5 ways to Relieve Muscle Soreness

5 ways to Relieve Exercise induced Soreness

First and foremost, I am excited that you started your journey to Fit Life.  I am very proud of all of you for starting and giving such a great effort.  Now for the Aftermath, good News: First time soreness is always the worst, meaning you will only feel this sore one time. After this, your soreness is considerable less. 

What is Muscle Soreness?

The smooth muscle tissue is located in the walls of your blood vessels, the stomach, intestines, and the bladder. If you overstretch your muscle fibers repeatedly, this triggers the onset of microtears, small tears that can occur within in the muscle fibers. When the muscle fibers tear, the muscle releases several substances that provoke an inflammatory response in the body. The inflammatory response yields aching symptoms that are thought to be one of the contributing factors to muscle soreness.  Great News is that after tearing down muscle fibers, your body automatically repairs them and builds that muscle Stronger.

Ways to relieve Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

1. Consider taking your favorite NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen, naproxyn, and acetaminophen) before you begin exercising and after exercising.

2. Ice the affected area to slightly reduce the affected area’s temperature to relieve any inflammation or swelling. This icing can be done with an ice pack, a bag of frozen vegetables, or even a full water bottle. Ice the area for 20 minutes with the ice on for 20 minutes off for 20 minutes for appx. an hour to an hour and a half. After icing is complete, be sure to rewarm the area with some gentle massage and light movement.

3. Be sure to remember to stretch. This allows the exercised muscles to return to their length before you constricted them. You are not to try to force them to reach any particular distance.

4. If your movement is compromised, consider applying some compression. Use a neoprene wrap or support for the area. Remember that this approach will primarily serve to remind you specifically where the "injury" is so that you remember not to overuse the area when you resume exercising it.

5. Rest the affected area. Take a short break from performing the same movements, drills or exercises that induced the soreness. Start with 1-2 days and move to 1-2 weeks until pain subsides.

6. After the first day, if it feels better change from icing the area to applying heat. Again, remember that you do not need to cook the area, you are simply restoring normal blood flow. You can apply your heating pad or a commercial rub or cream.

Again I am excited that you started and this is the first step to GREATNESS!  Please let me know if you have any Questions or Concerns:

YOUR COACH,

Coach Brian Broussard  337-296-2960