Muscle Soreness
Tayyab explains how athletes can reduce muscle soreness.
Becoming an athlete is impossible without a rigorous workout routine. Extensive weight training, muscle-building workouts, circuits, and other intense exercises play a vital role in the required muscle-building process of an athletic body. However, these workouts and exercises come with their own set of challenges, including muscle soreness, stress, and even injuries. You must address your muscle soreness and allow your body to recover before starting your next workout.
Eating Healthy
Proper nutrition helps significantly relieve muscle stress. Certain foods, such as tart cherries, facilitate the production of enzymes that enhance blood circulation and consequently reduce muscle soreness. Include foods rich in antioxidants to boost muscle recovery and strength-building capacity.
Adequate Rest
Although physical activity is critical for an athletic body, your body must get sufficient rest to allow the muscles to recover from the post-workout stress and tear. Make sure you take adequate rest, including sufficient sleep, ideally an eight-hour stretch so your body can relax physically and mentally. Unrested muscles increase the risk of muscular injuries.
Caffeine Consumption
Many sports coaches and nutritionists recommend consuming caffeine, preferably black coffee, an hour before a workout. Caffeine, if consumed at the right time and in controlled quantities, can significantly help reduce muscle soreness and fatigue. However, make sure that you do not over-consume caffeine and do not add sugar to your coffee. Avoid caffeine at odd hours, such as before bedtime, and try to restrict your consumption to early morning.
Water Consumption
Lack of sufficient water intake is one of the significant reasons behind muscle fatigue. When you indulge in extensive workouts, your body sweats much more than it usually does. That means that you are losing more water. It would help if you compensated for that water loss by drinking adequate water. There is no maximum limit on water intake, but a minimum of 2 litres is mandatory to maintain the balance. The more water you consume, the better your body will detox and your blood circulation. As a result, your muscles will recover much faster. Lack of water intake can result in dehydration, increasing the risk of fatigue and muscle injuries.
Supplements
Supplements, especially protein shakes and granola bars, have proven results in speeding up muscle recovery. No matter how healthy your food intake is, your body will always be missing specific nutrition. External supplements help fill this shortfall, catalysing the muscle recovery process significantly.
Foam Rolling
Besides resting and consuming the proper diet, water, and supplements, stress-relieving workouts play a significant role in muscle recovery and fatigue reduction. Foam rollers are among the most popular workout equipment used for stress-relieving workouts. Different foam rollers for athletes are widely available to suit other body and muscle requirements.
Page Reference
If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:
- TAYYAB, M. (2019) Muscle Soreness [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article466.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Mr Tayyab is a Freelance Journalist who writes about Nutrition and Minerals to help sportsmen and women.