Starting a workout program can be challenging and exhausting, mainly because it often leads to sore muscles and muscle pain.
Most people often give up right after they experience one bout of muscle soreness or stiffness. But instead of simply refusing to work out, you should take steps to eliminate the pain.
Around 60-85% of the population experience it, either due to exercise or for unknown reasons. No matter what the cause of your discomfort is, you need to eliminate muscle pain and take active steps.
Here are a few ways that can be helpful.
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1. Consume Foods Rich in Amino Acids
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are 20 amino acids, out of which some are essential, while the others are non-essential.
They form an important component for every cell in your body and help to make your muscles stronger.
If you suffer from muscle pain frequently, you should have a diet that is rich in proteins. Athletes commonly eat foods that have high quantities of the amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine to improve their performance.
Amino acids can help to reduce muscle damage after a workout session, as well as the soreness that accompanies it. Food items like quinoa, eggs, turkey, and mushrooms are rich in proteins.
2. Hydrate Yourself
This cannot be said enough. Even if you don’t feel the onset of stiff or painful muscles right away, it’s important to hydrate yourself before and after working out.
This is because when you have enough water in your body, it helps to keep fluids moving smoothly throughout your system.
This, in turn, eases inflammation, flushes out wastes from your body, and provides nutrients to your muscles. However, many people don’t often realize that they are dehydrated.
In this case, you can check the color of your urine. If it’s dark yellow, it means you are dehydrated. If it looks pale or straw-yellow, it means you are hydrated properly.
3. Take Medicines
Many times, natural remedies don’t seem to work that well. Instead of solely depending on your body to ease the muscle pain, you should talk to a doctor and try out medication.
Panadol is paracetamol-based medicine, ideal to help your painful joints and muscles and can be ingested by children, adults, as well as elderly people.
Medicines to relieve muscle pain mostly come in the form of tablets but can also be sold in the form of syrups or capsules. If you wish to purchase Panadol products at low prices, check out Officeworks.
4. Eat Within 30 Minutes
After you finish working out, it’s important to eat something within half an hour of ending the session. Your muscles become tired after the intense gymming and it’s necessary to give them the nutrients they require.
This will not only ease your muscle pain or soreness but also make sure that the next time you work out intensely, your muscles are painless. Eat about 20-40 grams of protein and 20-40 grams of carbohydrates.
For example, you can have a small bowl of Greek yogurt with a handful of berries and nuts. Proteins, as already mentioned, rebuild your muscles and carbohydrates provide your body with energy that your muscles use up during exercises.
5. Do Light Exercise the Next Day
It’s a good idea to give your body a bit of time and let it recover at its own pace. Muscle pain generally lasts for around 24-48 hours after an intense workout.
So if you feel that your body is still paining, try to do some light exercise instead of burning your body out even more. This will let your body get accustomed to exercising and also make sure you stay fit without causing too much pain to your body.
Some great exercise options are restorative yoga, easy walking or swimming, light cycling, and light resistance training. If the effort scale ranges from 0 to 10 where 10 is maximum effort, aim for a 3 or 4.
Over to You…
Other than the remedies mentioned above, you should make sure that you get enough sleep. Sleep is important for many reasons, among which is the easing of sore muscles. You can also use a foam roller immediately after gymming to provide some relief.
