Soothe Muscle Soreness!

Hi Everyone! I love the feeling after a good workout but when you're targeting different muscles that you haven't used for a bit, you may feel muscle soreness afterwards - especially the next day.

If you are getting back on track or are new to consistent exercise, you may also find yourself with some muscle soreness. Don't be discouraged, muscle soreness is totally normal. If you are stiff or sore after your workouts, try some of these easy solutions to help you recover quickly. Whatever you do...DON'T quit! Consistency is the key to success. As you are getting into the best shape of your life, working towards your goals and making positive changes in your body, here are my top tips on treating muscle soreness. Remember, circulation is what heals the body!

1. Stretching. Slowly stretch out any sore muscles and hold the stretch for 10 seconds.

2. Use a foam roller. Check out the video below on how to use a foam roller either before or after a workout, to ease muscle soreness.

3. A soak in the tub with Epsom Salts. Follow the instructions, and use the time to relax and unwind, as well.

4. Do one of my yoga workouts. My LifeFit 360 Plan has over 50 yoga workouts to choose from - start your free trial today and check them out!

5. Get a massage. It helps release lactic acid buildup, which causes that sore feeling.

6. Try topical creams that contain menthol, camphor or arnica. All can help to reduce muscle soreness.

7. Drink lots of water. It can help to help flush lactic acid out of the muscles.

8. Get enough sleep. Sleep help your body recover in all sorts of ways, so aim for 6-8 hours of good quality rest each night.

9. Move! Research shows the best remedy for exercise-induced soreness is to keep moving! By going for a walk or bike ride, you'll pump nutrients to your muscles and help speed up the healing process.

Muscles work miracles on your metabolism...so keep them firm and feeling their best!  You can get more info like this as a LifeFit 360 member, so sign up today for your free trial - see you there!

 

Love always,

Denise

 

Video Transcript:

Hi, I'm Denise Austin. I want to show you some easy exercises that I do to recover after a workout or if you want to warm up your muscles before working out, all with the use of a foam roller, and I like this one because it's a little smaller and I could even travel with it to loosen up muscles. If you have tight muscles, they also get knots. This will flatten it out and make you feel so much better. My first ones for the legs, because the legs is where you get a lot of tension, so what I like to do is relax the muscles and go forward and back. You could even lie flat on the ground and roll it forward and back. Oh, it feels so good on my calf muscles or if you want extra tension, you could sit up nice and tall and put a little more weight on it and Oh, you'll really feel it.

That's what I do for the calves and the ankles all the way down and also do both legs so that concentrates on the lower leg. Now let's take it up to the upper thighs, the hamstrings. This is where I get tight too. Oh, if you just roll it out there, that's it. Roll it. So get the back of your thighs and hamstrings. That's it. Then take it to the next level, to the buttocks and really go up and down through the buttocks. They get really tight, especially if you work out. That's right, so you want to loosen up through the buttocks. It's like a mini massage. I even like to take it a little further up to the low back and that's where I really feel you could stay there where the knots are. Just feel it out yourself on your own body. Every day's a little different too.

Now for the outside of your legs are our t-band that gets very tight. Everyone does. All you do is lie on your side and roll it up and back, and you can feel that along side of your leg and of course do the whole thing with the other leg, the lower leg. Then you do the hamstrings, then you do your buttocks. Then you do right here, your stuff. Now the next step is for the front of your thighs, so I always do my legs first and then I go up to my upper part of the body. So here you do a little bit right here. Oh, you'll feel it on the front of your thighs. Also, mainly the front of your cab muscle, the Shin. A lot of people get tight there. Then take it up to your thighs. Oh, oh my gosh. This feels so good on my thigh muscle.

You can take it all the way to towards your hips. Bring it up towards your hip area, and then if you really want to put a little more pressure, get a little lower and roll side, forward and back. Oh, it was so good. Now it's time to do your back. Oh, the best part of all. Now I like to start all the way up my lower back because I always start from the feet up and then I roll on my back and feel it all along the low back. If you want to get low by your hips, that feels good too. Oh, it feels so good. Oh my gosh. Then take it to the midsection where lot of people get a lot of tension and rock and roll like that. Feel so good on your back where you get tension. Get rid of those knots, smooth that out, and now a very important your neck.

So place it here. First, roll down like a setup and relax your neck and go side to side first. This is what I do for my neck. Relaxing, no more neck tension, and then you could also hold it and roll it a little. Just roll it a little. Oh, I feel so good. I love it. So those are all the easy exercise that you could do with your foam roller. It's such a great way to recover the body. Relax and let the muscles just give way. Oh, I feel so good. And it's good for you to keep it up.