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Have you been in a lot of muscular pain the or or two days after heavy exercise? Going up or down stairs or a seat can be quite challenging! This may be DOMS, and our recovery is so very important!
DOMS stands for Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness. You wont really feel it during the workout. If you feel pain during or directly after a work out this might be a bit different type of injury and you should seek assistance. DOMS typically isn't anything too drastic to worry about, however if it lasts longer than 3 days again, this is when we want to maybe seek assistance.
DOMS can be uncomfortable and you might be a bit stiff and sore, but adding in some extra recovery can help you bounce back quicker!
Try the following tips:
Cool down with movement - once you finish your workout, try to settle your heart rate by either going for a light walk or bike ride to “tick the legs over”. If you’ve trained upper body some gentle stretching/mobility can also be good here, or encourage arm swing with your walking cool down.
Foam roller - whilst not pleasant, can really help our recovery directly after exercise. Start from the feet and work towards the head for a full roll out! Its good to add this in at the end, as it stops us from just finishing our workout and lying on the couch or jumping straight into the car!
Hydration - make sure you replenish the amounts of water you’ve sweated out during your workout. If your exercise was more intense and greater than 1 hour, then possibly adding in some electrolytes can be beneficial to recovery too.
Food - make sure your diet is adequate. Anything under an hour - we don’t really need to “carb load,” In fact, this can actually probably hinder performance. But making sure our body has the fuel it needs to train with a variety of healthy foods will help your muscles and joints be able to back it up again. Our cars can’t run with no fuel, so our body is the same!
Sleep - the most IMPORTANT part of an active recovery. How we sleep, and the quality of our sleep allows us to back it up every time. Setting a routine with wake ups and sleep times makes us more accountable, more achievable to our goals, and makes us feel better. Our sleep is HOW we recover from everything in our lives so its important to have this as a priority in training.
DOMS whilst sore, can also be the sign of a good workout. The more we implement the recovery, the less sore we will be with each exercise routine!
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