Muscle pain after exercise - how to avoid and how to treat
We are accustomed to associate muscle pain with overexertion. We did too much work in the gym, went for a run for the first time or went to aerobics, or just went skating or cycling after a long break. But it also happens that there was no heavy load, on the contrary - you sit at the computer all day, intensely peering at the monitor, and the next day your back muscles, abs, neck, and arms ache. The reason is your stiff, immobile state, in which the usual muscle strain has occurred. If the pain does not go away for two or three days, this is a reason to consult a doctor; you may have a disorder called fibromyalgia.
In principle, minor pain during exercise is acceptable.
But remember – you need to train with pleasure, and not with tears in your eyes. An exception is made only for the abdominal press - it needs to be loaded exactly to the point of feeling “I can’t do it anymore.” All abdominal muscles are a voluminous area that requires a lot of work and good development. It is also recommended to actively load the buttocks and hips.
The maximum load is easy to determine. When the body approaches the limit, you feel a vibration in the muscles, as if they are filled with heat. Usually this feeling occurs on sets 8-12 or after 30-40 seconds of intense strength work. The same sensations are typical for aerobic exercise. To ensure your strength is restored faster and you can move on to the next exercise, it is recommended to do stretching exercises. But if a sharp pain appears and the body refuses to obey, the training must be stopped - trust the instinct of self-preservation.
You should not exercise every time until muscle pain appears. Alternate heavy workouts with light ones - this technique will give better results than constantly working at the limit. With increased physical activity, not only the body gets tired, but also the nervous system, the body does not have time to recover. If you come to your next workout, and instead of a pleasant stretching of the muscles you feel a sharp pain, this means that the body is sending an alarm signal. You should not ignore it - as a result of overload, the structure of the muscles is disrupted, they become less elastic and serious injuries are possible. Training should be resumed only after complete recovery.
The next morning after impact training, you can barely get out of bed, your legs are weak, your whole body hurts. A familiar state, isn't it? These are so-called residual muscle pain, which appear a few hours after training and can increase over two to three days. What to do? Under no circumstances should you wait until it “goes away on its own”!
Here's how you can alleviate the suffering of your own body:
Do not try to exercise until muscle pain appears. Muscles should only occasionally ache when changing the type of load. If you constantly give a high load, you can very quickly find yourself at the limit of your body's capabilities.
Physical activity and sports exercises are the path to health. But often along the way there is pain and injury. Why do muscles hurt after training, what to do, how to reduce the manifestation of a painful symptom - you will find answers to all questions in this article.
Most of our readers have experienced muscle pain after intense sports training. Many people believe that such pain is an indicator of the effectiveness of exercise. Should muscles hurt after training or not? To answer the question posed, it is necessary to understand the very process of muscle fiber work during sports activity. How does the process of building muscle mass occur? Muscle growth is influenced by various factors and processes occurring in the body at the time of performing a certain exercise. First of all, neurons are activated that send a signal to the brain about muscle contraction. After this, hormones, in particular testosterone, begin to act actively. Muscle tissue tension appears, which leads to microtrauma. The body independently “heals” from such herbs during the athlete’s rest period thanks to the building material – protein. This way the muscle gains new volume. That is, at its core, the process of building muscle mass is a serious stress for the whole body, which cannot occur absolutely painlessly. But when pain is normal, and when it is necessary to seek medical help, we will consider in detail below.
During muscle loading, oxidative processes occur in the body, which result in the formation of lactic acid. This substance accumulates in the working muscle. The stronger the load, the more lactic acid is formed. This condition causes a burning sensation, a feeling of a rush of heat to the stressed area of the body. This pain is a natural process during exercise. It does not require treatment and even promotes rejuvenation of the body at the moment when lactic acid is washed out of the muscle and enters the bloodstream. And this happens immediately after the end of the set and a minute’s rest. But exaggerating and taking pain to the extreme is unsafe. This incorrect approach to exercise can lead to serious injury.
Most often the leg muscles hurt. After training, do stretching exercises and self-massage.
