6 Ways to Relieve Muscle Pain after Exercise

Rigorous physical activity can take a toll in your body. Thus, we suffer sore muscle or muscle stiffness. This can feel like torture. But, fear not for relief is within easy reach. These six ways will effectively relieve muscle pain after exercise.

Causes of Muscle Pain

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is muscle fever or muscle stiffness felt several hours or days after due to:

• A sudden increase in your exercise time or in your exercise intensity level.

• Doing intense workout routines in which you lengthened instead of shortened your muscle (e.g. extending your arm during a bicep curl or a hike in the mountains).

• Performing activities you’re not used to.

These changes can result to tiny injuries in the muscle fiber and connective tissue.

How to Relieve Muscle Pain Post-Workout

Stretch and Get Moving

It might be tempting to just lie down and doze off but you have to stretch and move before your muscles tighten. This relieves possible muscle pain post-workout. Doing so permits oxygen to flow into your muscles speeding up recovery. 30 minutes of walking while breathing deeply, Pilates or yoga will ease your muscles.

Apply Heat

Warm water is known to have healing effects. Whether it’s a soak in your bathtub, a steam or a sauna room, a little heat can do wonders for your sore muscles and you’ll feel more relaxed after. Heat eases muscle pain by increasing blood circulation (making way for more oxygen and nutrient-rich blood) to the area which helps the small muscle tears making the pain heal faster.

Hot and Cold Compress

Put an ice pack on the sore area for 10-20 minutes or take a cold shower or ice bath followed by a hot compress for 10 minutes. Cold and hot when interspersed can boost blood flow and muscle recovery.

Rub The Pain Away

A massage will ease the pain and tension from your muscles. Slowly massage the painful areas applying just enough pressure to get the blood flowing while minimizing tightness. Or, go to a spa for a professional massage so your entire body will get that some lovin’.

Pack In Protein

You need to rebuild your energy stores to repair damaged tissues. Protein which is converted into energy is important in building muscle mass so make sure you consume enough of it. Good sources of protein include – fish,lean meat, poultry, nuts, lentils and quinoa.

You can also take Herbalife’s Personalized Protein Powder which helps not just in building and maintaining lean muscle mass but also controls your hunger which is great if you are working out to shed off pounds. It’s a plain and unsweetened formula which you can add to soups, sauces, shakes and more.

Ease Back In

Rest for some time and gradually ease back into your routine. This gives your body adequate time to catch up minus the stress.

These tips on how to relieve muscle pain after exercise will get you back in action right quick. In time, you’ll no longer need a muscle pain reliever as your muscles will get used to being exercised.

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