10 Tips To Overcome Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
As a trainer and massage therapist I get asked QUITE often about the issue of muscle soreness. Like almost every day. Let me tell you a little bit about it and how you can take care of it…and now I can just refer my inquisitors to this handy article 🙂
The nerdy term of muscle soreness is DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness which means…muscle soreness. It is actually tiny little micro tears in the muscle that occur when you break the muscle down during a workout. Now, this might sound like a bad thing to you but let me extol it’s benefits. We live in North Idaho where potholes in the road abound. In the spring the county works hard to patch up the potholes that occurred over the winter months. When they do these repairs in the road, they always lay down just a little more material than necessary to fill the holes, to compensate for settling and more wear and tear to come over the busy summer months. This is a perfect analogy of what happens in your muscle when the body is repairing tissue after a workout. The body will lay down just a little more muscle fiber than was broken down to accommodate for future breakdown of the muscles in the workouts to come. This is how muscle is built. Now, it is the breakdown process and these tiny tears in the muscle that cause the muscle soreness we often feel 12-48 hours after a good hard workout.
There are a few different causes for this delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS- now that we are on a first name basis):
- Not progressing gradually into a workout or exercise
- Doing too much weight, sets or repetition than our body is conditioned to handle
- Using new muscles or using muscles in a totally new way whether it be a new kind of movement or a new form of resistance
I want you to be aware of the difference between muscle soreness and an injury. If you are exercising and feel a sharp pain, intense burning or hear a pop or snap during activity I suggest you stop exercising and take a further look. If you see redness, swelling or bruising and feel pain in a muscle or joint make sure you ice the area and see a physician. Although you will feel muscle fatigue and some burning in the muscle during a strength training workout (this is what is causing the micro tears) DOMS muscle soreness will not show up until the next day.
Now, I don’t want you to fear trying new or difficult things in the gym because as I said before, this is how your body is going to adapt and get stronger. Let’s look at 10 things you can do to ease the pain a little.
How to overcome muscle soreness
Post workout protein
Your body is going to need fuel to do that repair work so give it some. Eat a protein (about 20 grams) and carb balanced meal 30-60 minutes post workout for best recovery results. Here are a few of my favorite sources for vegans and meat eaters (I get asked this a lot too 😉 You can read my review of protein powders HERE
I’d have to say that my favorite brand (I get this question a lot) by far is the Vital Proteins product. If you know me at all I am a big fan of putting quality things in our bodies and Vital Proteins is made from grass fed cows and many other quality ingredients. Their products contain collagen which is excellent for joint and tissue support AND making your skin beautiful so… Win-Win!
If you need a plan for eating well to help you recover you’ll want to download my free 7 Day Jump Start guide to get a weeks worth of meal plans that are perfect recovery food…
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Pre-Condition the muscles
I think this is one of the most important things to remember. Try to resist the urge to just jump right into a new training program and pound those poor muscles into the ground. Think in terms of days or a couple of weeks when working your way into starting an exercise program if you haven’t been doing anything up to this point. Begin walking, stretching and doing light weight training or body weight training to prepare the muscles, tendons and ligaments for more work later on. Before each workout ensure that you give yourself time for a proper warm up using the same muscle groups and joints that you will be using in the main section of your workout.
Foam roller
A foam roller is made of a dense foam that is used for relieving tension and increasing blood flow to muscles. The goal with reducing DOMS is to get fluid into the muscles to flush out the by-products (lactic acid) created during a tough workout. You will apply pressure to tight areas and trigger points during a foam rolling session. You may feel a little pain and tenderness but it should not be excruciating. IF you are SUPER sore you may want to hold off on the foam rolling for a day or two and let those muscles recover a bit more but foam rolling is a really good habit to get into.
Get A Good Secret Potion
When it comes to reducing muscle soreness from a good hard workout or a long day at the computer I absolutely LOVE DoTerra’s Deep Blue Rub! I have been using it on my massage clients and they love it’s soothing effects also. It is a quality mix of wintergreen, peppermint, camphor, blue tansy, blue chamomile that work together to ease muscle tension and soothe achy joints.
Water
Drinking plenty of water post workout will help flush out and rehydrate the muscles. That’s a pretty simple one so drink up!
Compression tights and compression socks
You can get some pretty cool looking ones one Amazon
Compression socks and tights are specially designed with compression panels for increased blood flow and maximum muscle containment for increased performance and enhanced recovery times. These days they come in great prints to make your workout fun and to keep you looking cool. Compression socks have been shown to improve recovery. In fact marathon runners (although you don’t have to run marathons to get their benefits) report less soreness 24 hours after their event. The support the socks give to the muscles cause less damage to the muscles and boost circulation for a better post workout outcome.
Hot/Cold therapy
Alternating heat and cold can be another way to increase circulation and bring nutrients to the muscle tissue. After a good hard workout or run alternate hot water and cold water every two minutes during your shower.
Epsom Salts
Epsom salts are an amazingly quick way to bring recovery to the muscle. They provide relief from 
overexertion, stiffness, muscle cramps, soreness and fatigue. Sprinkle about 1 C in a hot bath and enjoy. The double bonus of an epsom salt bath is that soaking in a tub is a great stress reducer and counts as a form of restorative exercise that your post workout cortisol levels (if you want to learn more about cortisol, read THIS article I wrote for you) will thank you for.
Active recovery
While recovering from muscle soreness you may be too tender to hit the gym again, or at least the sore muscle groups, it is a wise idea to remain active. In the business we call this active recovery. Keep yourself moving with low impact activities such as walking or swimming. You will want to avoid the sore muscle groups that you worked yesterday but there is no reason you can’t workout the other muscle groups today. Getting blood pumping through the muscles will eventually help flush the soreness away. For example, if yesterday was a leg day and my glutes are on fire today, I can still hit the treadmill for a leisure walk and lift upper body weights.
Don’t mask the pain
The body is giving you warning signs of muscle soreness for a reason. It is saying “Hey, great workout yesterday but I’ve got work to do to day while I repair them so let me put up the ‘road work’ sign (pain) so you will slow down a bit and let me do my job”. Don’t cover that pain with a band-aid of ibuprofen and keep pushing those same muscles. This is a recipe for too much muscle damage. Listen to the body, it is VERY intelligent
Eat cherries!
Cherries have a component in them that increases the rate of oxygen traveling to the muscle…and they taste good! They will provide you with some good carbs after that workout to help replenish the muscle. Have a 1/2-1 C of cherries and about 3 oz of meat or eggs and you have a great post workout snack.
I thought of a few extra things as I was typing this up for you so let me add them here… Pushing too hard at the gym one day can prevent you from getting to the gym the next day and cause you to move less. While a good hard workout sounds motivating and fun, consider bringing it down a notch for the sake of consistency – moving more often is best. When you start to feel notably exhausted during a workout or your form begins to get sloppy, call it a day. It’s OK, you did what you could to do.
Alrighty, plenty of options for you, try one or all.