5 Easy Hacks to Fix Post-Workout Pain

Working out feels best immediately after you’ve finished — when you’ve got that ‘just accomplished something’ fatigue and you no longer feel like you’re gonna hurl.

Those effects start to feel worse as soon as mere hours after you’ve finished, when you experience that can’t-walk soreness and begin to question if you’ll ever make it to a gym again. That pain can last for days, causes muscle tension, and if you exercise through it, can cause real muscle damage.

So what are you supposed to do when you’re always sore, but want to keep up with your gym routine? Try incorporating some combination of the five tips below to sooth damaged muscles, repair tissue, and boost relaxation and blood flow. They’ll speed up your recovery and ease your muscle soreness, and get you back into the gym sooner.

The 5 Worst Things to Do After Your Workout

While going to the gym can become routine after a certain amount of time, there are definitely ways you can mess up your fitness efforts if you engage in bad habits immediately afterwards.

From my experience of working with athletes over the years as an exercise physiologist, here are the top 5 worst things you could do post-workout.

POST-WORKOUT MISTAKE #1: YOU STAY IN YOUR GYM CLOTHES
Get out of damp gear immediately.

Even if you didn’t sweat that much, worn or soggy clothing is an environment bacteria love to cling to, and it can also give you a deep chill that is hard to recover from.

How Much Post-Workout Protein Do You Really Need?

BY RACHAEL SCHULTZ

Protein is essential for maintaining and building muscle, but you don’t need to gulp down a carton of raw eggs like Rocky to get the maximum benefit. Consuming 20 grams of protein after your workout should do the trick, report British researchers.

In the study, 48 men ingested zero, 10, 20, or 40 grams of protein immediately after a strength workout. The 20-gram and 40-gram doses more effectively stimulated muscle protein synthesis—the process that helps promote the muscle repair and growth after exercise—in participants than the lower amounts. However, the 40-gram dose didn’t produce any added benefit.