There’s nothing quite like how your body feels after a great workout. With all those feel-good brain chemicals pumping through your veins, you’re happy, confident, and ready to face whatever the day brings. Unless, of course, your muscles are too sore. If that’s the case, you’re likely laying in bed regretting ever working out in the first place. Or, you’re googling ‘how to speed up muscle recovery’ on the internet.
Rather than giving up on your fitness goals and choosing to skip the gym, let’s look at some ways you can hasten the muscle recovery process so you can stick to your workout plan. Before we do that, however, let’s look at why your muscles get sore in the first place.
What causes muscle soreness during or after exercise?
There are several reasons why you experience muscle pain or discomfort pre-or post-workout. Here are some of the most common:
- Using muscles in new ways – Oftentimes, muscle soreness happens simply because you’re asking a certain muscle or muscle group to move in ways it hasn’t recently been moving. This is especially true if you’re new to exercising.
- Improper exercise technique – Without proper instruction, you could be exercising in a way that’s harmful to your body. In this case, the old saying ‘no pain, no gain’ certainly doesn’t apply. One of the benefits of working with a personal trainer or taking group fitness classes and instruction is that you can learn the proper way to do each exercise without causing muscle damage.
- Muscles getting stronger – If you’ve been exercising for a while and doing it correctly, you may still experience some muscle soreness. That’s because when your muscles work harder or in different ways than they’re used to, they break down, then rebuild, and recover. That leads to stronger muscles in the long run, but you may feel some discomfort during the process.
Important factors for muscle recovery
Now that you know what causes muscle soreness, let’s look at how to speed the muscle recovery process so you can work out, feel great, and continue to pursue your health and fitness goals.
- Get enough sleep – Regardless of how simple or complicated your workout routine is, getting enough quality sleep is essential for your body’s rejuvenation and recovery.
- Vary your exercise routine – If you continue to do the same routine day after day, your muscles can be overworked, leading to pain and fatigue. Change up the types of exercises you do to work out different muscle groups and give others a chance to recover.
- Change your intensity – Working out at a different pace, lowering the intensity, or decreasing the number of repetitions can help prevent muscle soreness in the first place. Or, this can help speed muscle recovery if overdoing it has caused you pain or discomfort. Also, don’t forget to add rest days to your workout plan.
- Keep moving – One of the best things for muscle recovery is doing low-intensity exercise that helps you stay limber and also increases blood flow. Walking is the perfect exercise for this and it can be a great stress reliever too!
Work with the fitness experts at your local gym
At No Limit Personal Training, our goal is to help you learn how to exercise safely and in the way that benefits you most. Our personal trainers and fitness coaches can formulate a personalized exercise plan for you or provide professional instruction during our group training classes.
If you’re interested in learning how to build healthier habits for a sustainable lifestyle and achieve long-term results, we’d love to welcome you to the No Limit family! Contact us today to learn more about our Placentia gym and fun fitness programs.
