August 22, 2018

Combating muscle soreness: 5 scientifically based approaches

Bekämpfung des Muskelkaters: 5 wissenschaftlich basierte Ansätze

Is your sore muscle preventing you from building new muscle mass? These 5 science-based recommendations could be just what you need to recover faster and better after your workouts.

6:45 in the morning

You open your eyes after noticing the vibrations of your Fitbit on your wrist. As you slowly sit up in bed, your legs remind you of the brutal training session the day before.

"Why did I want to do 8 sets of squats again?"

You shake your head and somehow manage to crawl into the bathroom and get ready for the day ahead.

7:30 in the morning

You drive to work and spend six and a half minutes trying to get out of the car as your legs seem to have stopped taking orders from your brain.

3:30 p.m.

"For fuck's sake! Why does it feel like someone put my legs through a meat grinder?"

You try to keep working and distract your thoughts from the debilitating muscle soreness building up in your lower body.

Sore muscles, deadlifts and donuts: Oh my God!

We've all been there - the previous training session was already a little too hard, your favorite playlist is playing or the cute girl on the treadmill looks over for half a second before you start your set.

Before you really know what's going on, you've already done 10 sets to the music pounding in your ears and sweat is dripping from your nose.

Even though you may have completed an excellent training session, your inability to brush your teeth or get out of bed the next morning could put a damper on your quality of life. The question is - what can you do about it?

Here are 5 simple recommendations that might come in handy the next time you decide to overdose on caffeine and triple your workout volume during a training session.

1. sleep

Aside from anabolic steroids, there is nothing more beneficial to recovery than sleep. This is by far the most important variable that anyone can use to improve their recovery. However, we should talk seriously about this topic because it's never as simple as "6 to 8 hours of undisturbed, deep, restorative sleep."

What if you have trouble falling asleep? Or sleeping through the night? What if you don't feel rested despite getting "enough" sleep?

Sleep is a very complex innate biological process that does much more than you may realize. Unfortunately, this topic is so complex that it is far beyond the scope of this article. If you are struggling with healthy and restful sleep, then you should do some research and read some of the numerous articles on strategies to improve sleep quality.

2. carbohydrate timing

Not only are we talking about carbohydrates as a macronutrient in general, but we also need to consider the timing of carbohydrate intake relative to your training session and the hormonal processes involved. Carbohydrate intake DURING your training session could affect more than you might think. Here are some examples:

A reduced incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs^)1,2

Carbohydrates have been shown to reduce the exercise-induced suppression of the immune system that typically follows a training session.

Yes, the studies referenced were done with long-distance runners, but I can assure you that at ETSI we have just completed several studies on the immune response to strength training and the cytokine response was very, very similar.

Improvement in muscle ^glycogenstores5

During exercise, there is an upregulation of the glucose transport protein known as GLUT4. This only becomes active during exercise or other physical activity and is used to transport carbohydrates from your bloodstream into your muscles.

If you have higher levels of circulating glucose, then there is a greater chance that this glucose will be channeled directly into muscle tissue and stored as glycogen.

Reduced cortisol ^response3

Carbohydrates appear to play an important role in reducing the cortisol response to exercise by increasing substrate availability and insulin levels. Cortisol is typically released when energy needs to be mobilized for activity.

However, if readily available energy is already consumed during the exercise session, then cortisol is not required and this may promote a more positive hormonal environment for adaptations (e.g. a better testosterone to cortisol ratio, which is known as a marker of anabolism⁾⁴.

But we should not forget the context of this situation. I am in no way suggesting that you need to consume carbohydrates during training (in combination with whey protein) if you have just consumed a meal of whole foods during the last 1 to 2 hours before training.

Considering that it takes roughly 3 to 5 hours for a normal sized mixed meal to be digested, there is little need to consume additional protein and carbohydrates immediately after the meal. This recommendation applies more to exercisers who train first thing in the morning or 4 to 5 hours after their last meal to ensure an optimal hormonal environment for adaptation.

