Why do your muscles hurt more two days after you work out?
Asked by
occ (
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February 19th, 2007
why am I most sore two days after excercise, instead of the day after? does it have to do with lactic acid buildup?
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8 Answers
I'm not a trainer but I believe it is due to a buildup of lactic acid in the muscle tissue as a byproduct of metabolism. My trainer says to drink as much water as possible after the workout and stretch before bed the day of workout and again in the next morning.
In the army I was told to wiggle the muscles after the workout in order to "force" the lactic acid out of the muscles... It doesn't sound very logical, but who knows?
If immediately after you train you drink something with a lot of glucose (a fruit juice or a gatorade) with your protein shake, you'll get a faster recovery. At least that worked for me when I trained.
when I first started exercising, I was sore all the time, sleeping or not ... even lying down sleeping was a chore ... just keep exercising, drink lots of water, and eventually you will get a better feel for "how to contract your muscles" so as to exercise them without over-stretching / over-straining them ... experience will probably end up being the ultimate teacher ... hope this helps ^_^
yes this is normal... take an ice whirlpool this will help
Eating a banana helps me on recovery. Potassium (K) is good for relieving sore muscles.
As people above said, the aches are from the residue of lactic acid buildup resulting from exercise to the point where your muscles were stressed – a good sign that you worked out hard enough to tell your body to start growing stronger. The exercise magazines are full of ads for expensive post-workout supplements that will add 50 pounds of muscle in a week, enable you to leap tall buildings and eat nails, etc.; all of them just give you expensive urine imo.
The advice re potassium is spot-on, I think; try to get it into you withoin an hour of the workout. You can get it through a meal seasoned with “salt substitute”, which is potassium chloride, a banana, a protein energy bar, a protein drink, Japanese seaweed crackers, whatever – just look for 100–200% of your RDA on the label, as more won’t hurt you AFAIK. But also try drinking an energy drink – preferably something with carbohydrates like sugar – for energy and hydration beginning about 15 min B4 you start and through the workout.
And – finally! – the answer: go to the gym the very next day afterwards instead of waiting two days. %^> You’ll hurt at first but it will pass during the workout, even if you exercise an entirely different muscle group (which you should be doing). Simple and free. And the post-workout pain is the sign that you’re benefiting; there’s no free lunch.
tomsyl44 is completely correct. Potassium, Magnesium, and Sodium are your best friends after a workout. It’s a simple process when you think about it, you workout which breaks your muscles down, then you feel the pain. While your feeling the pain your body is rebuilding your muscle fibers so that it can resist the same damage again. You need minerals and vitamins to help strengthen your new muscle. Your body hurts because it sustained damage, it thinks it’s being harmed. That’s why you gotta keep hitting those muscles hard, even when you hurt, so your body thinks it’s a routine. The second week you’ll actually feel slightly more “hard” and while the pain WHILE working out will still be there, the pain AFTER working out won’t.
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