Excessive accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles during training leads to overstrain of the fibers, causing inflammation and pain. As a result, the quality of exercises and their effectiveness decreases. This situation occurs only directly during sports training. Lactic acid has nothing to do with the unpleasant tugging sensations that occur a few days after exercise, since it is washed into the bloodstream immediately after completion of physical activity.
Do your muscles hurt after training? What to do to reduce the concentration of lactic acid? To achieve maximum results from exercise, without causing the formation of excess lactic acid, you should adhere to some training rules:
As stated above, microtrauma is a direct stimulator of muscle growth. Muscle pain associated with microtrauma of fibers appears a couple of days after exercise. This condition is called delayed pain syndrome. Do your muscles hurt after your first workout? This means that a so-called microtrauma has been received. This condition occurs during the first few workouts, after a long period of inactivity, and also when loading new muscle groups. After just three workouts, such pain usually does not occur. Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of the exercises performed, the trainer recommends changing the complex every 2 months. You should follow all the recommendations of a professional so that natural muscle growth occurs gradually. Because serious complications may develop.
Your muscles hurt after training - what to do? Simple recommendations will help you properly and painlessly restore muscle fibers after microtrauma:
If your muscles are very sore after a workout, you may have broken your sports diet and your muscles are not receiving the necessary nutrients for their growth and recovery. The nutrition recommended by trainers promotes proper muscle mass growth and a reduction in painful symptoms. Protein foods will help prevent delayed pain syndrome. Therefore, many modern gyms provide a fitness bar service, where they offer sports nutrition, including protein shakes.
Interestingly, it is advisable to consume food within an hour after training. This way, nutrients will not be stored in fat, but will become an important element in building muscle mass. Protein is found in chicken (prefer boiled poultry fillet), bananas, nuts, dairy products, fish and seafood.
If your muscles are sore after every workout, it means you are not allowing them to recover properly, your diet is off, or you have an injury that needs treatment.
If the pain does not go away even 3 days after training, then most likely you are injured. This could be a bruise, bursitis, sprain, fracture, muscle fiber rupture, etc. Usually in such a situation there are additional symptoms: swelling, hemorrhage, changes in the skin, and limited mobility. The pain is most often pronounced, sharp, acute when the muscle is loaded. But in a less serious situation, such as a minor sprain or bruise, there may be no additional symptoms. The person will feel only moderate aching pain. Athletes often confuse such symptoms with microtraumas of muscle fibers and do not pay due attention to the problem. In some cases, such pain goes away on its own, but in others, a complication develops. Therefore, if your muscles are very sore after training, or the discomfort persists for more than 3 days, or if you have other symptoms, consult a sports doctor.
If during training you feel an acute sharp pain in a muscle, this means that the rules for performing the exercises were not followed, or that the load or complex was incorrectly selected. Most likely you were injured. Muscles are very sore after training - what to do?
Various medications are widely used for muscle pain:
Take care of your health carefully and responsibly. If you experience prolonged or acute pain after playing sports, refrain from intense exercise and seek advice from a specialist.
Many experienced athletes claim that pain after training is normal. Muscle discomfort is considered an indicator of the effort exerted. If physical exercises are performed very easily, then they are unlikely to give the desired result.
But it is important to remember that pain can be different and can indicate not only banal fatigue, but also the occurrence of dangerous injuries or diseases. So how can you distinguish useful tension from symptoms of pathology and what to do if your legs hurt after training? Let's start by identifying the reasons.
The main source of discomfort and muscle hypertonicity is an excess of lactic acid. It is formed as a result of severe tension or prolonged stress on certain parts of the body. This substance is produced by the body during any physical stress (cleaning the house, walking), but as a result of intense training, lactate causes sore throat.
There is no need to fear such residual manifestations. Usually, pain in the muscles of the legs or arms after exercise will not pose any threat to health. After a short period of time, the discomfort goes away, and with frequent exercise it does not arise at all.
The situation is much more complicated with microtraumas of fibers. Overestimating your own strength or poor posture when performing an exercise can cause unpleasant damage, which will result in a forced pause and long-term treatment.
