Ouch!

Getting back into the groove of exercise always feels great.  Except when it doesn’t.  Hi, Soreness!  Haven’t seen you in a while!

Soreness comes from work we aren’t used to doing.  The muscles we use doing an unfamiliar or neglected workout get tiny bits of damage; as those bits heal, we get stronger.  What that means is that when we feel sore, we are doing something right.

This does not make soreness more fun.  However, there are some things we can do to make it go away quicker:

Rest.  Don’t work out the same muscle group two days running; give the muscles a break.  Also, make sure you are getting enough sleep.

Drink Water.  Dehydration makes almost everything worse.  The water helps us flush out the lactic acid buildup in our bodies.

Move.  I know.  I just said rest.  But if we neglect stretching and moving our sore muscles entirely, they get stiffer and more sore.  We can focus on cardio while our muscles heal.  We can lengthen the muscles with myofascial release, massage, stretching.  We can relax our brains at the same time in yoga or Pilates.

Advil.  We don’t want to take it all the time because we want healthy livers into our very very active old age.  However, there are no bonus points for suffering. 

And when the soreness eases up, we can get back to work!  Hooray!

(The photo is some art I saw when I was in Wisconsin...)