This ever happen to you?
You decide to start a new work out routine to get in shape for the new year, go to the gym and work out hard. You leave feeling great and you are on your way to a great year of taking care of yourself. Then you wake up the next day and are absolutely miserable. Your muscles are stiff and sore and you are in abject pain. In fact, you are so miserable you have to call off work.
The muscles that usually are sore are the bigger muscles, like the chest, thighs and deltoids.
Simple Routine to Prevent Muscle Soreness
How do you prevent sore muscles? This routine will help you.
- Before your work out, 20 to 30 minutes, make sure you take 1-2 an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen.
- Stretch just a little.
- During your workout take 1-2 anti-inflammatory.
- Drink plenty of fluids during and after your work out. Not water, but a sports drink like Gatorade.
- After your workout, stretch a lot.
- Before you go to bad, take 1-2 anti-inflammatory.
This may seem like a lot of ibuprofen, but don’t worry…it won’t hurt your liver. It really is only 800 to 1,000 milligrams and besides you will be washing a lot of it out by all the fluids you are drinking.
What’s critical about this routine is the anti-inflammatory intake, stretching after you work out and the consumption of fluids. Also, you must ease into your workout program. Start lightly and pick up the pace over a 8-10 day period.
And never forget to consult with your doctor before you start to workout, especially if you have joint problems, heart problems or back problems.
And if you are in pain longer than a few days after a workout, or have pains that don’t seem right, contact your doctor right away, in case you are suffering from a heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Rick Lehman is a distinguished orthopedic surgeon in St. Louis, Missouri and an articular cartilage reconstruction pioneer. He owns U. S. Sports Medicine in Kirkwood, MO, and LehmanHealth. Learn more about Dr. Rick.