How do you recover?

I spent an hour yesterday morning running up an down a set of steps at a local nature reserve. Woke up this morning, oh the pain in my calves, I found that it's just better to keep moving and maybe try a foam roller.

Try stretching in a hot bath or shower ... just be careful you don't slip.

And hydration. Make sure you drink a couple litres of water today.

Epsom salts in the hot bath help a lot too. Oil up afterwards with some coconut oil and rub, rub, rub to work out those muscle kinks.

Warm bath, epsom salts if you have some. Stretching (which you're doing), and keep it fairly gentle. Foam rolling or other self-massage techniques (tennis ball or kids' firm rubber ball or lacrosse ball, in a pinch you can put a towel over muscles you can reach and use a regular kitchen rolling pin or other sturdy cylindrical thing on them). Light movement, like an easy walk or stationary bike ride or other similar easy movement (I know you said it's hard to walk; keyword is "easy"). Drink plenty of water.

And yes, as long as you don't feel as if you're injured in any way, I'd say go to the gym on your regular schedule. Of course, you can re-evaluate whether you've started with too much workload, too soon. But if you think you're on course in that larger sense, try to stick with it. Work a little lighter if you have to, but get the regular workout in if you can. It's been my experience that if I wait until the sore muscles are all gone, it's more likely to occur again repeatedly, but if I try to stay on schedule (or close) the really major sore muscles from a new activity will resolve themselves pretty quickly.

Jacuzzi, Steam room, and sauna.

A little over a year ago I started going to Knockout classes (a combo boxing/circuit training class) at the gym after years of little to no exercise. By the 2nd day after my first class I could barely climb the stairs at home. But the more I kept going the less sore I was. Now I may be a little sore depending what else I have done (I also weight lift 3X week in addition to the 2X week class) but it's nothing like after that first class! Keep going, it won't always feel like this! I look at it as confirmation that I have done something! Also, Advil helps!

I would say never exercise a sore muscle, particularly if you are weight training. But you can always do other types of exercise, stretch, and/or train other body parts. And taking branch chain amino acids daily might help you a lot with muscle recovery.

imtrying22 wrote: »

Hi all.
I had my first day at the gym and its two days later. At home I'm pretty much crawling and at work avoiding walking as much as possible and it hurts so much!
How do you recover? Do people go to the gym if they are still struggling to walk?

Read up on DOMS.

Sounds like you may have overdone it a bit on your first day at the gym. Maybe that combined with being out of shape led you to the point of crawling and avoiding walking.

The good news is that a few days or even up to a week later you will have recovered and be ready to go at it again. It does get easier, but expect the DOMS to hit you in the early going as you transition to gym use.

Was this pain just from some adaptation workout, or did you really go at it super hard?

Time is about all you can do for DOMS. You can workout again, hot showers, foam rolling etc.. and while they provide some relief temporarily but what your body is doing to repair itself is necessary will this not go away no matter what you do to it until time has passed. Depending on the severity, it can be 24 hours up to 3 days or so.

I have a day of no workout/lifting. I still walk, stretch, drink, and soak in the tub. Keep the muscles moving. Then I work thru the pain. I like squatting through the DOMS- it actually gives me relief. Listen to your body-its actually a good guide.