Dealing with muscle soreness

As I get older, I find myself paying closer attention to many aspects of nutrition and fitness. Fading are the days where I could get away with eating whatever I wanted and burning the candle at both ends. I continue to train as hard as ever, but in order to maintain a high level of fitness I have to be a lot smarter about how I train.

I work out at least five days a week, and sometimes slip in an extra work out session on the same day. My body is fairly conditioned to withstand this regiment, but I have to be smart about it. I have to pay close attention and recognize when enough is enough.

One of my students who is about my age asked me if I ever got muscle soreness. He said he never heard me complaining or talking about it, and I never appeared to be affected by it. I had to laugh because this was the furthest thing from the truth. I jokingly told him it was all part of the mental Judo game that instructors play on their students: “Ju don’t know ‘cause I don’t show it.” I assured him that I probably felt every bit of pain from muscle soreness that he felt.

This got me thinking about what actually causes muscle soreness and how could it be reduced. What I’m referring to is what’s commonly known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). The day or two after your workout, your muscles are sore, stiff and fatigued.

Muscle soreness usually happens when we first start an exercise routine or when we change routines. Both of these happen a lot in Jiu-Jitsu. It seems like we regularly have a new student come in, or students who can’t train on a regular basis. The result is that these students are starting from scratch every time they return to the mat. In addition, it’s not uncommon for us to change up our routines. Just when you think you’re in shape, I’ll throw in some different exercises or movements just to remind you about the muscles you forgot about. Or it may result from an intense or prolonged grappling session.

This discomfort is often attributed to lactic acid build up, but the truth is that it is not. Temporarily lactic acid builds up in the muscles and blood, causing the muscle burning sensations that occur during and immediately after exercising. Within 30 minutes to an hour after completing your heavy workout, the lactic acid is flushed out of muscles.

Research has shown the muscle soreness that occurs 24 to 36 hours after an intense workout is the result of localized damage to the muscle fibers and tissues. The damaged muscles become inflamed and sore, triggering the pain receptors. In addition to the injured muscle fibers, there is an increase in blood flow causing a swelling of the muscle tissues which again may stimulate pain receptors. In the morning following the exercise, the muscle fibers are fatigued, have microscopic tears and are inflamed. The muscle nerve supply perceives this as an abnormal state and sends pain messages to the brain.

Recommendations for dealing with this muscle soreness include light stretching and exercise, massage or taking a hot bath. All these are aimed at lightly increasing blood flow to the muscles and damaged tissues to facilitate repair. A proper warm up before the workout will help to reduce the soreness as well.

To flush out the lactic acid buildup more quickly and reduce Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, immerse yourself in a cold bath soon after your intense workout.

None of these recommendations will cure your muscle soreness, but may help you recover faster and reduce your pain during the recovery process.