Question for you Old Farts.....

If you take it before, you risk pushing yourself too hard and causing actual injury.

I take aleve before I go to bed, if at all. It helps me get a better night's sleep so that my body can heal itself.

I don't take pain killers before a work out. It can mask pain signals that I actually need to pay attention to.

Afterwards, Aleve if i need it.

Do you take Ibuprofen before or after your workout? :blushing:

Neither. It's bad for you.

Instead: Proper warm up, workout, proper cool down. Stretch and use the foam roller in the evening for a 10 minute "rub out the issues" session.

Proper nutrition and recovery. No need for medicinal masking agents. Well, there is wine and beer....

I'd say after, mainly because taking an NSAID and then sweating and getting dehydrated can wreak havoc on your kidneys (NSAID induced nephropathy). If you insist on taking it before, be sure you are well hydrated to begin with, and continue drinking water during the workout.

I have taken it before exercise only on rare occasions because I had plantar fasciitis.
In general, I am wary of too much reliance on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).
I know that at one time the idea behind using them was that inflammation was bad, and inhibited healing, and therefore should be treated. But I suspect that idea was not well thought out. Yes, inflammation could seem to be harmful when there was a wound. But, it probably is not when one has a sterile, closed injury. Why would the body produce inflammation in a closed injury if it wasn't helping the healing? That would make no sense.
Now, ibuprofen is not as strongly anti-inflammatory as aspirin. But it is still anti-inflammatory. So, therefore, I just avoid it as much as I can in the hopes that whatever is hurting will heal faster and better if I do not use it.
So, sure, I use ibuprofen. But, i usually wait to be sure that I really need help with the pain first. That generally means waiting until after the exercise.
And, of course, if the pain is so bad that you need ibuprofen to get through the activity, you probably need to rethink engaging in that activity.
Yes, I am an old fart. I freely admit it.

I know when I was lifting in the am and cardio at lunch drinking whey protein seemed to help my muscles from hurting so bad.

Are you talking about for injury, or just to deal with normal muscle soreness? You really shouldn't be taking it for the later.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

I do take it sometimes to knock down the level of a headache before working out, but that's about it.

Old fart checking in....

Only take it when you need it - not as part of an exercise routine. Why in particular are you taking it?

I try to avoid either. If you are getting normal soreness then after. Sometimes just taking a day off can help. If I overworked muscles I try to do some gentle stretching and moderate walking throughout the day to help them loosen up. If you are getting joint pain (something us OFs often get) then changing how you are doing things that hurt may be good. It may even mean you need to do something completely different. For example, I have severe shoulder problems so I no longer swim. I manage to lift although squatting with a bar can be a little tough sometimes because my shoulders can't bend and rotate the way they ought to so they can hold the bar.

Bad for the heart, bad for the kidneys, bad for the stomach, great for pain. Higher risk of MI.

Is it worth it? I use it occasionally, but not for exercise related pain and I use high doses (800mg). But you should check w/ your doc to see if it is appropriate for you.