{"id":56380,"date":"2017-02-24T07:15:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T12:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=56380"},"modified":"2022-04-27T07:04:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T11:04:48","slug":"reduce-muscle-soreness-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/reduce-muscle-soreness-methods\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Proven Ways to Reduce Muscle Soreness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"5
Photo: Twenty20<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is going to hurt tomorrow.\u201d We\u2019ve all said it after a particularly grueling workout or return to the gym after an extended break.<\/p>\n

Delayed onset muscle soreness, commonly referred to as DOMS<\/a>, describes the muscular pain and stiffness that occurs following a heavy workload. It typically peaks around 24 to 48 hours after leaving the gym, explains exercise physiologist Matt Unthank, CSCS, director of training for Crossover Symmetry<\/a>. \u201cWhile the process is complicated and remains to be entirely understood, it is widely viewed as an inflammatory response<\/a> due to a breakdown in muscles tissue.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that breakdown\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. \u201cFor a fit person who exercises regularly, I would actually view the occasional attack of DOMS as a good thing,\u201d says Unthank. \u201cIt suggests an elevation in intensity and the inclusion of novel movements to a workout program, both of which are extremely good things for a training program.\u201d After all, for your muscles to repair, grow and become stronger, you first have to give them something to repair. And we\u2019re talking about the same microscopic tears in the muscles that can leave you waddling the morning after your workout.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>No Pain, No Gain? 5 Myths About Muscle Soreness<\/a><\/p>\n

So how can you kill the pain without killing your results? Just turn to these five research-proven strategies.<\/p>\n

5 Ways to Reduce Muscle Soreness, STAT<\/h2>\n

1. Eating Tart Cherries<\/h3>\n

The science: <\/strong>Research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports<\/em><\/a> found that marathoners consuming tart cherry juice five days before, on the day of, and 48 hours following their races reduced muscle soreness. And how\u2019s this for the cherry on top? The athletes also showed signs of improved muscle recovery and function. Tart cherries are rich in anthocyanins, colorful antioxidant compounds that are believed to work their magic by decreasing excess inflammation.<\/p>\n

Try it: <\/strong>\u201cUnder regular training conditions, good nutrition is enough to get antioxidants where they need to be,\u201d Unthank says. But for an extra boost, you can work tart cherries, or just their juice, into your regular diet. A couple of servings per week, along with a generally nutrient-rich diet<\/a>, is plenty during typical training. However, if you are gearing up for marathon<\/a>, it can be beneficial to switch to a once-daily plan. Don\u2019t like cherries? Red raspberries are another great source.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0<\/strong>The 7 Best Post-Workout Smoothies for Every Exercise<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Drinking Coffee
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The science: <\/strong>Multiple studies<\/a> show that pre-workout caffeine consumption<\/a> can reduce subsequent muscle soreness and fatigue. In one study published in the Journal of Pain<\/em><\/a>, the strategy scored exercisers a 48 percent drop in DOMS. Apart from generally making everything better, caffeine has analgesic (pain-killing properties), which is why it is commonly contained in over-the-counter pain medications.<\/p>\n

Try it: <\/strong>An hour before a particularly grueling workout, drink two cups of coffee (the amount of caffeine used in the Journal of Pain<\/em> study). Bonus: 2014 PLOS ONE<\/em><\/a> research shows that coffee hydrates as well as water, which is important to keep in mind when trying to combat muscle pain. Getting dehydrated during your workouts can significantly exacerbate symptoms of DOMS, according to the Journal of Athletic Training<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Getting a Massage<\/h3>\n

The science:<\/strong> Finally, justification for those spa days. Research from a 2014 study<\/a> found that a post-exercise massage can significantly reduce pain. And over the long term, regularly getting massages may increase your body\u2019s ability to fight off DOMS. Another 2015 study<\/a> showed that massaged muscles contain more blood vessels than massage-free ones, which may result in improved recovery. They also display only half of the scar tissue that non-massaged muscles do. Not bad for some low-key me-time.<\/p>\n

