Preventing Muscle Soreness

Aching after a brutal workout? A common misconception is that sore muscles are a sign of an excellent workout, and its proof that your body is making changes in a positive direction. But the truth is that sore muscles and workout quality don’t go hand in hand. It usually just means that you pushed yourself too hard or that you’re doing new exercises. There are even steps you can take to avoid muscle soreness from the get-go.

Even though muscle soreness isn’t a necessity when you’re working to get results, it can creep up on you. Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can make you feel the burn while your muscles recover and rebuild. But, if you take the right steps after your workout, you can go hard without paying the price. Here are eight easy ways to prevent post-workout pain.

What Are Sore Muscles?

Before we dive into how to relieve muscle soreness, it helps to know why you get sore muscles in the first place. When you exercise intensely, that can cause micro-tears in your muscle tissue, which leads to delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS. This typically develops 12 to 24 hours after a tough workout, and can linger two or three days. The most common symptoms of DOMS include slight swelling, stiffness, and reduced range of motion in the affected joints, and increased tenderness and reduced strength in the affected muscles.

How to Relieve Sore Muscles

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, sometimes you’re going to overwork your body and find yourself in some pain after a workout. Exercise-induced muscle soreness usually fades within a few days, but if you’d like to speed things up, follow these tips to help you help you get on the fast track to feeling 100 percent.

1. Stretch

Stretching is your first line of defense after a good workout. When you train, you contract your muscles, and the muscle fibers get shorter. Lengthening them after a workout promotes mobility, and can lead to a more thorough recovery. While fitness experts can’t seem to agree on this strategy—one Australian study claims that stretching had no impact on sore muscles—it certainly won’t hurt, especially if your flexibility is limited. If you’re new to stretching (or at least new to stretching routines), check out five of our favorite total-body mobility moves.

2. Foam roll

Using a foam roller to massage your sore muscles after a workout can significantly reduce DOMS, according to a recent study in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. Give each major muscle group at least five rolls, starting with your calves and working your way up your body. Spend extra time on sore spots. For a more detailed tutorial on foam rolling, check out Tai Cheng.

3. Massage your sore spots

Don’t limit foam rolling to your post-workout routine. Do it between workouts to ease muscle soreness and boost mobility. Indeed, to see significant improvements in the latter, you have to foam roll even on the days you don’t train, report scientists at the University of Oregon.

4. Eat for rapid recovery.

Even if you’re eating at a calorie deficit, you want to make sure to get enough healthy proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, all which play important roles in repairing and maintaining muscles, and warding off sore muscles. Beyond that, consider strategically-timed protein supplementation. A couple hours after working out and when you sleep are two times when protein synthesis (muscle repair) increases, so a post-exercise scoop of Beachbody Performance Recover and a pre-bedtime scoop ofBeachbody Performance Recharge assures your body access to amino acids. “Amino acids are your body’s building blocks,” explains Beachbody’s Director of Nutrition Content, Denis Faye, “consuming them at the right times assures they’ll be there when you need them.”

Beachbody Performance Recover also helps to fight fighting post-workout pain by including pomegranate extract into it’s formula, which a study at the University of Austin, in Texas, found to  reduce exercise induced muscle soreness by an average of 25 percent. And if you also consume a serving of Beachbody Performance Recharge, our overnight protein supplement, before bed, you’ll double down on soreness-fighting phytonutrients with a dose of tart cherry extract.

5. Get heated

Heat increases circulation, especially focused heat like that of a jacuzzi, making it a powerful recovery tool between workouts—emphasis on “between workouts.” Immediately after a training session, such heat can exacerbate inflammation, and the jets can pound your already damaged muscles, resulting in more muscle soreness instead of less.

6. Favor fatty acids

“When your muscles are sore, inflammation is a significant part of the problem,” says Denis Faye, Beachbody’s senior director of nutrition. To help reduce this inflammation, consume foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids—such as salmon, free-range meat, flax, avocado, and walnuts—to your diet. The natural anti-inflammatory properties of these foods can help dial back soreness after overexertion.

7. Keep moving

The last thing you want to do when everything hurts is to move, but that’s exactly what you need to do. If you’re using a Beachbody program, it probably comes with a recovery workout or two. These workouts are designed to help your body work out kinks and soreness. They can be used anytime you need them, can’t be done too often, and always leave you feeling much better than before you started.