The answer to the question - what to do if the muscles of the legs and arms hurt depends on the root cause of the manifestation. If the discomfort in the limbs does not cause severe suffering and does not interfere with ordinary activities, then it is definitely not worth fighting with it. As a rule, the pain goes away on the second or third day after overexertion.
You can speed up your recovery by performing a set of procedures recommended by coaches and professional athletes. Quick relief is provided by:
If after training your leg muscles are very sore, you should seek help from specialized specialists. Especially if the discomfort does not go away within 5-7 days, redness of the skin, swelling or stiffness of movement appears. In this case, in addition to the standard survey and examination, additional instrumental or laboratory tests may be needed.
As first aid, doctors recommend taking anti-inflammatory drugs. Such drugs have a beneficial effect on joints and nerve endings. But pharmacotherapy must be used with extreme caution without abuse. Instead of relieving pain, you can get dangerous side effects: metabolic disorders and, as a result, destruction of cartilage.
External pain-relieving ointments, lotions and sprays pose less of a threat. If, after finishing sports, your muscles and joints are very sore, you can use these popular remedies. But you need to remember that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gels have a low concentration and are therefore less effective.
So what should you do if your leg muscles hurt after playing football or another type of exercise? The answer to this question lies in the correct construction of your training regimen. You can’t immediately take on maximum loads or go on multi-kilometer runs or actively play football. The load should increase gradually.
Before you begin any serious exercise, you should prepare your body. Few people know that professional bodybuilders, before increasing the weight of the barbell, systematically load each muscle group for 7-10 days.
Another interesting way to reduce discomfort is to eat a healthy diet that includes plenty of antioxidants. Blueberry, cherry juice, and applesauce help quickly remove protein breakdown products from the body.
Many novice athletes neglect the advice of their more experienced colleagues and treat leg pain using old-fashioned methods. Often such therapy aggravates the problem and transfers the discomfort to a chronic stage.
Based on the results of research from various scientific institutions (in particular, the Institute of Health and Sports Research), it was noted that there are a number of methods for combating hypertonicity that negatively affect the general condition of the body. These methods include:
It should also be mentioned that scientists are wary of stretching before exercise.
Contrary to the generally accepted opinion that complete rest is necessary to quickly suppress pain, professional athletes advise simply changing the type of exercise. Muscle pain can be soothed by swimming, gymnastics or walking. A small load will not cause any harm to health.
Another relaxation method is described in the sports literature - a hot bath with magnesium salts. This natural mineral penetrates the body through the skin, soothing discomfort and improving blood circulation.
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Everyone in their life has at least once experienced painful sensations in the muscles, called sore throat. It is absolutely not necessary to go to the gym for pain to appear; it is enough to put stress on the muscles. Muscle pain after exercise can be of different types. In some situations, painful sensations can be sharp, acute, signaling the body about local changes that have occurred. For training to be as productive as possible, you need to understand the mechanisms of a particular phenomenon.
Should muscles hurt after exercise - yes , this is the nature of the development of muscle structure. Pain is an indicator that the muscles have been sufficiently loaded and the necessary processes for the development of muscle mass have occurred. The specificity of building muscle mass is such that during exercise the tissue receives small tears, which subsequently heal, forming new cellular growths - hence the pain.
It is important to note that muscles hurt quite intensely only in those who have not had physical activity for a long time and, when they came to the gym, gave a good load to the muscle tissue.
There can be several causes of muscle pain after training, but they should be divided into natural and traumatic. There is nothing wrong with pleasant, slightly aching sensations; on the contrary, many people go to sports precisely for such feelings. As for traumatic pain, this is a more complex process that requires special attention, as it causes significant discomfort. To correctly differentiate muscle pain, below are the main reasons for the occurrence of such sensations after visiting the gym. Having familiarized yourself with the list of factors causing the described phenomena, you can adjust, if necessary, your own sports regime and determine the golden mean for physical activity.
Classic sore throat is the feeling that novice athletes experience when they first attend classes. This sensation does not cause severe pain, is not characterized by impaired muscle function, usually appears a day after training and does not last more than 3 days, indicating muscle growth.