Try it:<\/strong> Schedule your sports massage<\/a> directly following your workout. In the study, immediate massage was more effective at promoting tissue regeneration and reducing fibrosis compared to massage delayed 48 hours after exercise.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>I Tried Cupping Therapy and Here\u2019s What Happened<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Foam Rolling<\/h3>\n

The science:<\/strong> Similar to massage, foam rolling<\/a> is all about myofascial release, which relieves tension in the muscle\u2019s connective tissue. And your trainer is right: Research has found<\/a> that rolling out your muscles like dough can help reduce delayed onset muscle soreness. It can also improve performance in subsequent workouts.<\/p>\n

Try it: <\/strong>Invest in a foam roller (we\u2019re big fans of the TriggerPoint Grid<\/a>), and spend about 10 to 15 minutes with it each day. You can make it part of your warm-up, cool-down, and on days that you don\u2019t work out, part of overall recovery. (Also, check out these five moves<\/a>\u00a0that might be missing from your rolling repertoire.)<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Are You Foam Rolling All Wrong?<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Performing Recovery Workouts<\/h3>\n

The science:<\/strong> Consider this permission to turn down the dial from time to time. In one 2012 study<\/a>, women who performed a 20-minute bout of low- or moderate-intensity cycling immediately following their DOMS-inducing strength workouts<\/a> enjoyed a reduction in muscle pain along with a added boost in strength. \u201cLight recovery workouts increase blood flow, which does a number of things to naturally nudge the inflammatory process along, such as lymphatic draining, moving immune cells, and clearing inflammatory mediators,\u201d Unthank explains.<\/p>\n

Try it: <\/strong>Cool down from your workouts with some light cardio, and schedule low-intensity, recovery-focused workouts throughout the week, he says. You don\u2019t need to (and shouldn\u2019t!) go heavy during every single workout for ultimate results. Aerobic exercise, like jogging or cycling<\/a> as well as yoga, Pilates and other low-impact workouts<\/a> are all great options for keeping\u00a0DOMS at bay.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>3 Elliptical Workouts That Won’t Bore You to Death<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Recovery Methods<\/h2>\n

Epsom salts, cold compresses, ice baths \u2014 a lot of other pain-relieving techniques top the lists of weekend warriors and professional athletes alike. But not all are well-studied or have conclusive findings, Unthank says.<\/p>\n

For instance, you\u2019ll mostly find\u00a0anecdotal evidence backing the use of post-exercise Epsom salt baths. And emerging evidence suggests that cold therapy might not be the pain reliever everyone thought it was. In one British Journal of Sports Medicine<\/em><\/a> study, for example, three one-minute ice-water immersions were ineffective at reducing DOMs in a group of 40 exercisers. Contrary to popular opinion, research<\/a> also shows that static stretching \u2014 whether performed before or after exercise \u2014 doesn\u2019t reduce DOMS.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s behind the rave reviews on these other methods? While it\u2019s totally possible that there really is a benefit (and research just hasn\u2019t caught up yet), a placebo effect could also be at play, Unthank\u00a0says. In the end, it\u2019s best to stick with science-backed strategies as your staples. If you want to supplement with other techniques, by all means. As long as you feel like it helps your post-workout soreness (and, of course, doesn\u2019t pose any health risks), what\u2019s the harm? If anything, those happier muscles just might be all in\u00a0your head.<\/p>\n

Not a Daily Burn member? Sign up at\u00a0dailyburn.com<\/a>\u00a0and start your free 30-day trial today.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curb delayed onset muscle soreness (aka DOMS) with these research-backed strategies. Sore muscles won\u2019t stand a chance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":56425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6,14],"tags":[50,82,88,145,341,343],"class_list":["post-56380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","category-strength-training","tag-foam-rolling","tag-recovery","tag-soreness","tag-stretching","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2exercise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}