If your program doesn’t have a recovery workout, a gentle yoga class or going on an easy hike are good options. Fitness pros call this kind of activity “active recovery,” and if you find yourself winded or unable to hold a conversation while you do it, you’re over-exerting yourself. If you want to be technical about it, wear a heart rate monitor and stay below 140 beats per minute.

8. Ice it.

Immediately after a tough workout, icing your muscles can stave off inflammation. “Inflammation is one of nature’s defense mechanisms, but it works like a cast—it immobilizes you,” says Steve Edwards, former Vice President of Fitness and Nutrition at Beachbody. “When you keep inflammation down, that area is free to keep moving, and movement promotes healing.” Like stretching, its effectiveness is up for debate—some researchers have claimed that ice is only effective for injuries and not for run-of-the-mill soreness, but it’s a simple and safe option that many top-level athletes swear by. “Unless you ice so long that you give yourself frostbite, there’s really no danger,” Edwards says. “It seems to really speed up healing without any adverse effects.”

Are You Too Sore to Work Out?

Sometimes you can power through a workout with sore muscles, but sometimes it feels downright impossible. If you’re unsure what to do, follow our advice about how to decide if you should lace up your workout shoes or take a rest day.

Should You Take a Painkiller to Relieve Muscle Soreness?

Popping some Vitamin I (the street name for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAID] such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin), can significantly reduce exercise-induced muscle soreness, but that relief might come at a price. An ever-growing body of research has linked NSAIDs (including ibuprofen) to everything from cardiovascular issues and intestinal dysfunction to suppressed protein synthesis post-exercise. Occasionally taking a couple capsules for muscle soreness is probably fine—but give some serious thought to using it regularly. For more information on this topic, check out

Resources: Donnelly AE, Maughan RJ, Whiting PH. Effects of ibuprofen on exercise-induced muscle soreness and indices of muscle damage.

Gorsline RT1, Kaeding CC. The use of NSAIDs and nutritional supplements in athletes with osteoarthritis: prevalence, benefits, and consequences.Clin Sports Med. 2005 Jan;24(1):71-82.

Rahnama N, Rahmani-Nia F, Ebrahim K. The isolated and combined effects of selected physical activity and ibuprofen on delayed-onset muscle soreness. Journal of Sports Science. 2005 Aug; 23(8): 843-50.

Trelle S1, Reichenbach S, Wandel S, Hildebrand P, Tschannen B, Villiger PM, Egger M, Jüni P. Cardiovascular safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: network meta-analysis.BMJ. 2011 Jan 11;342:c7086. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c7086.

Warden SJ. Prophylactic use of NSAIDs by athletes: a risk/benefit assessment. Phys Sportsmed. 2010 Apr;38(1):132-8. doi: 10.3810/psm.2010.04.1770.

Wharam PC, Speedy DB, Noakes TD, Thompson JM, Reid SA, Holtzhausen LM. NSAID use increases the risk of developing hyponatremia during an Ironman triathlon. Medicine and Science Sports and Exercise. 2006 Apr; 38(4): 618-22.

4 Nutrients That Can Ease Muscle Soreness

 

Whether it’s a consequence of a tough race, a long distance run, heavy resistance training, or taking on P90X, sooner or later we all have to deal with delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
You know the feeling. After hitting your exercise bout you may feel great, even invigorated, but then you roll out of bed the next morning and even descending the stairs turns into a herculean effort. What comes next are days of continual physical and psychological discomfort, not to mention reduced exercise performance. Welcome to the world of DOMS.
Caused by high-intensity or unfamiliar exercise, DOMS peaks around 24–72 hours later and is associated with a 10–50% reduction in strength, with weakness lasting 4–14 days. Although the symptoms are painfully understood, the causes are not fully clear — but likely include muscle damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress due to intense training or competition.
Among exercisers and athletes, it’s common to search for strategies, including pharmacologic ones, to alleviate muscle soreness and impairment of performance quality. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen are used by athletes at all levels in an attempt to reduce symptoms, but excessive NSAID use has been associated with serious side effects, including gastrointestinal distress and cardiovascular complications.
There are now emerging nutritional strategies utilizing phytonutrients that may possess powerful postexercise anti-inflammatory activity and generally free of undesirable side effects. Here are some of the most promising.

