How to Prevent Muscle Soreness + Recover Faster to Slay your Workouts

Let’s talk about muscles soreness for a little bit.

Listen ladies, if you are going to go hard during your workouts, you’re inevitably going to get sore. And while soreness means that you’re getting stronger, it can be a little annoying. Not to mention it can even make it harder to perform your best in your next workout. 

So I wanted to share some of my best tips for preventing muscle soreness, and relieving soreness and tension you may already have.

How to Prevent Muscles Soreness

Get a Massage – Yessss…now you have an excuse for a spa day! Massages aren’t just meant to “pamper”, they actually really help to improve muscle recovery, muscle and joint flexibility, and blood flow and lymphatic drainage.

The pressure created during a massage actually moves blood through the blood vessels to improve circulation. The squeezing and pulling also flushes out lactic acid from the muscles and improves lymphatic drainage. The lymph system carries metabolic waste away from muscles, to reduce lactic acid.

Myofascial Release – As you know I am ALL about foam rolling — or technically, myofascial release. Think of it basically as a self-massage. It’s just the same as a deep tissue or sports massage in that it relieves tension from the connective tissue.Ā 

Foam rolling BEFORE a workout, can help to increase your range of motion in your workout. This can help with muscle engagement — and making your workouts more effective. While foam rolling AFTER a workout can help reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (or DOMS). And you can even foam roll every day, and have all of the benefits of traditional massage at your fingertips.

Epsom Salt Bath – You know I loveeee Epsom salt for so many reasons, but I especially love it for helping to alleviate muscle soreness. But sometimes an Epsom salt bath can be a little inconvenient.

Epsom salt — aka Magnesium sulfate — has long been known to help with muscles soreness and recovery. Magnesium assists the body in reducing inflammation and helping muscle and nerve function. And sulfates help to improve the absorption of nutrients, flush toxins and improve blood flow.

This relaxing Lavender Bath Salt recipe is filled with lavender flowers and essential oils and it the perfect thing to treat yourself to at night before bed, because not only will it help your muscles, but it can also help you doze off into a better sleep which is also so important for muscle recovery.

Recovery Workouts – Believe it or not, in order to work out harder, you’ll actually need a few workouts that are a bit easier. These are your recovery workouts — think yoga, Pilates, or easy walks or bike rides around the block, and some stretching. These workouts don’t necessarily have to be “easy” but you want the focus to be on feeling good.Ā Light recovery workouts also help to increase blood flow, increasing lymphatic drainage and decreasing inflammation.

If you’re doing a recovery cardio session, instead of trying to go faster or harder, try enjoying the experience. You should be able to hold a conversation during your recovery session. I like to ask friends to join me so we can catch up, and getting our heart rate up just enough to keep moving.

Stretching – Though this is technically up for debate as to whether or not it is scientifically beneficial for muscles soreness, stretching IS very beneficial for many other reasons. And most people do feel, and believe, that it helps them with muscles soreness. So because it can’t hurt you, and can help in so many other ways, it’s going on the list! šŸ˜‰ Try this full body stretch routine after your next workout!

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