The cause of this particular phenomenon is considered to be damage to the structure of muscle tissue (formation of tears). During exercise, energy is released in the form of glucose, which, as a result of an oxidation-reduction reaction, breaks down by interacting with oxygen. With prolonged exercise, blood flow is disrupted, and accordingly, the required amount of oxygen transported by hemoglobin for cellular respiration is not supplied.
As a result of oxygen starvation, lactic acid is produced, which fills the muscle structure. This substance is characterized by the appearance of a burning sensation in the muscles. The acid remains in the muscles for another 2-3 days, as a result of which soreness is a protracted process.
Late muscle pain is a completely common phenomenon, characterized by the appearance of specific sensations a few days after the last workout. Soreness occurs on days 2-3, and the intensity of the sensations can vary greatly. For some, the pain will be quite tolerable, experiencing which you can even get pleasure, and in some cases the pain will be so severe that the muscles will not be able to perform their direct functions.
The mechanism of this phenomenon lies in the fact that muscle fibers contain receptors that diagnose the condition of the muscles and transmit a signal to the brain. If changes have occurred within the sports program and the muscles have received a completely new load, problems with signal transmission may arise. It is likely that the receptors will not respond to the load properly and soreness will appear after a few days. It is important to note that for experienced athletes the pain can last up to 4 days, and for beginners it can last for a week.
This type of pain is completely specific and differs from the sensations listed above. The peculiarity of the pain is high intensity and aching in nature. In this case, the sensations really immobilize, intensifying with the slightest load on the damaged muscle. The cause of the phenomenon is injury, and there can be a large number of types of injury to muscle tissue, as well as reasons.
Basically, damage occurs when the load has not been reduced due to oxygen starvation. If a burning sensation in the muscles appeared during exercise, but was ignored for some time, then significant damage occurs. Also, severe tearing is possible under increased stress for which the body was not prepared. In this case, the most tragic consequences are possible, from sprained ligaments to muscle rupture. With such damage, you can forget about playing sports for a long time or even forever. It is necessary to be extremely attentive to your own body, without stepping over the line of increased stress.
Krepatura is a sign of changes in muscle structure. Soreness appears when there are micro-tears in the muscles, thus increasing their volume and increasing their functional potential. In such a situation, it can be stated quite unequivocally that pain is good and even necessary.
It should be noted that pain can be not only productive, but also dangerous to health. Obviously, the severity of the pain syndrome is proportional to the intensity of the training, therefore, if a sporting event caused overexertion, then the risk of injury increases. It should be rightly noted that if swelling, redness, or severe pain appears, you should consult a doctor for help, as this is a sign of damage to the joints, ligaments and muscles. This kind of pain has nothing positive.
There are many tricks and rules that will help reduce post-workout muscle pain. It is impossible to completely get rid of sore throat, but you can significantly reduce its intensity. Recommendations for reducing pain:
If the pain is severe enough to no longer be classified as mild, a number of measures should be taken to reduce the intensity of the symptoms. As part of this, doctors and fitness trainers advise to relieve pain with a hot bath. This method allows you to dilate blood vessels, thereby ensuring the release of lactic acid from the body, which causes serious discomfort.
It is necessary to thoroughly stretch the aching muscle with a massage, after which a warm compress will help. Ascorbic acid will help cope with pain, and healthy rest will also have a positive effect on the athlete’s condition, helping to restore strength.
Therapy in the described situation should be comprehensive and include a number of medications aimed at alleviating the athlete’s suffering. If none of the existing methods of relieving pain after playing sports does not help, then it is necessary to resort to drug methods. In some cases, the use of anti-inflammatory drugs may be necessary. Drugs in this group must be taken according to the instructions for 2-3 days until the pain disappears. Painkillers are used: Nurofen, Ketanov, Nise, Aspirin and Nimesil.
Topical medications will help relieve pain. Often these remedies take the form of ointments and creams for bruises, sprains, hematomas and other injuries resulting from damage to the integrity of muscle tissue. Medicines include cooling components with a local analgesic effect: Fastum gel, Finalgel, Voltaren, Metindol.
