How to Get Rid of Muscle Soreness FAST
Muscle soreness is NOT an indication of a good workout. You can have an excellent workout and feel little or no muscle soreness in the days following.
Tweetable: “Muscle soreness is a sign that you 1) did something NEW or 2) pushed your body beyond its current ability. It is NOT proof of a good workout” @WStrengthNation
A weeeeee little bit of muscle soreness in the 1-2 days after a strength workout does give you feedback that you challenged yourself. Therefore, if you are strength training right, you should see some muscle “fallout” from your workouts every now and then. Once or twice per week you should wake up the next day (or two days later) and say: “Ooooooo, riiiiight, I worked out yesterday!”
That muscle soreness should almost never be intense, and we all have different definitions of “muscle soreness.”
At least once per week you should feel something in your body that reminds you that you worked out. That feeling might be stiffness, tightness, ache, pressure, or fatigue. All of these symptoms point to the fact that you challenged your body and the muscles have some fallout.
If you rarely or never feel soreness (or the symptoms above) it might be time to step up your game during your workouts!
For the most part, the ONLY reason muscle soreness occurs is:
- You did something new or have restarted your workouts. Any time your muscles do something new at a challenging level, they risk getting beat up a little. This is normal! If you try a new move or new workout, or, are just getting back into the gym after some time off, you can expect to see some muscle fallout. Stay consistent and the post-workout soreness will disappear.
- You pushed yourself beyond your body’s current ability. This is good! That’s the whole point of the workout. In a perfect world, your muscle soreness should almost never go beyond a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 represents no muscle soreness at all, and 10 represents you…on a couch…because you can’t walk. If you find that you are SUPER sore, most likely it is because you just pushed too hard in the last workout. HOT TIP: One of the biggest culprits to this is caffeine. Extra caffeine before a workout can often mean extra…enthusiasm…in your workout, which leads to pushing yourself a bit more than you’d be inclined to without the buzzzzz.
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And lastly,
Today’s #Strengthspo
“We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.”
Benjamin Disraeli
Stay strong, friend.
Glad you explained this, I always thought no pain no gain and if I didn’t feel really sore after a workout then I wasn’t really working out good enough. As always thanks so much for all of the helpful information that you share.
Staci!
So glad I was able share my knowledge with you. Keep going hard! Thank you for being a part of Women’s Strength Nation.
Stay STRONG
H
Thanks for talking about this! It’s always something I’d like to speed along when I accidentally push just a little too far/hard (especially legs!).
Glad I was able to help!
Stay STRONG!
Holly, you have mentioned that it is important to eat protein after a strength training workout. I am wondering if the amount of protein is based on the intensity of the workout. For example a heavy vs. Light strength training workout or a strength training workout vs. cardio. Could you give some insight into that please.
thanks so much
Tracy!
Such a GREAT question! Any form of Strength training demands protein and carbs to refuel your body. When doing light cardio, your body isn’t using as much energy, therefore light cardio doesn’t require as many calories for refueling. In terms of the amount of protein, aim for 15 to 20 grams of protein powder after any strength training workout and combined with 15 to 30 rams of carbs. The harder the workout the more carbs you need to have.
I LOVEEEE this question, I will turn this into a news letter topic. Stay tuned
In strength
H