Since I have been dealing with a few back-end site hiccups the past two weeks I thought I would use it as a round about way to discuss the importance of an oft-times overlooked, but vital, component of a fitness regimen. Recovery time!

First off, before I lay out how to recover from a workout, let’s talk about what really happens after a workout and why we get sore.

Muscle soreness (not the burn you feel while performing an exercise, but that sucky dull ache we all experience the day after a workout) is caused by tiny microscopic tears that occur in the muscle as a result of high intensity exercise. After the workout, the muscle begins to rebuild itself. This is the process which creates new muscle that is bigger and stronger than before. In other words, the pain you feel is your muscles growing! Unfortunately this soreness is proof of a successful workout as it means you’ve trained hard enough to break down muscle tissue; so now, as a result, you are rewarded with muscle growth. Yay!

Luckily the human body is an amazing machine that adapts to whatever you throw at it. So don’t worry true believers, the workout that initially felt like it crippled you will eventually be a walk in the proverbial park. The cruel joke of it all though is that we need to constantly “shock” our body with new exercises in order to steadily stimulate muscle growth and improve our fitness level. So expect the soreness to return every time you try something new at the gym. It is a never-ending cycle, but there is definite truth to the old adage “No pain, no gain!”

The good news is that there are ways to cut down on the miserableness of post-workout soreness, so let me arm you with a little knowledge on how to recover from workouts and to help mitigate the suck factor.

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