First, we should understand why your muscles get sore when you work out. When you work out, you actually create microscopic tears in your muscles. When these tears heal, they create new muscle, which is bigger and stronger than the original muscle. The soreness, also known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is and indicator that you have worked out hard enough to tear down muscle fiber, and now new muscle is growing.

There is no good way to prevent DOMS, however there are a few tricks that help to ease the pain. First, proper supplementation can help the body repair the muscle faster; resulting in a faster recovery from DOMS. Supplements such as creatine, protein, and glutamine call aid in muscle recovery, and they should be considered when starting a training routine.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body, and it has many different uses, from being used as a bodybuilding supplement, to being used in hospitals to treat different types of illness, to reducing recovery times after surgery. Glutamine is burned up during intense workout sessions, and supplementing with it provides the body with an extra source of the essential amino acid, allowing the body to use it to assist in healing the muscles damaged during workouts. Since glutamine is naturally occurring in food, there are no adverse side effects from taking it, making it a safe choice when choosing a supplement.

Another supplement that is naturally occurring, safe to take and aides in muscle recovery is creatine. Creatine is used by the body during intense workouts, and must be constantly replenished in order for muscular endurance to hold out. Supplementing with a creatine product ensures your body has a large enough supply to feed your muscles during, and after, a workout, which also helps your muscles recover faster. In addition to helping muscles recover, creatine is also known to increase muscle strength and endurance, adding to its usefulness.

Finally, the most popular supplement for muscle recovery is protein. Protein consists of many different amino acids (the building blocks of muscle) and is another naturally occurring supplement that can be found in everyday foods. When the body has enough protein present, it is able to immediately start the healing process instead of having to wait until you consume your next meal to acquire the protein. Having a readily available store of protein will help reduce the time it takes for the body to heal the torn muscles.

While supplements can help muscles heal faster, one on the most important things that you can do in order to help expedite the healing process it to get an adequate amount of sleep each night. Your body does all of its “maintenance” while you are asleep, and this is when muscles are repaired. Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night is what is recommended for a grown adult, and this is definitely necessary if you want your body to recover from a strenuous workout.

Another thing that is important to expedite recovery of sore muscles is proper hydration. If the muscles are dehydrated, they are depleted of essential nutrients such as salt, potassium, magnesium, amino acids, and many others. This lack of nutrients can lead to prolonged soreness accompanied by muscle cramps. It is recommended that adults drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. This is, of course, a recommendation, and the amount of water needed depends on your body type, activity level, what supplements you are taking, and many other aspects. For the normal person though, the 8 x 8 rule should suffice. Proper hydration is a must to help keep muscles healthy and recover quickly from DOMS.

Stretching is another way to not only prevent muscle soreness, but also help improve flexibility, which in turn builds strength and helps prevent injury. There are two main stretching methods used today; which are static stretching and dynamic stretching. Static stretching consists of stretching the muscle while it is at rest. An example of this would be touching your toes with your fingers while keeping your legs straight, and holding that position for a time. Dynamic stretching consists of stretching the muscle while that muscle is in motion. An example of dynamic stretching would be circling your arms, or throwing a kick as high as you can. Dynamic stretches are not held at the end like static stretches.

There has been some debate as to the usefulness of each method, however studies are pointing to dynamic stretching as the way to go. Dynamic stretching occurs when the muscle is already warmed (or warming) up, thus increasing the blood flow throughout the entire body, increasing muscle temperature which helps decrease joint stiffness, and making nerves fire faster, preparing your body for a workout

In a recent study, static stretching, in the short term, has actually proven to decrease power and strength by up to 5% for up to an hour after the stretch was performed. In the long term however, static stretching can improve power and strength by up to 5%, and increase flexibility. These numbers are a bit contradictory, but when used properly, you can achieve the 5% increase for the long term. In contrast, dynamic stretching has actually helped increase speed, increase agility and increase oxygen content in the blood in the short term. Dynamic stretching does not have any long-term effects that we know of yet.

In regards as to which method to use and when, dynamic stretching should be used as a pre-workout warm-up, and static stretching should be used post workout. In post workout, muscles are already warm, allowing you benefit from the positive, long term effects static stretching has to offer.

Stretching is the activity I most recommend to help prevent DOMS, and other injuries. Sometimes however, soreness sets in regardless of what you do to help prevent it. This is especially true for those who are new to lifting, or someone who is changing their workout routine. This is a time when motivation to do anything can be very low, still, if the pain is not physically limiting, you should still make the trip to the gym. Working out releases endorphins, and gets blood flowing throughout the body, pushing essential nutrients to your damaged muscles, thus helping them heal. The key to being successful here is to train opposite muscle groups. For example, you do a back and bicep workout on Monday, and you went a little harder than you probably should have, and now you are in pain. Assuming you are not physically limited, go to the gym and do a chest and triceps, or a leg and shoulder workout. These muscle groups are opposite of the sore ones, which will allow you to perform to a certain extent.

DOMS can be a killer for anyone, beginner or advanced, but learning how to deal with it effectively and not get discouraged can be the greatest tool when starting a workout routine.