Breathe Magazine

Working out can make you feel like you are on top of the world, with boundless energy, stronger muscles, more efficient lungs and increased self confidence. Working out can also be uncomfortable, with sore muscles, cramps and side aches.  Thankfully, these darker sides to fitness can be lessened, if not eliminated by a few precautions.

Side aches are caused by a lack of proper warm up.  When you exercise, the blood flow is shunted from your abdomen and vital organs and redirected to your exercising muscles in your limbs.  A sufficient warm-up will slowly redistribute the blood to not shock your system during the shift. When you don’t warm up properly, pain in the abdomen occurs as it is not recieving enough blood.

Side Aches

Make sure you warm up atleast 5-10 minutes before you exercise to avoid side aches.  If one occurs, slow down to even out your blood flow, but don’t stop completely.  Stopping will shock your system even more, making the ache worse, or in extreme cases, cause you to lose consciousness.

Ok, I’ll admit, I love being sore. As a trainer, I know you don’t have to be sore to have a good workout (in actuality, you don’t want to be chronically sore, because it means your muscles are not fully healing before you tear the fibers again) but when you are sore, there is no question you worked out hard. Being sore is uncomfortable for most people, and one of the biggest deterrents when it comes to exercise.

Muscle Soreness

Soreness is caused by a build up of lactic acid in the muscle, which is produced when the demand for lactate (energy) is so high, it is pushed through to the muscle faster than it can be removed, causing a build up. This build up causes soreness and discomfort when the muscle is engaged until the lactate can be removed through metabolic activity.

People think that stretching will eliminate soreness, but this is just a myth. Stretching immediately after a workout, before you actually become sore, can prevent some of the soreness, but not prevent it all completely. Soreness is a natural part of working out, but you can eliminate some of the discomfort by speeding up the process by upping your metabolic activity. The best way to do that? Take a walk. It might be the last thing you want to do when your hurting, but its the best way to get rid of your pain.

Muscle cramps are the most rare exercise pain, but arguably the most painful. Painful as they may be, they usually pass fairly quickly, and don’t leave any lingering damage.

Muscle Cramps

Cramps occur when your muscle contracts but doesn’t relax. Even after the muscle does relax, it can remain fatigued and possibly sore. While some people experience cramps during exercise, many also experience them while sitting or even sleeping. They most commonly occur in the leg, especially in the calf, hamstring and quadricep.

There are many reasons why cramps may occur. Inadequate or skipping stretching and overexertion during your workouts might lead to a build up of lactic acid in your muscles. Muscle fatigue and dehydration may also be a factor. Cramps are more likely to happen in hot weather since you tend to lose more fluids through sweat.

Next time a cramp hits you, try a few tricks to help the muscle relax. Start by stretching the cramping muscle. Don’t force it; just lightly push the muscle until you feel a stretch. Another way to reduce the pain is to gently massage the cramped muscle. If the soreness persists, some may find relief by icing the area for 15 minutes at a time. This will increase the circulation to the muscle and help alleviate the pain.

So, ha! Now you can’t use these discomforts as a reason not to exercise. You know how to avoid them, or if they happen to occur, you now know how to alleviate the symptoms. Get moving!