How to reduce muscle soreness and pain is an important question to answer for the serious athlete. This is because two commonly encountered problems with training sessions that take you beyond your current comfort level are muscle soreness and muscle pain. According to the theory of Progressive Muscle Overload we need to be continually overloading our musculature in order to break it down and have it grow back stronger. There is a fine line though between training at a level of peak performance and being injured (here in this case meaning suffering soreness and/or pain).
One common misconception to get out of the way is any idea you may have that soreness and/or pain is necessary (and hence desirable) for growth and improved levels of fitness. Certainly you want to be pushing yourself to develop but as I noted above, your new goals should not be leading you to injury. There are exceptions to this and as always professional, elite athletes can and do push themselves beyond the limits of most people. But these are people who have and do dedicate their lives to their chosen sport. They are also more likely to suffer (sometimes very serious) injuries in training owing to their gung ho attitude. Pro athletes are also often surrounded by a support network dedicated to their comfort and improvement. This includes things like the availability of ice baths (useful for recovery), a nutritionist, professional massage, adequate periods to rest in and often access to the latest scientific information and devices.
How to reduce muscle soreness and pain
The average person then should not be training with the intention of experiencing soreness/pain in the mistaken belief that that is automatically equated to growth. Training for growth and training for soreness are two different things. There may be some overlap at times but consistently training to make yourself sore is a good indicator that you are over-training and likely to burn out.
There are three broad areas that we can address when determining how to reduce muscle soreness and pain. The first is the use of supplements, followed by a modified diet and finally by living a healthy lifestyle.
Supplements
Beta-Alinine is a non-essential amino acid (meaning the body can produce it naturally, unlike essential amino acids which must be absorbed). Amino acids help with processing protein, meaning they are important for muscle growth and recovery. In particular beta-Alinine buffers our muscles against lactic acid, which builds up as a workout becomes longer and more demanding.
SOD/Glisodin is, amongst other things, great for overcoming muscle fatigue. SOD (Super Oxide Dismutase) protects against cell damage. It is itself prone to damage from stomach acids and therefore a carrier is used: Gliadin. The combination of the two is known as GliSODin.
Omega-3 will help to reduce inflammation while CoQ10 (Coenzyme 10) promotes a healthy heart (as well as liver and kidneys). Vitamin C is useful for innumerable reasons but is also used up quickly when we workout (and indeed through our daily lives in general) and it therefore needs adequate replacement. One of the things it does is to help us relax, as does Magnesium, which is also recommended. It is a vital mineral and needs to be replaced after a workout. It serves among other things to keep our muscles and nervous system relaxed. Finally Creatine Monohydrate helps to keep fatigued muscles energized.
Nutrition
Nutrition is of course vital in deciding how we reduce muscle soreness and pain.
Blueberries are an excellent post-workout snack as they contain important nutrients that need to be replenished after training. Carbs are important in day to day training (as long as they are good carbs...stay away from donuts, pizza and so on) but need to be limited and you may also experience benefit from carb cycling (eating an above average number of carbs every few days).
Lifestyle
Avoid long layoffs between workouts. Lifting lighter, longer and more often will give you greater benefits than lifting heavy once in a while. You definitely need recovery time but left for too long and your gains will disappear. Drink more water, especially in hotter than normal weather and, even moreso, in the colder months when you may not feel as thirsty. Finally make sure that you are getting enough quality rest. You want to make sure that you are having a deep sleep at night and are awakening fully rested.
These are some key points then on how to reduce muscle soreness and pain. Ice baths, massage and stretching will also help as additional activities.
