Happy & Healthy

Muscle pain is nice, but not too much

What do you do about it?

Today I'm limping a bit. Not very charming, but I must admit I kind of like it. Muscle pain is called that and that is because I trained very hard yesterday. I did have someone next to me, because to really go “to the limit”, I don't think I can do that myself. Someone has to yell at me really hard that I still have to do 30 push-ups, otherwise I would have stopped a long time ago. Muscle pain is nice to have, but having too much pain can also (you can even get a bit sick from it) and you need to try to prevent that. You have that in your own hands by the way. No matter how hard you train, you can dose muscle pain and really do that, because I can tell you a story (read it here) about Liesbeth whom I took to work out and who was in bed with painkillers the next day.

1. First warm up your muscles before you start a workout. The so-called warming-up. A small jog, swinging your arms... If you start cold, you can quickly get injuries. Not okay.

2. The same goes for the cooling down. You do that after a workout. If you suddenly stop moving, blood circulation decreases and waste products are less well removed. You can get more muscle pain or tired muscles from that.

3. Don't set the bar too high right away. Start slowly. So don't immediately want to run 10 kilometers if you haven't done that for a while. Your muscles need to get used to the load. Otherwise? Muscle pain...

4. Drink a lot after a workout. This helps to remove waste products. Essential to combat muscle pain.

5. Take a warm shower, it warms up your muscles nicely.

6. A light massage after a workout to keep your muscles warm and loosen them up helps a lot. So, look for a nice masseur.