How To Relieve Post-Workout Muscle Aches, Pains and Soreness

How To Relieve Post-Workout Muscle Aches, Pains and Soreness

One of the tall-tell signs of a good workout is sore and achy muscles. After a strenuous bout of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercises, small microscopic tears will develop in your muscle fibers. As a result, your muscles will feel tender and sore for a few days. While this typically goes away on its own, you can speed up the recovery process by following some simple steps. To learn more about how relieve post-workout muscle aches, pains and soreness, keep reading.

It’s important to note that soreness typically doesn’t occur until 12-24 hours after a strenuous workout (known as delayed onset muscle soreness). When you’re pumping weights for long hours at the gym, you probably won’t realize just how much stress you’re placing on your muscles. The following day, however, you’ll likely wake up with a stiff body along with aches and pains in the muscles you recently worked out.

Rest…

Above all else, you need to give your muscles time to recover before hitting the weights again. I know some people are eager to head back to the gym where they can continue their physical fitness regime, but this will only do more harm than good with your muscles still sore. A good rule of thumb is to wait at least 48 hours in between HIIT workouts; otherwise, your body won’t have time to heal the small tears which have developed from your strength training.

Protein, Eat It

If you needed another reason to consume more protein in your diet, here’s one: it helps rebuild damaged muscle fibers. Studies show that consuming a diet rich in protein significantly cuts down on muscle recovery times. Rather than waking up for days on end with sore, achy muscles, a protein-rich diet may cut this time down to just 24 hours.

So, how much protein should you consume in your daily diet? Health and nutrition experts constantly debate this question, so there’s no easy answer. However, aiming for 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight seems to be a good number. If you weigh 150 pounds, for instance, then you should consume 150-175 grams of protein. You can read through some of our previous blog posts here at MuscleIntensity.com for more tips on how to increase your daily protein intake.

Hot/Cold Compress

Using either a hot or cold compress on your muscles will also relieve some of the aches, pains and soreness associated with working out. If you don’t own one already, it’s probably a good idea to invest in a heating pad. Placing it directly on your muscles will help soothe them while encouraging healthy blood circulation. Alternatively, you can place a cold ice compress on some of the more tender muscles to help reduce swelling.