5 New Ways to Minimize Muscle Soreness

Try these fresh techniques to make gains without the pain

By selene yeager October 24, 2016

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We've all had that moment when we try to get out of bed after a tough workout— and can't. While you’re bound to feel a little muscle soreness after pushing your limits, especially if it’s an activity you don’t typically do (read: day after new CrossFit class…), hard workouts don’t have to leave you hurting for days. By taking a few steps to minimize inflammation and speed muscle repair, you can feel good again in no time flat. Along with the tried and true post-workout massage (and maybe a dip in a cool pool), here are five fresh ways to keep sore muscles at bay.

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Get Juiced

Watermelon juice is the new ibuprofen. The juice of this popular picnic treat is not only delicious and hydrating, but also brimming with the amino acid L-citrulline, which stimulates blood flow so your muscles get more nutrients and oxygen and can repair faster. In a study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, researchers found that men who drank about a pint of watermelon juice before a hard indoor cycling session reported significantly less muscle soreness the following day than they did when they were given a pink-colored placebo drink before the same workout.

Not so into watermelon? Pour some tart cherry juice instead. Tart cherries reduce uric acid levels and act as an anti-inflammatory. Research on endurance runners found that runners who drank tart cherry juice twice a day had far less post-race muscle pain following a strenuous event than those drinking a ruby-colored placebo drink.

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Try Passive Stimulation

You need blood flow to expedite muscle recovery, which is why super-chill recovery rides make you feel better. But you can’t spin your legs 24/7, and it’s easy to overdo it on a recovery ride, which will just add to your fatigue. That’s why sports medicine guru Nicholas DiNubile, MD, author of Framework, has his athletes use an electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) machine like the Marc Pro. Just place the electrodes on your legs and turn up the dials. The currents stimulate your muscles to contract, which pumps out waste and brings in oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to facilitate muscle recovery and capillary development.

“You can do this immediately off the bike, and it facilitates recovery without adding fatigue,” says DiNubile. These machines are commonly found in physical therapy offices—or you can invest in your own for about $650.

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Refuel with Healthy Fats

Hard training causes muscle stress and damage, which increases inflammation and leads to soreness. Healthy fats (like the omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish, nuts, and seeds) fight inflammation, so including these foods in your recovery meals may help stop (or at least minimize) muscle pain before it happens. The USDA recommends eating at least 8 ounces of seafood a week, so following this advice will also help you get the omega-3s you need for general health and to reduce your risk of heart disease.

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Pump up Your Protein

You already know that you need ample amounts of protein: About 25 percent of your daily calories (or about 20 to 30 grams with each meal or snack) should come from this muscle-building macronutrient. Research shows that timing your protein with your hard workouts, specifically including a little protein during your workout, also can help promote muscle repair and minimize muscle soreness.

In one study, cyclists who took carbohydrate/protein gels during time trials not only rode longer during the test itself, but also had lower levels of post-exercise creatine kinease (CK), a marker of muscle damage, after they were done. Less muscle damage means less soreness and faster recovery. Try chia during your workout, or a smoothie with this tasty whey protein afterwards. 

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Get Grounded

Those barefoot runners might be onto something that has nothing to do with improving their form (though that may happen, too). It turns out that direct contact with the earth can help the body fight free-radical damage, heal more quickly, and minimize delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Stick with us here—the surface of the Earth has a negative electric charge that balances out a buildup of excess positive charge, and offers free electrons to help neutralize rogue free radicals. Until recently, we had regular contact with the Earth through gardening, walking barefoot, and spending more time outdoors. Today, many of us have lost that contact, which may be to our detriment.

Sounds new-age-y, we know. But it's hard to argue with how good it feels to spend time outside, whether it is in the form of a beach vacation or a few days camping out. There are also scientific studies showing that grounding really works for lowering stress, improving sleep, and minimizing exercise-induced muscle pain. In a series of studies, researchers found that exercisers who spent time grounding themselves with special conductive grounding patches after strenuous exercise sessions had fewer markers of muscle damage and lower levels of DOMS pain than those receiving fake grounding treatments.

“Of course it is best to be outdoors barefoot or bathing in the ocean or a lake,” says grounding researcher Gaetan Chevalier, PhD, director of the Earthing Institute. “However, this is not always possible, so there are products [like Earthing bands, sheets, and mats] to help you be grounded when it is not possible to get outdoors, like the winter or when you’re too busy. Personally, I like to sleep grounded because we have to sleep anyway and it gives you 6 to 8 hours of grounding without any special effort.”