If the pain is very strong and the muscles ache with every uncomfortable movement, then you should forget about sports in the near future until the body has fully recovered. As part of rehabilitation, training organized according to a special principle can be used. But still, training, even unloading or restorative training, can be carried out if the muscles or ligaments are completely healthy and not damaged.
The recovery exercise should be light, that is, as part of the training, all usual loads should be halved. By reducing the load by 50%, you can properly disperse the blood, nourishing each muscle, thereby contributing to speedy rehabilitation. It is important that each element of the lesson is repeated 15-20 times, increasing blood flow.
Video about muscle discomfort after exercise
Intense training, especially after a long break, can lead to pain in the muscles reminding them of their existence in the morning. And it’s good if it’s a slight, aching pain, because some even consider it pleasant. But it also happens that pain literally does not allow a person to move. So what should you do if muscle pain makes your life significantly more difficult? And why does pain occur?
You might be interested to immediately read:
First you need to understand the causes of pain. First of all, don’t be scared: it’s quite normal if your muscles hurt after a workout. There is no need to try to find non-existent diseases in yourself, classifying muscle pain as dangerous symptoms.
Secondly, you should understand that during active sports, some changes occur in the muscles. The intracellular structure changes, and the cells become clogged with already processed substances, lactic acid. This is what causes unpleasant sensations the day after cross-country or aerobics.
However, there is no need to turn such pain into an end in itself. Otherwise, some novice athletes think that if after training the muscles do not hurt, then the training was in vain. In fact, painful sensations are not a reason for worry only in two cases:
- if the muscles are sore after a workout that a person went to for the first time or after a long break (for example, several months);
- if those muscles that received the main load during the exercise responded with pain (for example, after cross-country, the muscles of the legs hurt, etc.).
If the muscles suddenly begin to ache after one sudden movement (for example, a sharp jerk), injury (from a blow or a fall), then this may be the reason for an unscheduled visit to the doctor.
Experienced athletes divide the pain that occurs in the muscles after exercise into “good” and “bad.”
“Good” pain is aching, constant, intensifies with movement, but decreases with each subsequent day. If you want to exercise not “for show,” but to achieve real results, then it’s not enough to just get used to this pain, you have to love it.
You need to worry if muscle pain after training only gets worse with each subsequent day. This is called delayed muscle pain. It occurs when the muscles have received many microtraumas due to high tension.
Sometimes wandering pains in muscles and joints appear. They are distinguished by the fact that they appear 2-4 hours after training, then suddenly disappear, and return again after a few hours.
“Bad” pain is acute, sharp, and may appear not after training, but immediately during exercise, after an unsuccessful movement or difficult exercise. Such pain is difficult to endure, but it is not necessary. The appearance of sharp and aching pain may indicate an injury: sprain or rupture of ligaments, dislocation and even fracture. In this case, training should be stopped immediately, until the doctor announces the diagnosis.
Now that we know why muscles hurt, it would be nice to figure out how to avoid this pain.
If you're a beginner, it goes without saying that your preparation is less than ideal. Therefore, you should not overload the body during the first workouts, trying to complete the program to the maximum. In addition, it is difficult to understand the maximum capabilities of an untrained body the first time. During the exercise, you do not need to focus on one muscle group; it is advisable to alternately give work to all the muscles of your body. You need to increase the load and complexity gradually.
If you already have a fair amount of training behind you, and your muscles continue to “delight” with incessant unpleasant sensations, it may be worth talking to a trainer. Constant pain may indicate that the chosen set of exercises and the load are too great, and the muscles simply do not have time to fully recover from microtrauma.
To reduce the likelihood of muscle pain after training, you should pay attention to a good warm-up and stretching. It is especially important to do a good stretch at the end of the session: this way you can partially relieve tension from the muscles.
To prevent “good” pain from interfering with your life, you need to allow your muscles to relax. By the way, massage, visiting a sauna or bathhouse greatly contribute to this. You can also purchase a warming cream or simply soak in a bath with essential oils or sea salt. It is enough to spend 15 minutes in such a bath and you can already feel much better. In addition, you need to add very little oil: literally 3-5 drops. Oils of mint and pine, rose and rosemary, tea tree and juniper are especially popular among athletes. Even during such periods, it is recommended to drink plenty of fluids, because... it allows you to remove harmful substances from the body. Naturally, you need to rely on green tea, purified water and herbal infusions, and not on coffee and alcohol.
