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You nailed a leg workout. As a result, lowering yourself onto the living room couch for the next day or so can be a gruelling experience.
Muscle soreness is a prevalent side effect of training, particularly in beginners and experienced trainees who engage in new, unfamiliar exercises that stimulate the muscles in ways they are not used to.
This exercise-related soreness, also known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), typically worsens a day or two after training and then gradually subsides over a few days.
So, what is the source of this ache? That is an excellent question and one that researchers need to comprehend fully. However, they believe it has something to do with micro muscle damage, the tiny tears and structural damage to muscle tissue that occurs when lifting—and the resulting inflammation as your muscles try to repair themselves.
However, just because you're sore after a challenging workout doesn't mean you're making progress. On the contrary, it may have the opposite effect if it interferes with your ability to go about your daily life or takes away from your other workouts during the week.
As a result, we asked the experts to share the worst things you can do when your muscles are aching. Here's what they had to say about it.
Yes, you must move your body—even if even the slightest movement causes you to wince.
Continue to move the joint above and below the achy muscle. Motion is essential, and it is critical to keep your joints moving. You should concentrate on moving your knee and hip joints if your quads are sore.
Muscles contract to act on joints to move them, so it stands to reason that moving the joint can be painful when your muscles are sore from a workout. Of course, it may not feel good, but your joints require movement to stay lubricated and move freely. Staying curled up on the couch can cause muscles to stiffen, exacerbating the pain of soreness.
While rest is essential for recovery, doing some light exercise to get your muscles moving helps reduce muscle soreness. This is most likely due to the increase in circulation and the production of endorphins, even during light exercise.
The key here is to do some light exercise. Because this is different from your typical workout, you should take it slowly and quickly. That is equivalent to a 20-minute walk or slow jog.
Have you ever seen the guy who walks into the gym, looks around and then picks some lifts randomly? He's the same guy who varies his workout routine every time he hits the weights. While it is important to mix things up on occasion to achieve your goals, doing so too frequently can have negative consequences.
Gym-goers are warned about changing their exercises every time they try a different approach—especially when dealing with sore, achy muscles. Your body needs time to adapt to a new exercise routine; once it does, your muscles will acclimate to the activity, and you won't feel as sore.
If you constantly change your exercises, your muscles will be exposed to new stimuli. As a result, they will not have time to adapt to any particular activity, resulting in increased soreness with each workout.
Pay attention to your body. If it's always sore and you're constantly changing your workout, slow down on the changes. Allow your muscles and joints to adjust to a new routine before introducing anything new.
Some exercises are more likely to cause DOMS, such as bicep curls with their killer, slow, lowering motions. This is because when lowering weight, the muscle must contract while lengthening.
Eccentric training is any type in which the muscles are lengthened while under load. These "lengthened contractions" happen when you lift a heavy weight and slowly lower it.
Eccentrics have been shown to exacerbate muscle soreness, so if eccentrics heavily dominate your exercise program, your soreness will be amplified.
There's nothing wrong with incorporating eccentric training into your workout routine. It may even boost your gains. However, reduce your eccentric training for a few days if you are incredibly sore after a workout.
And instead of focusing on slow, eccentric training (lowering the weight slower than usual), consider controlling the eccentric contraction rather than slowing it down. For example, lowering the weight in a bicep curl should take no more than one to three seconds.