3. hydration

I know what you're thinking - "Thank you Captain Obvious for this sensational reveal, I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else on Instagram." Relax and let me explain...

Aside from the obvious, mild dehydration higher than 2 to 3% can lead to a significant reduction in strength and endurance performance^.6 Not only can this affect your performance in an acute sense, but it can also alter your systemic recovery in the long term.

There are a number of studies that have looked at the effects of dehydration from a hormonal perspective relative to training. A 2008 study found that cortisol levels were significantly higher in dehydrated subjects at rest, during exercise and immediately after exercise^.7

But that's not all - in addition, the typical increase in testosterone levels that can be observed after exercise was attenuated in the dehydrated group. Another study from 2001 found that there was a significant difference in the exercise-induced growth hormone response when subjects' hydration was restricted during exercise^.8

However, you should keep in mind that hydration involves more than just the amount of fluid you consume. Electrolytes also play an important role in regulating the intracellular environment.

When a stressful situation occurs, your adrenal cortex not only releases cortisol, but produces less of something known as aldosterone, which helps regulate blood pressure by reabsorbing sodium and water.

However, if the person is dehydrated, cortisol levels will be higher, causing aldosterone levels to drop even further. When aldosterone levels drop, blood volume decreases and blood viscosity increases because you're not retaining as much water. You've basically increased your hemoglobin concentration and increased the workload on your heart because viscosity changes the flow rate of fluids.

If this dehydration is maintained after exercise, then your heart will have to work harder to transport blood to your muscles with essential nutrients for muscle tissue repair. Why work harder if you don't have to?

Do you need a special supplement with a lot of fancy-sounding ingredients to solve this problem? No. I typically just recommend 150 to 200 ml of coconut water with a teaspoon of sea salt. Coconut water contains about four times more potassium than typical sports drinks and you can add extra sodium depending on your individual needs.

Remember above when we talked about the benefits of carbohydrates during exercise? Coconut water contains naturally occurring carbohydrates due to its sugar content - so you get two things for the price of one.

BRO TIP: Yes, it will probably taste a little less pleasant (read: awful). Add some Crystal Light or Lift and it will be more pleasant. Remember that you're not drinking this drink for the taste, but for your performance. It won't taste like a pina colada version of Gatorade.

Aim for about twice your body weight in milliliters. You don't have to worry about taking a three liter bottle to your workout because some bodybuilder told you that everyone needs to drink three liters a day. If you sweat a lot or train in a hot environment, you may well need more.

Weigh yourself before and after your training session - for every pound you've lost, you should drink at least half a liter of fluid.

4. heat, compression and exercise

When it comes to soreness and post-workout recovery, most people resort to one of two options: ice or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like aspirin. Sure, ice can limit the formation of edema by constricting the veins and also reduce pain by slowing down nerve conduction, but aside from acute injuries, it won't help you much when it comes to recovering from sore muscles.

Not only will it promote a reduction in blood flow and potentially reduce the delivery of nutrients, but it will also slow down the lymphatic flow that helps the venous system remove waste products from injured areas as they go through different stages of remodeling.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, on the other hand, are a completely different side of the story. We first need to understand what normally takes place when we suffer an injury - in this case microtrauma (muscle soreness = microtears at the cellular level)^.9

When initiating repair, your body goes through 3 stages:

Inflammation
proliferation
reconstruction

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can significantly alter this model by reducing the production of prostaglandins^.10 This basically shortcuts step #1, as prostaglandins are very important for both promoting and terminating the inflammatory pathway^.11

But that's not all - there are a number of studies linking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to various problems such as joint laxity, bone fractures and reduced tendon strength^.12,13

Remember that inflammation is important for your body's adaptation process

Sorry, I hate to say this, but if you can't cope with pain, maybe you should find another hobby instead of popping non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like Smarties. Or maybe you wouldn't feel the need for non-steroidal anti-inflammatories if you found yourself a good trainer who knows how to get a good training stimulus - because then maybe you'd stop beating yourself up during your training sessions. Just a thought...

Conclusion: Heat, compression and exercise are better than ice and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.