If you have “delayed muscle pain,” you shouldn’t feel too sorry for yourself and skip classes because of this. The best way to relieve pain will be a proper warm-up and another workout, but this time without heavy loads.
If wandering or “phantom” pain occurs, then you need to stop training until the pain completely disappears, because this symptom indicates obvious overtraining.
As for “bad” pain, it is easier to prevent it than to cure it. In addition, the treatment in this case will be carried out by a doctor.
Good day, my dears!
If you are reading this article, then you are familiar with the phenomenon of muscle pain after exercise. I will say right away that many consider pain to be the most important indicator of muscle growth and a quality workout. Whether this is true or not, we have to figure it out today.
So, in this article we will find out whether muscles should hurt or not, how to distinguish the right pain from the wrong one, and what techniques can help you recover faster and return everything to normal. So take your seats, it will be interesting.
I don’t know who and when blurted out that if there is no pain in the muscles after training, then it was of poor quality and there can be no talk of any growth. However, the fact remains a fact, and the phrase “it hurts means it grows” has practically become Eminem’s proper name. Beginners (and not only them), sometimes come after the gym and cannot move either an arm or a leg, thinking that they have done a good job and have powerfully stimulated their muscles to grow. But not everything is so simple, and often pain is not an indicator of high-quality work in the gym, but simply a failure to comply with the correct technique for performing exercises and working with incorrect weights. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between where the lie is (the likelihood of injury) and where the truth is (an incentive for development).
Well, let's figure it out.
For many advanced athletes, the best gift after a hard workout is not sports nutrition, a trip to the sauna or a bowl of oatmeal, but muscle pain. They strive for it by hook or by crook and understand that for them this is the treasured key to the desired body composition. Beginners also try to keep up with their more experienced fellow lifters and earn their pain by working with exorbitant weights, neglecting the correct technique and basic safety rules.
Here it is worth understanding that both have different types of muscle pain. For the former it is anabolic, for the latter it is physiological. To understand where it is and in general what’s what, you need to understand that there are the following types of pain:
No. 1. Normal moderate muscle pain after exercise.
Most often, this is the type of pain that most people experience after intense training (for example, base work) with weights. The mechanism of its occurrence is considered to be micro-tears and microtraumas of muscle fibers, as well as excess lactic acid (lactate) in the muscles.
Those. After a good workout, the content of muscle cells in the athlete’s blood increases (for several days). Pain appears due to the fact that destroyed muscle tissue enters the bloodstream and remains there until the body removes some of it and restores some of it.
Many people believe that it is “milk” that causes pain in the muscles, but this is not so. Lactic acid is eliminated within 30 minutes after training, but lactate is the cause of muscle “burning” during exercise.
This is the so-called correct, good muscle pain that does not interfere with their functions. On average, it lasts about 2-3 days for beginner athletes and about a day for advanced athletes.
This pain serves as a “litmus test” that you have worked your muscles well, given them a serious load, thereby creating a decent amount of stress. When the next day after working out in the gym you do not experience moderate pain. this means only one thing - your body has adapted to the load and needs to be shocked in some other way.
The next type of pain is...
No. 2. LMS (delayed muscle pain).
It is named so because it really “slows down” and occurs only a few days after training (most often on 2 ). ZMB prevents full muscle contraction. It usually occurs when you change your training program or start exercising in a more intense manner. Its duration ranges from 1 to 4 days for an advanced athlete and up to a week for a beginner.
How to deal with it? Very simple.
Instead of giving up on training and not going, do your usual volume, but with a 50% . For example, if you do 12 squats with a barbell weighing 100 kg, then perform the same 12 squats, but with a weight of 50 kg. Do not work to the point of complete failure, even if you still have some strength left, because the main goal of such training is muscle recovery + growth.
Next in line...
