Muscle Soreness/Recovery Suggestions

I have bit more noticeable muscle soreness lately and I can't attribute to anything other than 1). I'm thirty instead of 20 something 2). Lifting heavy for me and 3). possible not great nutrition is finally catching up on me? I currently lift 2-4 days a week and do 30 mins of jogging/elliptical/row machine/walking etc after lifting and try to swim once a week.

Is there anything else i can do to help myself recover more and make me less sore than the following, and which ones do you think have the most effective impact on recovery and soreness?

Clean Eating
Quality Sleep
Foam rolling/stretching (*more)
More Fish Oil supplementation (*currently 1000mg of DHA/1200mg EPA
Turmeric/Curcumin (*thinking about taking 500-1000mg...does this help w/soreness?)

 

Sleep, clean eating, foam rolling and other mobility work. Don't stretch too much, it will make you even more sore.

 

Lifting less
Daylight
Stretching / foam rolling
Daylight
Eating and sleeping more
Fish oil
Praying to St Carnell
Tumeric

 

Lifting less frequently will not make you less sore.

Lifting more will cause adaptations that will make you less sore. Example: Squat multiple times each week, instead of once, and no longer get sore from squats.

 

It depends on how much you lift. If you only lift once or twice a week, adding another day might actually make you *less* sore between workouts. But if you lift 5-6 days a week, then lifting a little less (or taking a deload week) could help you recover.

 

Holy shit, I actually agree with Cratos on something.

 

I actually meant less weight

It was meant as a joke as the only foolproof way to stop being sore

 

My general understanding is that soreness is your bodies way of telling you that it thinks(anthropomorphizing here) that the motion or load/volume etc is threatening. With that in mind, what I've tried the most and has seemed to work for me is to have exposure to that motion and generally that ROM as often as possible, with low loads for low volumes.

When my girlfriend tried to work out again after a very long layoff, she tried to dive quickly back into squats and kettlebell swings, and immediately afterward it was pain to sit down, to lift up a leg, or stand up from sitting.

We then immediately went into having her take her legs through the motion of a squat laying on her back until the soreness subsided, and then doing a squat motion onto the couch every few minutes until that stopped being painful, and then intermittent bodyweight squats for the next few days. Hit it again a few days later, didn't seem to be any soreness. If you frequently do a motion within the range of your capabilities, it will not be threatening, and your body shouldn't be throwing red flags at you.

 

Along with what's been said, ice baths and contrast showers are options. Perhaps a massage if you have some cash you feel like getting rid of.

 

Yes massage therapy does help a lot. Sucks that its fairly expensive but well worth it if you have the cash. I think ill try foam rolling more regularly and actually squats twice a week instead of just once.

If you were squating heavy once a week and wanted to add another lower body movement like squats again i guess it would make sense to add it 3-4 days later? I've almost never been able to recover from deadlifting on Monday and being able to squat til Friday or Saturday. My legs are just sore for 3 days so ive switched to just squating.

 

Squat Monday or Tuesday
Deadlift Wednesday or Thursday
Squat again Saturday or Sunday
Repeat

That kind of routine shouldnt make you very sore after a couple weeks.

 

Hyperlink is not working. I use this a few times a week along with a salt bath once every week or two. They help.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-...4&sr=8-1&keywords=black+and+decker+car+buffer

 

^ Not sure if serious... what do you do with the buffer?

 

Juicing vegetables 3x/day and trace mineral supplements will help. Stay away from processed food. Diet has incredible effects on soreness and recovery.

 

Was about to say this,

I havnt had a warm/hot shower in months, took some getting used to but now i have them all ice-cold and try to have ice baths as much as i can especially after leg day.

They help hugely, i know that on average they cut down on my recovery time by about 12-18 hours and also have given much more energy throughout the day.

Just remember tho that you have to be shivering for them to work

 

stretch more. Remember the days Id wake up and be miserable from the pain and soreness. Now that I have a solid 10-15 minute stretching and foam rolling routine, and follow through with icing after my workouts I hardly if ever get sore.

 

BCAAs helped me also.

 

Ive posted this vid in another thread somewhere but here it is again as it applies



I squat 2x a day and never get sore. Well sometimes my night time squats are lighter front squats or OH squats with emphasis on form. And I never really get sore anymore. I might get fatigued if I dont eat or sleep enough/well, but never sore.

The vid is long and worth a watch but cliffs relative to what a few posters above said, going through the movements will clear out all the waste and shit because its the lymphatic system that gets rid of it and the lymphatic system works whem the muscles around it work due to pressure or some shit. Watch the vid for more sciencey explanation.

 

epsom salt baths, sit in there for 10m sweat a bit come out and replenish fluids and potassium