How to Decrease Muscle sorness and Speed Up Muscle Recovery:
What happens to your body when you exercise?
A) Muscles break down
B) Muscles get tight
C) Muscle Glycogen Gets Depleted
Remember, your body is a living thing and although the effects may not be apparent immediately, just realize that changes are going on beneath the surface, and you will become aware of them in the days to follow. Your body will send you necessary signals.
There’s also something very important that you need to realize: every process that we know about – and aren’t yet aware of – is subject to various levels of intensity, usually experienced as a Low point, Peak Point, Bottom Point.
a) It’s like sprinting: when you first take off, you’re in the acceleration phase
b) You’ve hit your stride and you’re sprinting at your max speed
c) You reach the point where your legs can no longer produce the necessary force and you slow down.
It’s sort of like a line or any other shape that you want to use to represent it.
Now…
As you’re sore, you want to rate the level of soreness on a scale of 1 -10. This rating is important because when you go through the healing process, you’re going to want to refer to that rating. After you run the post exercise healing routine, then you’re going to want to rate your level of soreness again. Hopefully, it’s gone down quite a bit.
Pre exercise Preparation:
1) Stretch and Activate (Warm up) muscles that are going to be exercised BEFORE exercising:
Ie A) Bench Press - Stretch Pecs and Deltoids and warm-up the same (activate)
B) Barbell Squat: Warm Back muscles, warm up the muscles in the leg (adductors, abductors, quads, hamstrings, calves, Glutes)
2) Perform the “Cross Crawl”. The Cross Crawl is an exercise that’s designed to enhance the bodies’ ability to heal. Long story short, our bodies are used to performing activities in which our body parts cross the midline of the body. Researchers discovered that activities such as walking and swimming stimulate both the right and left hemispheres of the brain and speed up the healing process. We human beings are Contralateral, meaning that when you move your left leg, your right arm is supposed to naturally move out with with, and when you move your right leg, your right arm is supposed to naturally move out with it. However….
Notice that I said “supposed”. Sometimes, a person’s body will develop a condition that is called Homolateral. This means that when your left arm swings, your left leg swings out, and when your right leg swings out, your right arm swings out. This condition is not good.
When you are in a Homolateral condition, your immune systems’ ability to heal you is decreased by about 50 percent!!!!
Does this sound like a state that you want to be in you want to perform to your peak potential? I hope not!!!!
A simple way to switch your neurological organization from Homolateral to Contralateral is to perform the Cross Crawl. This is a perfect addition to any work out routine. The cross crawl also enhances your ability to think properly, as the movement ( and any movements that cause you to move contralaterally) stimulates both hemispheres of the brain.
To perform the Cross Crawl, you’re going to stand up and march in place. As you march in place, touch your left hand to your right knee, and your right hand to your left knee, and repeat for a minute or two. The longer you perform the exercise, the easier it becomes, to the point where you start to develop a rhythm as you’re doing it.
3) Stretch and Cool Down for about 10 minutes
4) Make sure you eat a High Carbohydrate meal with some Protein afterwards to speed up the rebuilding of muscle glycogen (fuel stores)
5) If possible, take a warm bath to increase circulation so that blood can flow more easily to the exercise muscles and speed up the repair.
Post Exercise Preparation:
***Rate your level of soreness on a scale of 1-10 before you begin and then rate it again after you’ve gone through the protocol below to notice any improvement your muscles have made***
1) Stretch Sore muscles
2) Activate Sore muscles (warm up)
3) Repeat until Muscles feel stronger and soreness is gone.
4) Make sure all of your meals contain protein to aid the rebuild of the torn down muscles. Eggs are a good source of protein if you're not allergic to them, as they have a high bioavailability, meaning that the protein in eggs is easily assimilated by your body.
5) Perform the “Cross Crawl” for a minute or two
The important thing to keep in mind is that the key to Recovery is to keep moving!!!
Keep the blood flowing!!! The soreness you experience may cause you to want to stay still or stay in bed, but DON'T!!!
Get up and get active. Of possible, go for a walk to get the blood circulating.
When you think about it, when you experience DOMS, it's similar to being injured, isn't it? You're muscles underwent trauma and as a result, are in the recovery phase.
There have been scientific studies that prove beyond doubt that inactivity leads to the weakening and loss of muscle tissue. In one such study, they imposed bed rest on healthy young men, and placed elderly men on exercise routine for 4 weeks. The results at the end of the four weeks?: The old men increased their muscle mass and endurance, while the young men experienced a 25-30 decrease in muscle strength. Isn’t that amazing? Doesn’t it make you realize that activity is the key to longevity AND recovery?
Sincerely,
Amir Campbell
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