The complete opposite of the above pains, having nothing in common with them. This is an aching, stifling pain that intensifies even with the slightest load, especially with sudden movements. Very often the symptoms of such pain are redness, swelling and general malaise. They most often appear immediately, in rare cases - the next day. An athlete who has received such an injury cannot fully train and often has to either give up training altogether for a while, or exercise in a “gentle” mode, excluding all sorts of loads (ranges of motion) on the damaged area.
The most serious type of muscle pain is a muscle tear. Here, of course, no “compresses” or brilliant green will help, everything is extremely serious, and surgical intervention may even be required. To avoid this kind of injury, you should not “show off” in the gym and lift exorbitant weights, use periodization (cycling of training parameters) and monitor the technique of performing the exercises.
These are the so-called main types of muscle pain after exercise.
Now a few words about whether you need to bring yourself to muscle pain. Most beginners have probably heard from their more experienced fellow bodybuilders that muscle growth does not happen without pain. However, this is not quite true. In Arnold’s time, it was the ability to create and, most importantly, to endure pain that was your passport to the world of a beautiful body and large volumes. Therefore, in the “golden” age of bodybuilding, everyone tried to lift more and more weight from workout to workout. After all, this makes it much more difficult for the muscles to overcome the load and, therefore, they are provided with 100% . This so-called natural muscle fatigue occurs due to the accumulation of lactic acid lactate and the formation of microtraumas. Thus, it was previously believed that pain was the main trigger for muscle growth-stimulating processes. However, recent scientific research suggests that muscle growth is possible without pain.
Many bodybuilders (in particular, Ronnie Coleman) have muscles that are able to recover and adapt to loads very quickly, and therefore for them pain is not an indicator of lack of growth.
I won’t say that you shouldn’t listen to the advice of the “greats,” but I don’t think it’s worth purposefully bringing yourself to the point of muscle pain. If the working weights increase, the result in the form of muscle growth will not take long to arrive.
In general, in a word, you shouldn’t tear your hair out and bang your head against the wall :), if you don’t experience muscle pain after your next workout. Humble yourself and repent and just continue to train effectively, trying to constantly progress in your working weight.
So, we talked about the pain component of training, but much more important are the recovery processes and methods that can reduce pain after training. These are what we will talk about next.
Of course, any pain (and if it is still constant and aching) affects the athlete’s condition. Therefore, to reduce pain, you must adhere to the following tips.
No. 1. Soda before training.
This advice will be useful for those who want to minimize their pain in the muscles during training. Before going to the gym or fitness center, drink a glass of water with 1/2 teaspoon of soda. Thus, you will reduce the acidity of the blood, and the pain threshold of the muscles will become higher. You can easily avoid the usual burning sensation.
No. 2. Proper nutrition.
Oddly enough, many people neglect this sacred rule and include completely wrong foods in their food pyramid. You should consume about 2 grams of protein per 1 kg of weight, from 2 to 4 grams of carbohydrates (depending on your metabolic level). You should also not forget about fats; they should make up 15-20% of the total calories.
No. 3. Beta-alanine and ascorbic acid.
Start taking ascorbic acid (about 1 g after training) and beta-alanine (a naturally occurring amino acid).
It is she who removes all impurities and toxins, thereby creating favorable conditions for the launch of restoration processes. Drink enough; if you don’t know how much you need to drink, then use the formula: your weight* 0.04 = X liters per day.
Before training, do a warm-up and a cool-down after it. Give your muscles a good stretch and relax and regain your breathing.
No. 6. Pleasant procedures.
Bodybuilding or fitness is not only sweat and grinding metal. Give your body quality rest after exercise. In particular, you can take a contrast shower ( 40 seconds under cold water, 1 minute under hot water), go to the sauna or pool, and you can also put yourself in the experienced hands of a massage therapist. All these activities will increase blood circulation in your body and prevent your muscles from becoming stiff.
No. 7. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Take sufficient amounts ( 300 mg/kg body weight) of essential fatty acids, they have anti-inflammatory properties. As their sources, you can choose: flaxseed oil, fish oil, various types of nuts (almonds, walnuts).
