If you’ve ever had a tough exercise session and ended up with loads of aches and pains, it shouldn’t stop you from working out. There are workouts you can do when you’re sore that not only won’t make you feel worse, but actually make you feel better. Achy muscles are one of the things that can put a workout program on its heels, but it shouldn’t. Rather than taking a week off to feel better, there are exercises you can do that will speed your recovery. Make sure the pain is normal aches and not excruciating pain. With easy exercise normal pain can go away in just a day or two.
Exercising with mild pain is called active recovery.
When you’re building muscle tissue, you’re actually creating microtears in the muscle and when it heals, it heals stronger and bigger. Active recovery is a way to get your blood flowing and that increased circulation can send nutrients and oxygen to speed the healing process. Cardio, such as walking or swimming is a great way to boost your active recovery. If you’re careful, you can even do light resistance training. One study showed that the use of resistance bands could increase the speed of recover just as much as a ten minute massage.
Focus on the part that doesn’t hurt.
If your legs hurt, work your upper body. If you ache in your upper body, focus on your lower body workout. You’ll reduce the potential of making your pain worse and still maintain your workout schedule. Watch out for overtraining, however. You’ll know you’re overtraining if you constantly feel tired, have insomnia, mood changes, get minor illness often, indicating you have a compromised immune system or a higher resting heart rate. If you have those symptoms, take a few days off to fully recover.
Skip the gym and go to the doctor if you notice these things.
There’s a big difference between feeling sore and sharp excruciating pain. Soreness is more like a discomfort that goes away in a couple of days. While you may feel achy at night, but it shouldn’t keep you up after you took an over-the-counter pain medication like aspirin or ibuprofen. Normal aches and pain will make you uncomfortable, but not nauseous. If you notice black and blue marks or lose function in the area, don’t go the gym, go to a doctor or health care professional. It might be something more serious.
- Reduce the risk of pain in the first place by doing warm-up and cool-down exercises. A warm up can be jumping jacks and a cool down can be walking around or a gentle bike ride the last few minutes.
- Stretching is a great way to recover from soreness. It increases circulation and breaks the cycle of muscle spasms and contraction.
- If you’re starting a new program of exercise, always start slowly and focus more on form. Not only will having good form help prevent injury, taking it slow will help reduce the risk of pain.
- If you’re looking for another way to relieve some pain or help prevent it, consider using a foam roller after a workout. It acts like a massage for your muscles, helping to reduce muscle tension.
For more information, contact us today at Skin Sport Fitness Center