What is the best way to deal with next-day muscle soreness after exercise and training?

Distinguishing the type of soreness you’re experiencing is critical. If the type of soreness you’re experiencing is not painful, and instead only a noticeable feeling that you’ve worked an area of your body, this is normal and to be expected within 24-48 hours after physical activity, depending on the intensity and novelty of the movement. The best thing to do is move whatever is sore in very high volumes at a very low intensity, ideally extremely regularly until the soreness is taken care of. Using the upper body as an example, perform up to 500 loose, light, circular swings of the arms throughout the day to improve circulation to the area and loosen any tightness.

If you are feeling achy, dull, aggravated, or sharp pain in an area of your body during or after exercise, this is a screaming indicator you are doing something to hinder your body and not help it.

Like a headache, pain throughout the musculoskeletal system says you’ve been exposed to some kind of physical stress that doesn’t go well with your structure. Unsymmetrical pain (e.g. the left side of your back hurts, yet you feel nothing on the right side), or pain at the joint (e.g. knees, shoulders, wrists) are particular warning signs that something you are doing or the way you are doing it is not good for you and will likely lead to an injury.

We’ve heard from a few Vincentian athletes that they are feeling extremely sore and fatigued after training weights – something they are doing to try to improve their physical ability and sport performance! As an athlete, if you are going to put extra effort into training yourself aside from sports-specific training (which is a must to be truly competitive), it is paramount that you do the right thing for yourself. Sports puts significant demand on the body, and in order to sustain performance while ensuring longevity for you as an athlete, doing the right thing includes training for structural balance, joint health, integrated strength, and coordination.

We are starting to offer athletic assessments, consulting, and individual training for both athletes and fitness enthusiasts in Kingstown Park on a per-person basis. For interested persons, please contact 491-7729 or hello@athleticengineering.online.