Dr. Mercans:How to Recover from Muscle Soreness Caused by Intense Exercise

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How to Recover from Muscle Soreness Caused by Intense Exercise

Muscle soreness should be part of every exercise

program. If you don't exercise intensely enough on one day to

have sore muscles on the next, you will not gain maximum fitness

and you are also losing out on many of the health benefits of

exercise. The benefits of exercise are much greater with

intense exercise than with casual exercising.

You must damage your muscles to make them grow and

become stronger. When muscles heal, they are stronger than they

were before you damaged them. All athletes train by " stressing

and recovering " . On one day, they take a hard workout in which

they feel their muscles burning. Eight to 24 hours after they

finish this intense exercise, their muscles start to feel sore.

This is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). Then they

take easy workouts until the soreness is gone, which means that

their muscles have healed.

DOMS IS CAUSED BY MUSCLE DAMAGE. Muscles are made up of

fibers. The fibers are made up of a series of protein blocks

called sarcomeres that are lined in a long chain. When you

stretch a muscle, you stretch apart the sarcomeres in the chain.

When sarcomeres are stretched too far, they tear. Your body

treats these tears in the same way that it treats all injuries,

by a process called inflammation. Eight to 24 hours after an

intense workout, you suffer swelling, stiffness and pain.

The most beneficial intense exercise program is:

* severe enough to cause muscle pain on the next day, and

* usually allows you to recover almost completely within 48 hours.

ACTIVE, NOT PASSIVE, RECOVERY: When athletes feel soreness

in their muscles, they rarely take days off. Neither should you.

Keeping sore muscles moving makes them more fibrous and tougher

when they heal, so you can withstand greater forces and more

intense workouts on your hard days. Plan to go at low intensity

for as many days as it takes for the soreness to go away. Most

athletes try to work out just hard enough so that they recover

and are ready for their next hard workout in 48 hours.

TIMING MEALS TO RECOVER FASTER: You do not need to load

extra food to recover faster. Taking in too much food fills

your muscle cells with fat, and extra fat in cells blocks the cell's

ability to take in and use sugar. Sugar is the main source of

energy for your muscles during intense exercise. Using sugar to

drive your muscles helps them to move faster and with more strength.

Timing of meals is more important than how much food you

eat. Eating protein- and carbohydrate-containing foods helps you

recover faster, and the best time to start eating is as soon as

you finish a hard workout.

At rest, muscles are inactive. Almost no sugar enters

the resting muscle cell from the bloodstream (J. Clin. Invest. 1971;

50: 2715-2725). Almost all cells in your body usually require

insulin to drive sugar into their cells. However during exercise

your muscles (and your brain) can take sugar into their cells

without needing insulin. Exercising muscles are also incredibly

sensitive to insulin and take up sugar into their cells at a

rapid rate. This effect lasts maximally for up to an hour after

you finish exercising and disappears almost completely in around

17 hours. The best time to eat for recovery is when your cells

are maximally responsive to insulin, and that is within a short

time after you finish exercising.

Not only does insulin drive sugar into muscle cells, it

also drives in protein building blocks, called amino acids. The

sugar replaces the fuel for muscle cells. The protein hastens

repair of damaged muscle. Waiting to eat for more than an hour

after finishing an intense workout delays recovery.

WHAT TO EAT AFTER YOUR INTENSE WORKOUTS: Fatigue is caused

by low levels of sugar, protein, water and salt. You can replace

all of these with ordinary foods and drinks. If you are a

vegetarian, you can replace your protein with combinations of

grains and beans. You can replace carbohydrates by eating

virtually any fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds and

nuts.

A recovery meal for a vegetarian could include corn,

beans, water, bread, and fruits, nuts and vegetables. If you

prefer animal tissue, you can get your protein from fish, poultry

or meat. Special sports drinks and sports supplements are made

from ordinary foods and therefore offer no advantage whatever over

regular foods.

BODY MASSAGE: Many older studies have shown that massage

does not help you recover faster from DOMS. Recently,

researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario showed

that deep massage after an intense workout causes muscles to

enlarge and grow new mitochondria (Science Translational

Medicine, published online Feb, 2012). This is amazing. Enlarging

and adding mitochondria can help you run faster, lift heavier

weights, and even prevent heart attacks and certain cancers. See

http://www.drmirkin.com/public/ezine021212.html (second article)

NSAIDS DELAY DOMS RECOVERY: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory

drugs (NSAIDS), such as ibuprofen, may help relieve pain, but they

also can block muscle repair and delay healing. See

http://www.drmirkin.com/public/ezine090609.html

HOT BATHS: Most research shows that a hot bath is

not much better than doing nothing in helping muscles recover

from exercise (European Journal of Applied Physiology, March 2006)

COLD OR ICE BATHS: A recent review of 17 small trials,

involving 366 participants, showed a minor decrease in DOMS with

ice water baths. They found " little quality research " on the

subject and " no consistent method of cold water immersion "

(Cochrane Library, published online February 15, 2012). Cold

water immersion can reduce swelling associated with injury,

but has not been proven to speed the healing of DOMS.

" I would rather walk with God in the dark

than go alone in the light. "

~Blessed, Sugar