If you are sore from your previous training session, your best bet is to apply heat and compression to the affected area. Take a hot shower, put on compression pants, lie against a wall with your feet up and let gravity support your lymphatic system.

Low intensity exercise such as walking, cycling, etc. can also help pump blood back to the heart through the contraction of skeletal muscles and stimulate circulation.

5. antioxidants?

Now before you go off and put together the selection of foods described below, pay attention to the question mark above. As you will see in the hierarchy of regeneration at the end of this article, this last point will probably contribute the least to regeneration of all the aspects mentioned.

However, there is a growing body of scientific research suggesting that these specific foods may directly influence the regeneration process, so they are worth mentioning.

Tart cherry ^juice14

"Tart cherry appears to be a viable tool to aid recovery after intense exercise as it increases overall antioxidant capacity, reduces inflammation and influences lipid peroxidation, thereby aiding recovery of muscle function."

BRO TIP: If you're buying cherry juice, make sure it's tart cherry juice and only includes one ingredient - "tart cherry juice".

Pomegranate ^juice15

"Supplementation with pomegranate juice relieves weakness and reduces muscle soreness of the elbow flexor but not the knee extensor. These results suggest a mild, acute performance-enhancing effect of pomegranate juice in the elbow flexor of trained individuals after eccentric exercise."

BRO TIP: If you buy pomegranate juice, make sure it includes only one ingredient - "pomegranate juice".

^{Blueberries17}

"This study shows that consuming a blueberry smoothie before and after EOMD accelerates the recovery of maximal isometric strength of the muscle.

This effect, which is independent of the inherent antioxidant capacity of the beverage, appears to involve upregulation of adaptive processes, i.e. endogenous antioxidant processes activated by the combined actions of eccentric training and blueberry consumption."

BRO TIP: Frozen blueberries have changed the world of smoothies.

^Pineapple18

"The group of subjects showed superior recovery of contractile function and diminishing effects of delayed-onset muscle soreness after a hill run compared to the placebo group.

Our results suggest that protease supplementation may alleviate muscle soreness after a hill run. Protease supplementation could also promote muscle healing and enable faster recovery of contractile function after intense training sessions."

BRO TIP: Protease is a proteolytic enzyme that helps break down protein. Pineapple contains very large amounts of the protease bromelain.

^Ginger19

"This study demonstrates that daily consumption of raw and heated ginger resulted in a moderate to large reduction in muscle pain after exercise-induced muscle injury. Our results are consistent with the results showing hypoalgesic effects of ginger in osteoarthritis patients and further demonstrate the effectiveness of ginger as a pain reliever."

BRO TIP: Use fresh ginger whenever possible. The powdered version is quite strong and can easily ruin a good smoothie.

Interestingly, the San Antonio Spurs basketball team has been using many of the foods mentioned above while on a cold-pressed juice trip for the past three years. Even more interesting is that they lead the NBA league as the team with the lowest number of injury-related absences.

Of course, correlation does not equal causation, but it certainly can't hurt to experiment a little. All the ingredients mentioned above should be available in any supermarket and can be consumed on a daily basis without any problems.

Regenerate well, regenerate often

As with any component of health or performance, there are certain overarching fundamental principles that will provide the most value.

You can think of this as the hierarchy of regeneration. Here are the individual components in order of importance, starting with the most important:

Hormones: resting concentrations & exogenous support
Sleep: quality, quantity & timing (sleep hygiene, apnea, day-night rhythm, etc.)
Functional medical issues; digestive tract hyperpermeability, latent infections, poor digestion/nutrient absorption, etc.
Lifestyle: stress (perceived and actual), career, family, finances, school, etc.
Nutrition: total calories (anabolism vs. catabolism), macronutrient consumption, timing
Periodization programs: Monitoring appropriate training loads & unloading periods
Supplementation: nutrient deficiencies, whey protein + liquid carbohydrates during training

Even if you don't remember anything else from this article, just remember this pyramid.

References

https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/defeating-doms-5-suggestions

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