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The Do’s & Don’ts Of Muscle Soreness

By Coach Shawn


You completed a workout and it may have been tough.

Or you did new movements or movements you haven’t done in awhile.

Or maybe you just began or kickstarted your fitness journey again.

Maybe something your body hasn’t been adjusted to yet.

If you’ve been training regularly, perhaps a higher volume of reps.

And you wake up the next day or for some, 2 days later and then it hits….

You…are…sore.

Maybe it’s your legs and getting up and down from the bathroom feels like a whole new challenging experience. 

Or those little stairs you have seem to become like mountains.

Regardless of what body part is, it doesn’t feel normal, natural or comfortable. 

YOUR BRAIN BEGINS TO GO INTO SURVIVAL MODE 

You may begin to ask yourself crazy questions like

And you wake up the next day or for some, 2 days later and then it hits….

You…are…sore. 

Maybe it’s your legs and getting up and down from the bathroom feels like a whole new challenging experience. 

Or those little stairs you have seem to become like mountains.

Regardless of what body part is, it doesn’t feel normal, natural or comfortable. 

Your Brain Begins To Go Into Survival Mode 

You may begin to ask yourself crazy questions like, will I feel like this forever?

Did I do something wrong?

I don’t think I can ever work out again?

Should I just lay in bed all day?

The answers to all of these are no.

What is this soreness? 

Exercising and putting your body under stress to create change and new adaptations breaks down the current muscle tissue fibers. 

If this is a relatively new experience, new movement, loading, or rep amount your tissue breakdown is higher than if accustomed, acclimated and familiar. 

So it’s normal? 

Of course.  

Now the soreness has degrees. Even 10 years into CrossFit I’ll still have days where I get pretty sore from certain things in certain body parts.

The newer something is, the higher the chances you’ll feel those muscles in the coming days.

However, if you are NOT sore it does not mean you did not get great training in or that you did not create change.

Let’s not fall into the false belief that every workout must have us on our back or create excessive soreness to be effective.  Untrue. 


What TO DO:

  • MOVEMENT – It is CRITICAL to stay moving when sore.  Life may demand that we sit (work) so I would challenge you to get up every hour for a 1-2 min walk. 

I like to take my body through movements we do in our warm ups for 3-5 minutes to loosen up my body a bit.

Example:

3 sets:

5 Inch worms

5 Thoracic Rotations/side 

10 Alternating Groiners

5 Cobra To Down Dog holds 

  • H20 – Take in LOTS of water. Water helps hydrate our muscles (and other things) and is a big part of keeping muscles loose & limber. 
  • BLOOD FLOW CIRCULATION – Can you go for a bicycle ride? A longer walk? If you have some sort of machine at home (rower, bike, peloton etc) hop on for 10-20 minutes at a conversational pace. Why?  You’re promoting blood flow circulation, which will help to remove waste. 

**NUTRIENTS** – One of the most important is what you put into your mouth which then makes it way to your stomach and eventually your muscles and cells.  Protein to help rebuild broken down muscle tissue as well as plenty of fruits and vegetables which are high in nutrients and antioxidants and help fight free radicals.  

Think of these foods as your body’s defense and you always want to stack your team. 

  • QUALITY SLEEP  – Sleep is king and this 7-8 hours is where so much cellular repair goes down as well as growth hormone release.  Want to recover at much faster rates? Get quality sleep often. 
  • MOBILITY – Got a foam roller, massage gun or lacrosse ball? A great idea to use these items on your sore tissues. Why? You’re breaking up the gunk and scar tissue again promoting faster recovery. 
  • CONSISTENCY – I can’t understate this enough, to heal faster we must remain consistent with our training program.  Even though we may think how in the world will I do today’s workout this sore? A few things will happen…

1- After warming up and moving around you’ll begin to feel better and loosen up. 

2- You can always adjust your workout based on how you feel for that day 

3- Typically what we see is after warming up, a person feels normal within that session.

Remaining consistent decreases time of soreness and increases your body’s resilience/tolerance to the adaptations and challenges you put on it. 


What NOT TO DO: 

  • INACTIVE ALL DAY – While the couch may be appealing when feeling sore, putting our bodies in a state of inactive will only make the process take longer to recover. 

*Yes we absolutely need rest and rest days to heal.  Do we need 8-12 hours of no activity in bed or on the couch? That’s more harm than good. 

  • NO OR LITTLE H20 – How do we expect those muscles to feel good and get back to good health if we aren’t supplying our body with water? Our bodies are 70% water and while I can understand the allure of soft drinks or other beverages, water is our best friend. 
  • DRINK ALCOHOL – Alcohol is actually one of the worst things when you are sore.  

Disrupts sleep, empty calories, no nutrients, depressant. 

LONGER duration being sore because your liver is trying to get rid of the alcohol versus the lactic acid build up. 

  • EAT FAST FOOD/JUNK FOOD/PROCESSED FOOD – 

Eating foods that are high in inflammation will only prolong the soreness (ie: sugar causes inflammation!)

  • AVOID THE GYM – I understand that thought behind thinking you need to rest until no longer sore to workout again.  Especially if it’s a new feeling. You may ask yourself those questions, is it safe to work out sore? Does my body need a week to recover? Shouldn’t I not workout while I’m sore?

To recover faster you need to go to the gym.  Of course if you’re sore communicate with your coach what and how you’re feeling. Listen to your body and I assure you after the general warm up your body will feel good again. 

1- After warming up and moving around you’ll begin to feel better and loosen up. 

2- You can always adjust your workout based on how you feel for that day 

3- Typically what we see is after warming up, a person feels normal within that session.

Remaining consistent decreases time of soreness and increases your body’s resilience/tolerance to the adaptations and challenges you put on it. 


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