| There really isn't any way around it, if you want to be healthy then you need to exercise on a regular basis. and, if you exercise like you should, you can be sure there will be times when you overdo it a bit and your muscles are sore after working out. When that happens, you want relief, and want to know how to relieve sore muscles after exercise.
Actually, not all muscle soreness comes from doing the exercise itself. A lot of people strain their muscles when stretching before partaking in physical activity. The old way of doing this was to stretch your muscles as far as you could, with the idea that you would be warming them up and allowing them to do their full range of motion when exercising. But that's no longer thought to be the best way to prevent injury.
When stretching, it's possible to tear the fibers that make up your muscles, and these tears can take quite a while to heal. Needless to say, this can further limit what you'll be able to do, and the intensity with which you can do it. This isn't good because it slows down your efforts to get healthier. If you strain your muscles too much, you may not be able to exercise at all, and that can have a long-lasting negative impact on your motivation.
But what is the best way to warm up before exercising so you won't have to relieve sore muscles after exercise? That's a great question. The current preferred method for pre-workout stretching is to go for a short walk, or use a treadmill for 5 to 10 minutes. This makes sense, because humans are designed to walk. It's a natural activity that helps warm up the muscles, with the least amount of risk of over-exerting them prior to working out.
So, what if you do all these things, but are still sore after exercising? There are a few things you can try. Some people like to use over-the-counter muscle creams. These are applied to the skin and can be quite effective at making minor muscle aches and pains go away. You may also find that taking pain relievers, like acetaminophen, will do the trick. Another thing that works for a lot of people is to apply heat to the muscle. This can be done by using a heating pad, or heat wraps. The other main method people use to relieve sore muscles after exercise is massage. Simply rubbing the effective area can be enough to make you feel better. If you are still experiencing soreness after trying all of these things, then you may want to talk to your doctor as it may be more than a simple muscle strain.
Putting the above tips to use should prevent you from being too sore after a workout, but if it should happen, you also have a few options for making yourself feel better. |