Why do we feel sore after exercise?

Many people find that after exercising, they feel sore all over when they wake up the next day, especially after strenuous exercise, the soreness is more severe. It is precisely because of this soreness in the body that some people develop a fear of exercise. Many people don’t understand why they feel sore after exercise? Below I will introduce to you the causes of soreness after exercise!

The scientific name for muscle soreness after exercise is delayed onset muscle soreness. It is caused by the accumulation of lactic acid and the breakdown of muscle microstructure.

Lactic acid accumulation is caused by the presence of lactic acid in the metabolic products of glycolysis during strength training; the damage to the muscle microstructure will heal during the recovery period after training, and the healed muscles will become thicker than the original muscle fibers. This is called the super recovery principle, which is the driving force of muscle growth.

Since the muscle microstructure is damaged after training, a hot water bath will accelerate the blood circulation of the injured muscles, thereby aggravating the damage to the muscle microstructure. Therefore, the soreness the day after a hot water bath will definitely be more severe than the day after a cold water bath. At the same time, hot baths accelerate the metabolism of muscle tissue. The training before the hot bath has already consumed a large amount of muscle glycogen in the muscles. Using a hot bath to continue to accelerate metabolism will increase fatigue and even lower blood sugar. If you take a hot bath after training, you will feel very tired and sleepy; but if you take a cold or warm bath, your fatigue will be significantly reduced.

The correct way to speed up the disappearance of soreness is: cold compress in the early stage, acid removal training, increased stretching, eating antioxidant foods and protein supplements, and hot compress in the later stage.

Early cold compress: Immediately after heavy weight training, use ice packs to cool the target muscles. Generally, the cold compress lasts for 10 to 20 minutes. Place clothes or towels between the ice pack and the skin to prevent frostbite. Or a cold shower. The national weightlifting team has a special ice and snow room in the General Administration of Sports' Heavy Duty Arena. After heavy weight training, the national team players go directly into the ice and snow room with temperatures ranging from 0 to minus 4 degrees Celsius in their underwear in order to speed up their recovery.

Acid elimination training: Acid elimination training is lactic acid elimination training. It is carried out 12 hours after training. The acid-excretion training movements are different for each muscle. The purpose of acid-excretion training is to accelerate blood circulation around muscle tissue and speed up the removal of lactic acid by fresh blood. For example, middle-aged and elderly people who occasionally climb mountains may suffer from sore quadriceps in their thighs and unable to go downstairs the next day. According to my acid-excretion training, the symptoms of the pain can be relieved within 5 minutes (some can even disappear for a short time) and they can immediately complete the movements of going up and down the stairs. ——Dozens of people have received my acid removal training, and it is 100% effective. However, the effect of acid-excretion training is relatively short-lived. The symptoms will reappear after about 20 minutes, but will basically be alleviated. Continue the acid-excretion training for 3 days, 1 to 2 times a day, and the soreness will disappear by more than 80%.

Generally speaking, for people who do not exercise regularly, body aches after strenuous exercise are a normal reaction of the body. Most aches are tolerable and will disappear naturally as long as you keep exercising. Of course, you can do some training to eliminate the soreness, or you can use cold or hot compresses. As long as you realize that body aches are normal, just keep exercising.