Curcumin
Found in turmeric, this phytonutrient is responsible for the yellow color of curry and has been traditionally used in Asia for centuries as an anti-inflammatory agent. Curcumin can inhibit the transcription factor, a known regulator of inflammatory pathways within our cells. Early studies have shown curcumin to block markers of inflammation and improve deficits of performance in experimental models of downhill running.
A more recent study also reported favorable effects on DOMS, showing reduced muscle damage and lower pain intensity 48 hours after eccentric continuous exercise. (Eccentric meaning an exercise involving the lengthening of the muscle, as opposed to “unconventional or slightly strange.”) Another study reported that curcumin may reduce DOMS-related muscle pain following unaccustomed heavy eccentric exercise—the study focused on single leg jumps and single leg presses—with some evidence for enhanced recovery of muscle performance. Although this research is new, it seems promising and curcumin supplementation could offer individuals a way to combat the effects of DOMS and improve training quality and performance.

Quercetin
More exercise-related research has been conducted on quercetin than any other phytonutrient. Quercetin is naturally found in fruits and vegetables like apples and onions, and much like curcumin, possesses relatively powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Quercetin has been investigated as a performance aid and countermeasure to exercise-induced inflammation, oxidative stress, immune dysfunction and urinary tract symptoms.
Studies have shown a reduction of inflammatory markers in quercetin-treated cyclists over a 24-day period. When quercetin supplementation was combined with green tea extract, isoquercetin and fish oil, a follow-up study by the same group showed a sizable reduction in exercise-induced inflammation and oxidative stress after 3 days of heavy exertion in trained cyclists. This was also associated with lasting improvement in immunity markers, meaning it potentially improved immune function. While more studies are needed to understand the effects of quercetin on exercise-induced inflammation and muscle soreness, it’s certainly a phytonutrient to watch.

Ellagitannins
Ellagitannins are phytonutrients found naturally in fruits such as pomegranates. As with curcumin, and quercetin, ellagitannin research has focused on reducing exercise-induced inflammation.
A study from the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise examined the effects of nine days of an ellagitannin-rich pomegranate extract on muscle damage and strength performance recovery after heavy resistance training. The pomegranate treatment group had less exercise-induced muscle soreness and in exercised muscle 48-72 hours after training.
A follow-up study by the same group examined the effect of 15 days of pomegranate juice supplementation on muscle soreness and strength following eccentric exercise. The results confirmed that pomegranate juice reduced muscle soreness and improved strength recovery compared to a placebo.

Anthocyanins
Like ellagitannins, anthocyanins are large phytonutrients found in fruits such as berries, cherries, and grapes. Similar results of improvement in recovery have been seen using anthocyanin-rich tart cherry juice.
A study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine reported that subjects who consumed 12 oz. of tart cherry juice for five days prior to muscle-damaging exercise had significantly less strength loss than the placebo group throughout a 96-hour period. Another study found tart cherry juice reduced exercise inflammation and improved strength recovery in marathon runners. Additional studies showed similar results for tart cherry supplementation: one following three days of simulated bicycle road-racing and the other following high-intensity, metabolically-challenging exercise.
The clinical and practical utility of tart cherry for improving exercise-induced inflammation and DOMS looks promising. Recently, at the International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference there were reports of an anthocyanin-rich tart cherry extract reducing muscle soreness and markers of muscle breakdown in and athletes. Aside from benefits noted on DOMS, tart cherry juice has also shown positive effects such as reducing exercise-induced stress and in marathon runners. The same group observed benefits of tart cherry juice on sleep quality in healthy men and women over a seven-day trial, due to an increase in circulating melatonin.

Practical Implications
Maintaining muscular strength after DOMS-inducing exercise matters to recreational and competitive athletes alike, especially if they want to continue performing optimally. It’s also important for anyone who exercises and doesn’t want to wake up the next morning feeling sore and weak and unmotivated or unable to take on the next training bout effectively.
So far, efforts to reduce DOMS and loss of muscle strength have centered on the use of NSAIDs as well as physical strategies like temperature-based water immersion protocols, cryogenic chambers, hyperbaric oxygen, massage, recovery exercise, compressive clothing, and desperate praying. While some of these strategies may have benefits, promising nutritional strategies that utilize phytonutrients with distinct recovery effects have begun to emerge that may also be helpful, not just for athletes, but for anyone in the early stages of new and unfamiliar training regimens, making them well worth investigating for people of all fitness levels.