No. 8. Periodization and training time.
Periodization is very useful for athletes who train hard and constantly. It is important for them to “play” with such training parameters as repetitions, weights, rest time, muscle attack angles, intensity, etc. Also, you should not “stay” in the gym for more than 60 minutes, because it is after this time that the level of the main anabolic hormone decreases, and cortisol (the stress hormone) increases.
For some, warming gels and ointments can be the lifeline that a drowning person needs to relieve pain and fatigue in the muscles. You can try “smearing yourself” with Ben-Gel, Viprosal or “42 gel balm” balm. There is also a good horse ointment, although I don’t remember the name.
Of course, healthy sleep is the foundation, so try to sleep 7-8 hours. If you can't sleep, then take a warm shower and drink a glass of milk. You can also buy earplugs at the pharmacy - earplugs, an irreplaceable thing if you decide to relax, but the neighbors still won’t calm down.
These are the tips that will definitely help you overcome muscle pain after training.
Well, that’s basically all I wanted to talk about today.
Another article has come to an end. I hope you learned a lot of useful things from it. The main experience that needs to be learned is that pain is not always (and not for everyone) an indicator of a quality workout. Don’t chase pain, work correctly, progress in weight, and the muscles will come, they won’t go anywhere!
Until we meet again, my dears. Don’t forget to subscribe to updates and then you’ll always be in the know, bye!
PS. If you can (and I have no doubt about this), leave a couple of comments and ask your questions, I will be happy to answer.
Intense training, especially at first, often leads to some discomfort: after 1-2 days pain of varying intensity appears in the muscles. This is due to sharply increasing loads after a long break or the transition to a new level of exercise that is still unfamiliar to the body. If your muscles are very sore after the gym, advice from experienced athletes will tell you what to do.
When there is no confidence that the body will adequately accept supersets (performing about two or three exercises one after another without interrupting for rest), forced types of repetitions, it is worthwhile to correctly distribute the load and not rush to move from the rank of beginner to the category of bodybuilder in one day.
Previously, it was believed that sore throat was a painful muscle condition caused by the secretion of lactic acid. The cause of this type of pain is excessive muscle activity. But progressive medicine refutes these data and claims that pain occurs due to the inflammatory process in overloaded muscle fibers, and the cause of discomfort is the presence of microtraumas.
Many people are interested in whether muscles should ache after a sharp increase in load and whether this is a normal state of the body. The sensations will only occur when the intensity of the exercise increases by at least 10% of normal, and appear after training for 8-48 hours after training.
As they say in strength sports: “NO PAIN – NO GAIN”, which means “NO PAIN – NO GROWTH”. It is under this motto that bodybuilders and weightlifters who want to achieve serious strength indicators train. But that's a completely different story.
If classes are carried out in a standard mode, the question of why muscles do not hurt can be explained by the correct approach to performing exercises and their frequency. Experienced bodybuilders believe that without pain, muscle fibers do not grow, considering it an indicator of the effectiveness of visits to the gym.
A person who has not interacted with constant physical activity has short and long myofibrils in the muscle fibers; with a sharp increase in load, the first ones break, and the number of active immune cells that fight local inflammation increases. The pain goes away as soon as the body's adaptive abilities increase.
The next morning after exhausting exercises, beginners, as a rule, cannot get out of bed; not only does everything hurt, they also feel weakness in the muscles of their legs. The phenomenon is called “residual muscle pain” and can get worse over several days. The pain goes away on its own, but you can help your body quickly get the expected relief.
What to do if the pain does not go away for a long time:
To carry out drug treatment, you need to consult a doctor who will correctly write out a treatment regimen.
There is no need to strive to exercise until pain inevitably appears; this can have a negative impact on both health and appearance. Working at the peak of its own capabilities, the body will be on the verge of failure, which will affect the cardiovascular and nervous systems.
The body of a beginner and an experienced athlete is different; it reacts differently to external influences. The main thing is to listen to the sensations that arise when the load changes. Slight tingling, slight pain and heaviness in the limbs are the norm; it will definitely become easier if you attend classes regularly and avoid long breaks between workouts.