recover properly, then you enter a state of overtraining. Think of this as like cooking a piece of steak and keeping it on the grill way past the point of it being done. You’ll eventually burn it and ruin it for good. A similar thing happens to your body when it doesn’t have time to recover. You experience burnout, your muscles are incredibly fatigued all the time, and this leads to an increased chance of injuries.
So, how do you ensure this doesn’t happen? You can still train every day without overtraining or burning out. The key lies in how you recover. This guide will provide some essential steps to follow so you can recover better and avoid those dreaded DOMS.
What does DOMS mean?
DOMS stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. It’s exactly what it says on the tin – the muscle soreness you get a day after working out. This can hang around for another few days if you haven’t recovered properly.
The problem with DOMS is that it stops you from working out again. It’s not a good idea to train a sore muscle as the risk of injury is too high. Plus, you don’t give the muscle time to fully repair itself – this is how you see progress. A muscle gets pushed to its limit, then the fibres repair and grow back stronger. It’s how you see an increase in muscle tone, definition, and strength!
With that in mind, here are some top recovery techniques:
Finish your session with some light aerobic training
The reason your muscles get sore is because of something called lactic acid. This builds up in your muscles when you’re working out and can linger unless you take action. The trick is to add some light aerobic exercises to the end of your exercise session. This will basically help flush out the lactic acid and reduce soreness. A great example of this is to hop on an exercise bike and do some light pedalling to reduce leg soreness the next day.
Try some cold therapy
Cold therapy is an effective way of treating your muscles after a workout. The idea is simple; you apply coldness to your muscles, and it eases any inflammation from the training and reduces soreness. You can use ice packs to do this, many athletes have ice baths, or you can use a cold gel. If you look at places like Serenity Store, you’ll see that they sell cold gels/creams that are infused with CBD oil. It could be worth trying something like this out as the coldness from the gel soothes your muscles, while the CBD has relaxing benefits as well. Don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on any gels or products, it’s easy to run an ice bath at home and receive the same benefits.
Stretch after your session
Be sure to stretch your muscles immediately after your exercise session. Don’t wait until you get home, try and do it as soon as possible while your muscles are still warm. This lets you get a much deeper and more progressive stretch on the muscles you worked. Stretching will lengthen the muscle back to its original shape and prevent tightness the next day. It’s a good idea to do some light stretching after your workout for about 30 seconds per muscle. Later on, you can do some additional stretching for slightly longer before going to bed.
Massage your muscles
Alongside stretching, you can also massage your muscles to increase blood flow and prevent tightness. This is really effective at getting rid of lactic acid as you push blood to the muscles and flush it out. But, you also get the benefit of relaxing any tight spots. It’s best to do this when you’re at home, probably just before bed. You can use your hands to massage your muscles, get someone else to do it for you, or buy some tools to provide extra assistance and a deep tissue effect.
Consume plenty of protein
Protein is an essential nutrient for muscle growth and recovery. Your muscle are made up of proteins, so you need to ingest it if you want to prevent soreness and speed up the recovery process. You can take a protein shake after your workout, or you can just consume foods high in protein. Either way, get them into your body and you will re-fuel after your workout and notice a big difference the next day.
Take an amino acids supplement
Amino acids are found in your body and basically work as the building blocks of protein. Effectively, they help your body use protein more efficiently. In turn, this can lead to lots of benefits – most notably increased muscle repair and quicker recovery times. You can get your hands on some BCAA supplements that provide you with essential amino acids that your body can’t create itself. Take this after or during training to see the desired results.
Sleep and drink plenty of water
Finally, the two most basic principles of recovery are sleeping and drinking water. Sleep gives your body time to shut down and focus on recovery. If you sleep for 8 hours after working out, then you will definitely feel better than if you only slept for 5 hours. Your body has an extra 3 hours of recovery time – and this makes a huge difference. It’s like charging your phone; the battery percentage goes up quickly when you don’t use it!
Similarly, drinking water will just improve the way your body functions. It can help you get rid of more waste products – like lactic acid – which will ultimately help you feel less sore the next day. As a general rule, try and drink enough water to the point where your urine is clear!
Next time you exercise, follow these recovery tips to see dramatic improvements in muscle soreness. You’ll feel much fresher and can exercise again the following day!