Sai's Studio 2000 Muay Thai Alternative Fitness

Different Types of Muscle Soreness Caused by hard intense Training

Soreness is a normal part of the recovery process that starts once you finish your workouts.

There are many different degrees of soreness that we need to be aware of:

Typical Mild Muscle Soreness:
The first type of soreness is the typical mild muscle soreness experienced the day after a good workout. While scientists are still unable to pinpoint the true cause of such soreness, it is generally accepted that it is caused by micro trauma caused at muscle fiber level and by an excess of lactic acid. At either rate, what’s important is the fact that this is good soreness as it is of a mild nature and muscle function is not impaired. It generally lasts a day for advanced athletes and up to 3 days for a beginner. This soreness is a good indicator that you had a good workout the day before as you created the trauma necessary to trigger adaptation (e.g. muscle growth). When you are no longer experiencing this type of soreness then that is an indication that your body has successfully adapted to the training program; something that leads to no gains unless the routine is changed once again.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness:
The second type of soreness is delayed onset muscle soreness, better known as DOMS. The term DOMS refers to the deep muscular soreness usually experienced two days after the workout has been done (not the day after). This soreness prevents the full muscular contraction of the muscle. This type of more severe soreness is caused when you either embark an exercise program for the first time or when you train a body part much harder than usual. This pain can last between a couple of days for an advanced well-conditioned athlete or as much as a week for a beginner. If you are being affected by this type of soreness and it is time to workout again, I find that the best idea is not to take the day off, but instead to exercise the body part doing an Active Recovery routine. The Active Recovery Routine that I am referring to here is a routine where all of the workloads and intensity are reduced by 50% and the sets are not taken to muscular or fitness failure. For example, if you are to perform an exercise for ten repetitions, then half the repetitions you will use for that day. Also, stop executing the exercise even though you will not have reached muscular failure once you get to repetition number five. The idea of this type of workout is to restore full movement in the muscle and to remove the lactic acid and other waste from it. This will in turn force a high concentration of blood into the damaged area in order to bring the nutrients needed by the muscle for repair and growth. I have always found that doing this is always more beneficial as by the next day you will not be as sore or stiff anymore as opposed to skipping the workout in the name of recovery and waiting for the pain to subside in a week or so.

Injury-Type Muscle Soreness:
The third type of soreness is the one caused by injury. This soreness is entirely different in nature from the ones described above as it is usually immobilizing in nature and very sharp. Depending upon the nature of the injury, it may be experienced only when the muscle is moved in a certain way or constantly. Sometimes these injuries become apparent as soon as they happen, other times the day after. If you become injured, the first thing that you should do is apply the RICE principle (Recovery, Ice, Compression and Elevation). If the injury does not start to recover over the next week you should consult a doctor. Some injuries may allow you to continue training while working around the injury (in other words, finding the exercises that target the injured muscle without involving the range of motion that triggers the pain). Other more serious injuries, like a muscle tear, may involve complete rest of the injured area, and depending on the severity, it may require even surgery. Therefore, when you train, please leave the ego somewhere else. Do not bring it into the gym as it may cause you to get injured and injuries not only can take you out of the gym for a while, but they always seem to haunt you long after you think that you have fully recovered. So needless to say, the best way to prevent this type of soreness is by cycling your exercise parameters and by constantly practicing good form.
There are a few techniques that one can use to manage muscle soreness from the first two types:

Ensure proper nutrition:
While this should be obvious, a lot of people miss the boat on this one. If you do not take the proper amount of carbohydrates (1-2 grams per pound of body weight depending on how fast your metabolism is), 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and 15-20% of your total calories from good fats, your body will not have all of the nutrients that it needs in order to recover and grow (regardless of what supplements you are taking).

Drink your water, lots of it:
While this does not sound very advanced, muscle is over 66% water. Therefore it is of utmost importance that you drink your water. You need your body weight x 0.66 in ounces of water on a daily basis in order to function properly. So if you weigh 200-lbs then you need 132 ounces of water per day. Less water than that and you impair your ability to flush out toxins and thus your recovery will be adversely affected.

