For many, feeling sore is a sign that they’ve had a productive workout, but it can affect your future workouts by decreasing your range of motion and causing you to forgo your next exercise session. Working out when you’re in pain can make your injury worse. If you find yourself constantly getting sore post-workout, add these steps to your routine.
Foam Roll Before a Workout
We’ve heard of foam rolling post-workout to reduce muscle soreness, but the ideal time to foam roll is before a workout as part of a warmup. Foam rolling can increase your range of motion and your flexibility, which comes in handy while you’re exercising.
Start Slow
When you’re new to working out or you start a new exercise, it’s easy to want to go from zero to 100, but starting too much to soon, can lead to injuries. Instead, start slow and try to reach goals and benchmarks before amping up the intensity.
Stretch Before and After Working Out
Stretching warms up and cools down muscles, which eases soreness. Make sure you do the right stretches at the correct time—for warmups, do dynamic stretches and for cooldowns, do static stretches.
Keep Hydrated
Dehydration reduces blood to muscles and it can cause electrolyte imbalance, which leads to muscle soreness. Make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day.
