We’ve all been there. You start your workout, and after about 20 minutes, you feel a little muscle soreness. But what should you do? Should you push through? Or should you take a break? The answer isn’t always so simple. In fact, these days, it’s becoming more common for people to experience muscle soreness after working out. If this scenario sounds familiar (or if you want to prevent it from happening again), read on for my top 12 tips on how to recover faster from a workout:
R.I.C.E.
R.I.C.E. is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. It’s a popular approach to treating muscle pain that involves applying ice to the area of your body (for up to 20 minutes) while also resting it with an ice pack on the affected limb for 10-20 minutes each day.
RICE is meant to reduce swelling and inflammation in your muscles, so you don’t feel like you have been run over by a Mack truck when you wake up in the morning—but it won’t get rid of soreness overnight!
The idea behind RICE is simple: apply cold therapy until your body has enough time to rest from exercise before moving on with other aspects of life like work or school activities that require physical exertion later in the day or week (or month).
Foam Rolling
Foam rolling is a type of self-myofascial release (S.M.R.). It helps to break down adhesions and scar tissue in the body, which can help improve circulation. Foam rolling also improves flexibility by increasing blood flow to your muscles and tissues. This increases flexibility, which helps you recover faster after workouts or other activities that cause muscle soreness.
Drink Plenty of Water
Drinking plenty of water is a great way to prevent dehydration, which can lead to muscle soreness and other health issues. It also helps with recovery, weight loss, energy levels, and brain function. Plus, it’s free!
Eat Protein-Rich Meals
Protein is the building block of muscle, so it’s essential for proper recovery. Protein helps with muscle repair, which can help you feel better faster after a workout. It also helps with soreness and inflammation, making you more likely to get injured during your next training session.
Protein also affects how quickly your body recovers from exercise—and this is especially important if you regularly work out or participate in other physical activities like running or hiking regularly (or even less frequently).
Take Supplement Blends
Supplements are not a replacement for a healthy diet. They’re not magic pills that will make you recover faster; they won’t turn you into an Olympian overnight. But supplements can help you recover faster by providing nutrients your body needs to repair muscle tissue.
This is why we recommend taking LIFEAID supplement blends(protein powders infused with vitamins) after your workout and in between workouts as well; this will provide amino acids, which help build new muscle fibers or repair existing ones and strengthen them.
Do a Light Warm-Up Beforehand
A light warm-up before your workout is a great way to prevent muscle soreness. It will help you get loose, warm up your muscles and joints, increase blood flow to the muscles and assist with performance. A good warm-up should include some of these exercises:
Take an Epsom Salt Bath
Epsom salt baths are a great way to ease sore muscles. The minerals in the salts relax your body and help you recover from exercise faster, which can be especially helpful if you’ve been working out a lot or have been injured recently.
It’s also an excellent trick for easing muscle pain associated with arthritis or other conditions that cause inflammation. By soaking in Epsom salts (or even just applying them directly to the affected area), you’ll be able to reduce swelling and joint stiffness within minutes!
Get a Massage
Massage is a great way to recover from a workout. Research has shown that massage can help relieve muscle tension and soreness by improving circulation and range of motion and increasing performance.
Do Stretching Exercises
Stretching exercises are a great way to recover from your workout. They help with muscle soreness and reduce the risk of injury, especially if you stretch the muscles during the workout. You should do stretching exercises after your workout for best results, but if possible, avoid doing them on days when you’re going out for a long run or ride in the gym.
Take a Cold Shower or Ice Bath After Your Workout
A cold shower or an ice bath after your workout can help you recover faster. The cool temperatures will reduce inflammation, which means muscles will be less sore and more able to repair themselves when you’re done with your workout.
It’s especially important to stay in the cold water for at least 20 minutes, as this helps flush out waste released during exercise. But if you don’t have time for an ice bath (or don’t want one), just taking a quick dip in cool water is still beneficial: Make sure not to get too chilled!
Try Active Recovery
Active recovery is recovering from your workout by doing low-intensity exercises. It’s a great way to recover faster, but it’s not as effective as rest. Active recovery can be done immediately after a workout or the next day, depending on how sore you are and what type of exercise you did (strength training versus cardio).
Get Enough Sleep and Rest
The next step to avoiding muscle soreness is making sure you are getting enough rest. Sleep is important for recovery, but most don’t get enough sleep each night. If this sounds like you, try setting the alarm on your phone or watching for 20 minutes after your last activity if it’s possible to do so without waking up the whole house. If not, set aside time between activities or breaks at work (if possible) so that when it comes time for bedtime and restful slumber, there will be some time before lights out so that no matter how tired those muscles may be, you can relax fully before sleep begins.
That’s it!
Remember, these are just the basics. You can always try your variation on these ideas. The important thing is to keep it simple and minimize the impact of soreness by ensuring that you follow an effective recovery plan.
