subject: How To Reduce Muscle Soreness [print this page] How To Reduce Muscle Soreness How To Reduce Muscle Soreness
It can be easy to reduce muscle soreness after exercise. Usually, it's an indicator that you pushed yourself too hard. Muscle fibers are torn, usually the oldest or most susceptible, and the content of the cells gets released into the body, which causes an inflammatory response. The nerve fibers are agitated by these chemicals, and you feel pain. So, how can you reduce muscle soreness?
Prevention
As in most cases, prevention is better than cure. There are a number of steps you can take before and after exercise to reduce the risk of muscle soreness:
Warm up: This gets your circulation going more effectively to your muscles, which warms them up.
Stretching before: Once you've warmed your muscles up, then you need to stretch them. Make sure not to bounce your stretches or stretch too far. The muscles you stretch depends on what you're exercising. For a jog, you should stretch your legs and back, and for an upper body workout, you should stretch your upper back, shoulders, and neck.
Stretching afterward: After your workout, you should also stretch. It's important to do so while your muscles are still warm because they're more elastic in this state.
Massage
A good way to relieve muscle soreness is by a massage. It's important to start by massaging the muscle gently at first then increasing the pressure.
Hot Baths
The heat of the water works to sooth the muscles and reduce muscle soreness. A hot bath also increases the circulation of blood; and therefore, blood flows to your muscles.
Hot and Cold Washes
Another way is to run very hot water over the muscles for approximately 2 minutes followed by very cold water for half a minute. What this achieves is to open the blood vessels then close them, thereby pushing out any acid, which causes the muscle pain that's built up.
Gentle Exercise
Gentle exercise, for example, walking, increases the amount of blood flow to your muscles. This, in turn, helps reduce muscle soreness. Make sure to breathe deeply as you move so that your muscles receive plenty of oxygen.
Know Your Limits
It's good to push yourself, but don't push yourself too hard. This will probably be detrimental because, if you're in so much pain, you'll be put off working out again! It's important to start slowly and know how far you can push yourself. Sore muscles don't indicate that you've exercised well: It's more productive to allow your muscles to adapt slower over a longer period.
There are a number of effective ways in which to reduce muscle soreness. A sculpting video will lead you through your workout properly and diminish the chance of pain afterward.
