DOMS….
If you're someone who loves to work out, then you must be familiar with Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS. DOMS is that feeling of soreness and stiffness you experience after a workout due to micro-tears in your muscles. While it is normal, it's not necessary. FighterFITX provides simple tips to help improve your muscle recovery:
Get Adequate Rest: Adequate rest is essential for our bodies to recover. Sleeping for about 6-8 hours every day can bring countless benefits, including better energy, mood, focus, and concentration. Make sure to dedicate one or two days a week just for resting and allowing your muscles to recover. Active recovery, such as walking or swimming, can also increase blood flow to your muscles and remove toxins that have built up during exercise.
Eat a Balanced Post-Workout Meal: Consume plenty of carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats to replenish your energy stores and provide the building blocks for muscle repair. A balanced diet with the right proportion of food groups is essential for providing your body with the nutrients it needs to perform at its best. Eating balanced meals helps your body absorb nutrients more efficiently and ensures that your energy levels remain consistent throughout the day.
Stay Hydrated: Drinking water is essential for your overall health, replenishing lost fluids, and helping your muscles recover optimally. Electrolytes are also important for athletes as they help restore important minerals lost during exercise. Sodium maintains body fluid volume and regulates the membrane potential of our cells. Magnesium is involved in metabolism, muscle relaxation, and brain activity. Potassium helps to maintain homeostasis in the body and keep it in a balanced state.
Stretch Regularly: Stretching is a great weapon to improving muscle recovery and performance. It helps your muscles relax and accelerates the healing process due to the increased blood flow. Different types of stretches, such as static stretching, dynamic stretching, ballistic stretching, and PNF stretching can help you achieve your fitness goals.
Take an Epsom Salt Bath: Soaking in an Epsom salt bath is an easy and effective way to help your body relax, reduce inflammation and soreness, and improve your overall well-being. Epsom salt bath helps to break down the salt into magnesium sulfate, which is a natural muscle relaxant and helps reduce stress, anxiety, and muscle tension.
Use Ice and Heat Treatments: Alternating between ice and heat treatments can help reduce inflammation and speed up recovery. Icy temperatures help reduce inflammation, while heat dilates blood vessels and promotes blood flow.
FighterFITX recommends following these tips to improve your muscle recovery and achieve your fitness goals.
