Muscle Injuries: How do you deal with them?

[kingclumsy]

On Wednesday. I did a workout I'm quite proud of but I found the squats and dumbell lifts to be more challenging than I expected. Since then I've had severe aches on the front of my thighs and to a lesser extent arms. I think this comes from the exercise combined with then having a busy day walking, running errands and generally not stopping for the rest of the day. I also wonder how successful my cool down routine was.

This has caused me to limp slightly yesterday and my legs have generally ached and been quite stiff. What do you suggest to resolve this/deal with this? Can you recommend cool-down techniques? How should I pace myself/ conduct exercise to prevent further/worse damage or injury?

[andygates]

That's very ordinary DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness - and it's common when you overreach. We want to overreach a bit, but if we overreach too much, we get sore. It doesn't do any permanent damage.

Massage is good. An ice bath or cold shower immediately after cooldown helps a lot. Just keeping mobile will work it out over a few days - at most, 4-5 days for a real horror. Regular over-the-counter painkillers are useful if it's really painful. Hydrate plenty and get lots of sleep.

Warming up well and pacing yourself so you don't always go utterly to the max are your best defences. Frequent training helps too - the muscles just get used to it and stop complaining after a while. You can, absolutely, train again with a bit of soreness, just warm up well.

[Strawberry Squatcake]

I use a variation of the cool down in the rebel strength guide. If I don't, I'm more sore. I think Steve's stretching article has a similar (or identical - haven't read it in a bit) cool down that might help.

Also, I think he links to warmup suggestions, too.

Hope this is helpful!

[jds121289]

stretch, water, good food, and sleep. If you dont have any abnormal joint pain rest up a day or two then get back into the fight

good luck

[cline]

Stretching (gentle), light easy movements (like a relaxing walk), foam roller.

Know you'll be better and it gets easier!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[AutumnWynds]

Everything above, plus don't sit for too long at a time or you may stiffen up more. Take it easy, but move a bit and gently stretch out. Vitamin E is supposed to help, too.

After a workout, make sure you stretch for as long as you need. Everyone is different in this - I need to stretch a long time, but some people just need a little bit. Drink water.

[Ammo]

For my legs I do 15-20 minutes of stretching after an intense workout. I do one side at a time - a lunge, front splits (or as close to a split as I can get that day), front splits with my hip to the ground, and then finish off with a pigeon (yoga pose good for tight hips & low back) followed a modified pigeon that I don't really know how to describe (it's pretty intense and probably not necessary unless your back is effed up like mine is). All of that on one side and then switch to the other. Then a forward bend, and a back bend on the knees for my quads. 60 seconds for each stretch. Longer if I feel the need.

Also, I always do a short but fairly intense cardio session before a weight session to warm up and loosen my muscles. It doesn't need to be anything crazy, I gauge it by whether I'm sweating or not. If I am I'm warm enough for weights. 5 minutes usually does it, unless I'm moving slow then it might need 10.

This does add an extra 20-30 minutes onto my workouts but it's worth it. I may still feel it the next day but it won't be bad, and it helps keep my flexibility up which I lose quickly if I neglect it.