Fitness and Health - One Day at a Time

Muscle Soreness and Flexibility: Prevention Tips and Benefits

Muscle Soreness and Flexibility: An Introduction
If you have just started a new and vigorous workout or training program then you have probably experienced some soreness of your muscles one or two days afterwards. This soreness might even prevent you from hitting the gym or fitness center the next day, in turn delaying you one more day from reaching your fitness goals. Sure you could bear through the pain, but why do that when you can just as easily prevent or minimize this muscles soreness. How do you prevent this from happening you ask?

Muscle Soreness and Flexibility: Stretching is the Key!
One way of preventing this is to remember that muscles soreness can be taken care of with the proper flexibility. How do you get this so called proper flexibility? By working on your flexibility through stretching exercises and by executing proper warm-ups you can greatly reduce muscle soreness resulting from your workout. An extra 10-15 minutes at the gym could save you a days worth of muscle soreness.

Muscle Soreness and Flexibility: Prevention
If you want to prevent muscles soreness here are a couple of tips that you can follow.

Before your Workout:
1) Always remember to warm-up. So get on that treadmill, elliptical and recumbent bike for at least five minutes to get your blood flowing and muscles warm.
2) After you have warmed up, you should then proceed to stretch out. Stretch all the muscles that you intend to use in your following workout.

During the Workout:
1) Start with a warm up set of whatever exercise you are performing. This gives your muscles time to get used to what you are about to put them through.
2) If your muscles still feel tight after the warm-up set than proceed with more stretching.

After the Workout:
1) Cool down after you are done with your workout by again hitting the recumbent bike, treadmill, or elliptical. This helps your muscles to wind down from the stress that you just put them through.
2) Stretch, stretch, stretch. Stretch those muscles out that you just used while they are warm. This will greatly reduce muscles soreness.

Muscle Soreness and Flexibility: Benefits
Is all this stretching worth not being sore for the next couple of days? I think it is definitely worth it. But besides not being sore, you also receive other benefits from increased stretching activity. You are less prone to injury while you are working out. The increased flexibility gives your muscles a bigger range of motion. The bigger range of motion requires less energy, letting you lift more weights.

Again remember that 10-15 extra minutes at the gym could save you a day’s worth of muscles soreness.

posted by Oshburg @ Friday, March 10, 2006