Muscles Are Sore After A Workout? When you work out, your muscles get sore. This is because your body is reacting to the stress that was put on it. This makes sense, but it can also be a bit of a bear. For starters, your muscles are sore, so you don’t continue working out. This is because doing so can cause micro-tears in the muscle fibers which can lead to them no longer being able to contract as effectively.
This can mean that your muscles don’t get as much use as they should and can start to become sore. Secondly, though, your muscles are sore because you want them to be. Or rather, they’re sore so that they can make you work that little bit harder so that you don’t keep throwing them under the bus. Read on to find out why your muscles are sore after a workout, and how you can ease them back so that you never have to feel this pain again.
The Science Behind Muscle Soreness
Muscle soreness is a sign that your muscles have responded well to a workout. After a workout, your muscles will be larger than normal and will have a pinkish color to them, resulting in blood capillaries being enlarged. The blood capillaries will heal within a week, but your muscles will remain sore for several days. Soreness is a sign that your body is repairing itself and is a normal consequence of pushing it too far.
Make sure you’re stretching before and after
Stretching before and after a workout will help to prevent your muscles from becoming sore. Stretching involves slowly moving your muscles, which will help them to get used to the stress they’ll be put under and will also help to prevent them from becoming stiff or sore. It’s also important to keep your muscles warm before and after a workout so that they have time to get used to being worked. This means that they’ll be less likely to be sore, and you’ll have less chance of getting cramps.
Don’t overdo it
Muscle soreness is a sign that your muscles have responded well to a workout. If you’re sore, it’s because you’ve pushed them too far. So make sure that you ease off and give your muscles time to recover, rather than continuing to push them. Staying too long in the gym, or doing too many sets, means that you’re asking your muscles to do more than they’re capable of. They’re going to be sore so that they have a chance to rest and recover. So make sure that you don’t continue to push them beyond this, and keep your intensity low so that you don’t make them sore.
Take it easy the first couple of days
Although your muscles are sore after a workout, you don’t want to push them too hard. They’re sore so that they have time to rest and recover, and you don’t want them to become too weak. So make sure that you ease off and ease back into your workouts. This may mean that you start off with a less intense workout so that your muscles have more time to recover before you start pushing them. It may also mean that you ease back into your normal day-to-day activities so that your muscles have time to get used to doing them again.
Get enough sleep
Everyone knows that sleeping after a workout is important, but so is getting enough sleep before it. You may feel that you have nothing to do while you’re waiting for your muscles to heal, so you may try to stay up late reading. This is a bad idea though, as it’s going to make you feel tired and lethargic. So make sure that you get enough sleep, so that you’re able to function properly when your muscles start to get sore.
Post-Workout Nutrition
While you don’t need to spend hours researching what you can eat after a workout, you should know that protein is important for muscle repair. Both whey protein and eggs are great sources of protein and are easy to take. In addition to protein, carbohydrates and fats are also needed in order to repair muscles. In terms of carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables are good choices and are easily available. However, you should avoid sugary foods and drinks as they will spike blood sugar levels, which will inhibit muscle repair. Fat is crucial for muscle repair and is easily obtained from protein sources such as eggs or salmon.
The pain of inflammation
During a workout, your muscles become inflamed. This is because they’re being stretched, and they need to adapt to this stretch. When muscles are stretched, they cause tiny tears in your muscle fibers, which is why your muscles are sore. Muscles are sore in order to make sure that they’re repaired and don’t scar. If they’re left to heal by themselves, they’re likely to scar and become weaker over time. Normally, inflammation will subside after 48-72 hours, but it will often take longer. You can treat inflammation by applying heat, such as a hot water bottle, ice, or applying a topical painkiller.
Conclusion
No matter what you’ve been told, or how upset you are about being sore, the truth is that your muscles are sore because they need to be sore. They’re not broken, and, if you pay attention to when they’re sore and make sure you don’t push them too hard, they’ll repair themselves and go on to do you justice. Make sure you’re stretching before and after your workout and don’t overdo it. Finally, don’t forget to take some post-workout nutrition, so that your muscles have what they need to repair themselves and get stronger.