4 Top Tips For Speedy Muscle Recovery

So if yesterday you hit the gym/bootcamp class HARD for the first time in a loooong loooong time, let me guess you’re now:

a) Walking like a cowboy/cowgirl

b) Tackling stairs one leg at a time - worse still heading downstairs by walking backwards, gripping the bannister with all your might

c) Lowering your derriere to a seat whilst gasping like you’ve been kicked somewhere precious

d) All of the above

Here's the reason why, plus some surefire ways to help get you off planet pain that little bit faster....

By the love of God why do I feel sore?

That feeling of deep muscle soreness a day or three after hard exercise is most probably down to something called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (usually shortened to just DOMS). The widely believed theory behind DOMS is the achy feeling comes from thousands of tiny little tears in the muscle and/or connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, etc) due to hard physical punishment.

If that sounds scary, don’t worry. Your body soon starts to heal those small micro-traumas and muscles will actually adapt and grow stronger. This means next time you work like a demon at the gym or lift heavy, it won’t nearly feel as horrific the next day.

And don’t think DOMS are something that only happens to exercise virgins. It’s actually pretty common in a lot of athletes and will usually occur after a particularly strenuous training session.

Tips for a faster recovery

1. Streeeeeetch

After vigorous exercise muscles tend to shorten in length, which, without a darn good stretch, can lead to you gaining the flexibility of twiglet. This dear friend is why we take so much time to stretch all main muscle groups thoroughly after a good training session.

Top that off with more stretching the day after and you’ll not only help promote better flexibility by lengthen those muscle fibres to their original length, but also encourage blood flow into the area. Try stretching hamstrings, calves, quads, hips and glutes.

2. Mobilise the joints

By working the joints affected most you can help increase blood flow into the area, which will in turn increase the speed of recovery. A good way to do this is circling and rotating shoulders, arms, ankles and wrists when you wake or before bed. If your legs and bum feel sore another dead-easy way to stimulate blood flow into muscles is simply a take a decent 30 minute walk.

3. Roll out the tightness

There’s no way to sugar coat this, using a foam roll will hurt like a m***** f*****. If you’re feeling pain or tightness post-workout, using a long, semi-soft foam roller will be incredibly painful, but lordy lord will it give your muscles a good stretch and massage.

Spend at least 30-60 seconds minimum rolling the muscles that feel the most sore; again try doing that immediately upon waking, before bed, and any time you can spare during the day—the more, the better. You should be able to pick up a foam roller from any decent fitness shop, in fact I think I even spotted one at my local big supermarket.

4. Eat, drink and feel better

You may feel like pigging out or beering-up after a particular gruesome workout, but do so and you risk increasing the time it takes to fully recover. Hydrate well and serve up some good carbs with dark green vegetables plus your favourite protein and Bob’s your uncle.