Soreness

Yesterday I started another challenge group and one of the things that most first time challengers feel on Tuesday is soreness. I wanted to talk a little bit about why you feel soreness and then what you can do to help ease the soreness.

Most of the time a muscle is sore after a workout as it hasn't been used in a long time. The repeated stretch of a muscle during a workout causes micro tears in it. This leads to inflammation. The body tried to rebuild these micro tears and the inflammation during this rebuilding process causes the soreness.

Most scientist agree that soreness will show up about 24-48 hours after exercise and will peak at about three days. This of course will vary from person to person. It will also shorten with repeated exposure to similar exercise. If you use the same muscles over and over again they will form a memory and will take less time to rebuild in the future and therefore will not be as sore as long.

So what can we do to prevent the soreness?

1. Always stretch for 5-10 minutes before you start to work out. This gets the muscle limber enough to start working out. Make sure to stretch all your muscles not just the ones you are going to work. Most scientist agree that passive stretching isn't the type you should be doing. Instead you should be doing active dynamic stretching. This will improve your speed, agility and endurance.
2. Never skip the cool down. Always make sure you stretch and cool down after a workout.
3. Eat plenty of amino acids. This is why Shakeology is awesome. It delivers a complete profile of both essential and nonessential amino acids. Drinking daily can help restore amino acids and help with decreasing soreness.
4. Consume a diet that has the proper portions of fat, carbohydrates and protein. This is one of the reasons why the 21 Day Fix is great as it takes the guess work out of this. You eat your containers and skip treats you're properly fueling your body.
5. Cut out the high fructose corn syrup. If you consume high fructose corn syrup two hours before or after a high intensity workout you will limit your bodies ability to restore your muscle. You will be more sore as your body won't be able to produce the hormones needed for muscle repair.
6. Don't over do it. Most people in their zeal to exercise start out will push themselves to far and be extremely sore. Then they want to quit as it hurts so bad.

So you worked out yesterday and today you are sore. What are some things you can do to eliminate the soreness?
1. Stretch often. It is believed that static stretching can help eliminate lactic acid from the muscles. Stretch the muscles that are sore and they will release the lactic acid and become less sore.
2. Drink plenty of water. You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water in a day. The water will help eliminate all the free radicals in your body and eliminate soreness.
3. Ice or cold bath. It will help lesson the inflammation. It is best used within two days of a strenuous exercise.
4. Rest. Make sure you are getting enough sleep. That will help your muscles recover. Also make sure you are following your programs plan and taking the rest days or active recovery days. Don't skip them.
5. Massage the affected area. It should help reduce soreness.
6. Heat. Adding heat to a sore muscle will increase blood flow to the muscle. This will help eliminate the free radicals and also relaxes the muscle decreasing the soreness.
7. Hot lemon water. Drink hot lemon water and it will help eliminate the free radicals and decreases soreness. Add ginger for an even bigger effect.

I hope these help reduce your soreness. Enjoy your workout today and remember to keep going. I also hope that you have a blessed day.