10 Ways to Ease Leg Day Muscle Soreness
As the saying goes, no pain no gain. The aches and pains after every leg day are a badge of honor for your hard workouts. But even so, it's a little annoying, right? You may stay sore for days, limiting your daily activities and even delaying your workout plan! Next, let's study how to relieve this soreness.
Why Are Legs Sore After Exercise?
When we are exercising, our muscles contract or extend with the movement. The fibers or soft tissues in the muscles change with them too. Sometimes they become longer and sometimes shorter. However, they are not nearly as flexible as the muscles. In this process , micro tears or micro traumas may occur. This is why pain appears.
Ways to Relieve Muscle Soreness
Rest
The easiest way to do this is to stop your workout exercise and allow your legs to repair themselves. You should schedule a period of relaxation after every workout to prevent overusing your legs.
Heat Therapy
Use temperature to make your leg muscles comfortable. Heat can widen blood vessels, accelerate blood flow, and speed up the repair of tired muscles. There are various ways to perform heat therapy, such as a heating pad, a hot water bag, and a heated massage gun, which are all good options. However, it is important to pay attention to the temperature when using it to avoid burns.
Ice Therapy
Cold compress has the same effect, but it works in a different way than hot compress. Cold makes blood vessels constrict, which can reduce underlying swelling and inflammation. Additionally, the cold will dull the sensation of soreness in your skin. Ice therapy is also easy to apply, ice packs and a therapeutic massager with a cooling function are highly recommended.
Foam Rolling
A foam roller is a great option for relief if there is extensive pain in the legs. By rolling, you can break down the knots in the muscles and bring them back to suppleness, avoiding stagnation and twitching.
Massage
As a traditional treatment, you shouldn't miss this percussion therapy. In addition to massaging with your hands, we especially recommend using an electric massager to assist. First of all, it doesn't take much strength compared to hand massage. Then, most models can be carried around and used in different places. In addition, the impact massage gun has a variety of massage heads that are suitable for muscles in different conditions. For example, the flat head and round head are designed for large muscle relaxation, while the bullet head is for trigger point relief, and the u-shaped head is for muscle relaxation on both sides of the bone.
The other feature of massage guns is their additional functions. In addition to precise tapping and adjustable massage speeds, many massage guns can also perform hot, cold, and pulse massage. Combining percussion therapy with other therapies can effectively improve the efficiency of recovery.
Apply Essential Oils
Adding essential oils to a massage can make it work faster. In addition, some essential oils can make people feel happy and achieve both physical and mental relaxation.
Stretch
Your muscles may be stiff or cramped after exercise. Do some gentle stretching properly can help ease these discomforts. Be sure to control your strength when you do them, or you'll be hurting your legs instead of relaxing them.
Keep Healthy Diet
There are some nutrients and elements in food that can help the body recover faster. Customize a healthy recipe and avoid too much fried food or caffeine.
Hydration
Hydration keeps muscles energized and flexible. Always hydrate even after your workout, drink water before you feel thirsty.
Sleep
Adequate sleep is especially important for muscle repair. Without a good night's rest, you will be in poor condition and less efficient at self-repairing. Therefore, it's best to get around eight hours of sleep and don't stay up late.
