How to avoid muscle soreness?

Muscle soreness is part of every athlete's experience. As soon as we put a lot of strain on our muscles during a sporting exercise like running, there is a good chance that muscle soreness will appear with a slight delay. Typically, it appears the day after or the day after the session. So is it possible to completely avoid muscle soreness or at least reduce its effects?

Muscle aches: a necessary part of muscle strengthening

Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to completely eliminate the sensations associated with muscle soreness. However, it is entirely possible to alleviate its effects.

Why can't they be eliminated completely? Because muscle soreness is linked to micro-tears in the muscles that sports exercise will generate by stressing a particular muscle with additional loads or efforts. The higher the intensity of the session and the more you work a group of muscles that you don't often stress, the more pronounced the muscle soreness will be. When you feel muscle soreness, it is a signal that the body is repairing these micro-tears and in doing so strengthening your muscles.

Muscle soreness is therefore the symptom of a necessary and positive process of muscle strengthening that goes through a deconstruction phase (micro-tears during exercise) before going through a reconstruction phase (healing of micro-tears for one to three days after the session). Once this natural process of healing micro-tears has come to an end after a few days, your muscle has strengthened. Muscle soreness is therefore like a (small) evil for a (great) good, namely muscle strengthening.

How to reduce the effects of muscle soreness?

It is not possible to avoid muscle soreness if the goal is to strengthen muscles. But it is possible to reduce its effects.

Here are some tips to follow to relieve the effects of muscle soreness:

1. One of the surest ways to reduce muscle pain from soreness is to simply continue to move or challenge your muscles the next day or the day after, but just lightly with a light active recovery session or stretching, yoga. Light exercise will help get the blood circulating and ease the symptoms of soreness. You can also use a foam roller by rolling it over the sore areas. This helps to work on muscle tension and loosen the fascia, which is a membrane or film that surrounds the muscles.

2. The second tip is not to neglect warm-ups at the beginning of the session. You need to let your muscles (and joints) 'warm up' with at least ten minutes (ideally 15 to 20) of low-intensity warm-up before tackling the faster or more intense parts of a training session.

3. Also be progressive in your training programs by increasing the intensity or difficulty of the sessions slowly, over several weeks. This gives your muscles more time to adapt. Beyond muscle soreness, progressive training is also strongly recommended to avoid the onset of injuries (often resulting from excessive and sudden use of a muscle in the case of a tear or strain).

4. Take the time to recover properly. If your muscles don't have enough time to rest and repair, they risk being overworked or overstressed, which will result in more intense muscle soreness. Make sure to always plan at least one complete day of rest during the week without any sporting activity (or just gentle stretching). Resting, sleeping well (enough) and hydrating well (and eating well) are the pillars of a good recovery.

Beware of feelings of muscle aches that last beyond three days.

Normally, muscle soreness disappears after three days. If it lasts beyond three days, you have probably overexerted yourself. If, in addition, it is accompanied by persistent pain or discomfort in your gait, or reduced range of motion in a part of the body, be careful not to confuse muscle soreness with injury. If the intensive exercise has not just caused micro-tears but perhaps one or more larger tears or another form of trauma, it is no longer muscle soreness but an injury. When in doubt, it is of course advisable to consult your doctor and treat the injury, if necessary, before starting to train again.

Apart from this last case of potential injury, the phenomenon of muscle soreness is not problematic in itself, even if it can be more or less painful. It is perfectly natural and must be accepted as a sign of ongoing muscle strengthening while knowing that it is possible to mitigate its effects with appropriate training including warm-up times, stretching and flexibility times, progressiveness in the intensity of the sessions and good recovery.