Muscle soreness is a very common symptom; associated with exercise and exertion, particularly if you’ve started taking on longer or more strenuous workouts. Fortunately, muscle soreness is usually a harmless sign. It means  that your body is working well to protect you from training too hard. After all, your muscle tissue needs time to heal before more exercise can take place. Read on how to speed up muscle recovery time.

While some degree of muscle soreness is to be expected when intensifying or increasing your workout regime, there are a few things you can to do reduce the time you need to rest and to ensure you bounce back quickly. Here are Advantage Personal Training’s tips on how to reduce post-exercise muscle soreness:

Before and during your workout prevent soreness with thorough warm-up:

Undertaking a thorough warm-up before every workout is one of the most effective measures you can take to prevent muscle soreness. Start by taking a few minutes to perform dynamic stretches (in other words, those that involve movement). Examples of dynamic stretches might include leg swings or dynamic chest and shoulder stretch with broomstick. Warming up before exercising by using the same muscle you will be training can reduce post-exercise soreness. Try body weight or light load exercises.

During the exercise stay well hydrated:

Failure to stay well hydrated during exercise can lead to cramping and muscle inflammation after exercise. In this way, it is important to have a bottle of water to hand while training. Although it may be tempting to opt for a specialised (and expensive) sports beverage, water will suffice for most people. If you are exercising in particularly hot conditions or are taking on very strenuous exercise, you may want to opt for a drink that will replace sodium and electrolytes.

Consider your exercise form:

Making sure you maintain a decent posture is a great way of preventing muscle soreness, particularly if you undertake lots of weight training. If you’re about to start a lifting session, choose weights based on your form first and foremost. While you may be able to get a heavy weight off the ground, you may not be able to do it correctly or safely.

Train more frequently:

Increasing training frequency can help reduce post-exercise muscle soreness. After the first intense workout an athlete could feel very sore and uncomfortable; but with more frequent training sessions, for example three times a week per muscle group, soreness could be dramatically decreased because the body gets used to the hard training. Similar, if you are already sore doing a light workout will decrease muscles soreness and help increase range-of-motion.

To see continues improvement in body composition and strength; we advise to increase your training up to three times a week and don’t forget to change your workouts every 4 weeks.

Eat foods containing Bromelain:

Bromelain is an enzyme in fruits such as blueberries, pineapples and cherries and has strong anti-inflammatory qualities. Compounds in these types of fruit help remove waste products that get built up in the muscles during training. If you’re not a fruit fan, there are also plenty of supplements available to help you make the most of this muscle-soothing ingredient.

Indulge in a massage:

Massage is an effective way of reducing stress and muscle pain; and makes for an indulgent activity after a hard day at the gym.

With a few simple lifestyle changes, you can speed up the muscle recovery time process and be back on your feet in no time. If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment below. Take care and best of luck with your training!