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WHAT REALLY HELPS AGAINST SORE MUSCLES?

How nice it would be to be able to build new muscle mass without having to endure the annoying muscle soreness. To constantly set new stimuli, to try out different training variants, to complete more repetitions - and all that, WITHOUT muscle soreness. Unfortunately, however, muscle soreness is part and parcel of muscle building. Of course, the muscle soreness is in some way also an indicator of a successful workout and can certainly have a pushing effect. But can you really do nothing at all against the muscle soreness? Yes, you can! And we show you how!

How does sore muscle develop?

This is relatively easy to explain. The contraction of the muscles with high weight (= high stress) creates small micro tears in our muscle fibers. This is nothing to worry about, but quite intentional for muscle building. Because only through these tears, which is in principle a damage of the muscle cells, a repair can take place afterwards - thus the muscle growth. Basically, from a medical point of view, these tears are inflammations, which is why they are on par with almost any other inflammation that we have in our body from time to time. Except that we call this inflammation muscle soreness.
In the past, it was assumed that muscle soreness, i.e. the pain that occurs after a hard workout, is triggered by lactate (lactic acid). It was assumed that due to the heavy strain on the muscles, increased lactic acid is released, causing the muscle to become over-acidic. This result has been called muscle soreness. We have already clarified that this is not the actual cause of muscle soreness. Nevertheless, an increased accumulation of lactic acids can be very stressful, as it restricts the performance, tires the muscle faster and thus you have no strength left. Nevertheless, this has nothing to do with classic muscle soreness.

When does muscle soreness develop

Whether, when and how muscle soreness develops depends on several factors:
  • A very heavy load during training

  • Wrong movement sequence of an exercise

  • Too high volume / too high intensity

  • Deficiency of important minerals and vitamins

  • The load after a long break

  • Too little recovery time between training days

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Especially for people who are new to the gym and get their first workout plan, you could almost guarantee that there will be a lot of muscle soreness. This is often because people usually overestimate themselves in the beginning and haven't really internalized the new movements or executions of an exercise.

RECOMMENDATION

Prevent muscle soreness before and during a workout - 4 tips

1. before your workout really starts, you should warm up loosely for 5-15 minutes. The best way to do this is on a stepper or cross trainer. This is the best way to loosen up all the muscles and stimulate blood circulation.

2. always start your training with warm up sets! Before you go to your working weight, you should always perform 2-3 warm up sets. This protects you best against injuries and you can prepare the muscles ideally for the upcoming.

Increase the weight slowly! After the warm-up and the warm-up sets you should not immediately go to your maximum weight, but increase gradually.

4. warm-up sets between different exercises of the same muscles. This is very important and often neglected. For example, if you switch to the butterfly exercise after the classic bench press, you should also perform at least one butterfly warm-up set with very little weight. These warm-up sets are elementary for all exercises that differ greatly in the movement sequence. For exercises that are very similar in movement sequence, an additional warm-up set is not absolutely necessary(example: bench press -> incline bench press).

What really helps against sore muscles and what can you actively do about it?

Ahead. There is no miracle cure that will make sore muscles disappear. Except not to do any sports at all. And that should certainly not be the solution! Also statements like, one can train the muscle soreness away, simply ignore and continue, should be regarded with large caution. This will only harm the nervous system and the regeneration process.

However, there are a few very good ways to shorten recovery time and make sore muscles more bearable:

1. breaks after the training! Your muscle or muscle group (here we also include the "supporting muscles") always needs a break of 2-5 days after a hard workout to regenerate.

2. sauna and / or hot bath! A visit to the sauna or a hot bath can work wonders. The warm temperatures promote blood circulation in the muscle, which makes it easier to initiate healing processes.

3. light exercise! Light jogging or walking can help you to slightly boost the metabolism again and thus promote blood circulation.

RECOMMENDATION

4. continue to maintain the supply of micro - and macronutrients! A balanced and athlete-friendly diet (rich in protein and amino acids) is by far the best thing you can do against muscle soreness. Additionally, of course, it has the nice side effect of building your muscle. Besides the basics, such as an adequate intake of protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats, but also some targeted supplements can help you very well.

5. nutritional supplements that support you! During the sweaty workout your body loses a lot of minerals and vitamins. But these are exactly what you need so that your muscles can regain their strength and regenerate. The most important minerals and vitamins are magnesium, calcium and the B vitamins. Since muscle soreness is ultimately an inflammation, anti-inflammatory supplements such as omega 3 (EPA /DHA) high doses, vitamin D3, curcuma and L-carnitine are also extremely useful and effective.

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