Periodize your training and keep training sessions to 60 minutes maximum until advanced:
If you train heavy all of the time with regular sparring and heavy bag work, this will invariably lead to overtraining and even injury. The same is true if your volume is too high. Therefore, it is important that you periodize your workouts by manipulating the volume and how heavy you train.
Alternate periods of higher volume and lower intensity with periods of lower volume and heavier intensity. As a result, training past the 60 minute mark leads to increased cortisol levels and thus impaired recovery.

Do some cardio between workouts:
Believe it or not, three to four 30 minute sessions of extra cardiovascular exercise a week will actually help you speed up recovery since the extra oxygen and circulation helps to flush out toxins and lactic acid out of the system. So do not neglect your cardio.

Alternating hot/cold showers:
Alternating cold and hot showers (30 seconds of cold water followed by 1 minute of hot water) is a great method to help flush out toxins and lactic acid. The cold water creates vasoconstriction while the hot water creates vasodilation. You can use this simple method after a hard workout. Typically, I like to do 3-5 rounds of cold and hot.

Massage:
Massage can help with lymph movement (a fluid that helps to remove waste from body tissues), which combined with blood helps to supply oxygen and nutrients while helping to rid the body from wastes and toxins. While ideally, the higher the frequency of training, the more often one should get a massage, a massage performed once a month will do wonders for your overall recovery.

Enzyme supplementation:
There is an incredible amount of research that shows certain enzymes are not only good for digestion, but they are also good for anti-inflammation and recovery. There are many supplements on the market that claim this one of these formula’s name is Sorenzymes and it is composed of many enzymes that have healing properties and that reduce inflammation. This formula is composed of enzymes that work on a systemic level and address the issue of DOMS.

L-Glutamine supplementation:
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in muscle cells. It is released from the muscle during times of stress (such as hard training workouts) and dieting. This amino acid not only has been shown to be a great anti-catabolic agent (protects the muscle from the catabolic activities of the hormone cortisol), to be a contributor to muscle cell volume, and to have immune system enhancing properties.

Take Your EFA’s:
EFA supplementation has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties (amongst many other good properties). Take at least 14 grams per every 100-lbs of bodyweight. Good sources of EFAs are Fish Oils, Flax Seed Oil and Cod liver oil.

Take your Creatine:
Creatine has been shown over and over again to help improve not only in between set recovery but also recovery after a workout as well. Half a teaspoon (2.5 grams) before and after your workout will upgrade your recovery capabilities..

Get enough sleep:
If you don’t get enough sleep your cortisol levels will go through the roof, recovery will be impaired, and your probability of getting injured and/or sick will increase. It is of utmost importance that you get as much sleep as possible with 8 hours being optimal.

Millions of people around the world suffer from sleep deprivation. If you can lie down in the middle of the day and fall asleep within 10 minutes, then you too are sleep deprived. There are many reasons for this ranging from too much work to simply staying up watching TV. Here we will explore what the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation are and the maladies that it can cause.

1. Impaired glucose tolerance.
Without sleep, the central nervous system becomes more active, something that inhibits the pancreas from producing adequate insulin, the hormone the body needs to digest glucose. "In healthy young men with no risk factor, in one week, we had them in a pre-diabetic state," says researcher Van Cauter when referring to a study that he conducted on the effects of sleep deprivation.

2. Possible link to obesity.
Growth hormone (GH) is secreted during the first round of deep sleep. As both men and women age, they naturally spend less time in deep sleep, which lowers GH secretion. Lack of sleep at a younger age, however, could drive down GH prematurely, accelerating as a result the fat-gaining process. In addition, there is also research that indicates a lowering of the hormone testosterone as well, something that would also make the gaining of fat and the loss of muscle and easy thing for the body to do.

3. Increased carbohydrate cravings.
This is due to the fact that sleep deprivation negatively affects the production of a hormone called Leptin. This hormone is responsible for telling the body when it is full. However, with decreased production of this hormone, your body will crave calories (especially in the forms of carbs) even though its requirements have been met. Not a good situation to be in for a dieter.
4. Weakened immune system.
Research indicates that sleep deprivation affects adversely the white blood cell count in humans as well as the body’s ability to fight infections.

5. Increased risk of getting breast cancer.
Richard Stevens, a cancer researcher at the University of Connecticut, has speculated that there might be a connection between breast cancer and hormone cycles disrupted by late-night light. Melatonin, primarily secreted at night, may trigger a reduction in the body's production of oestrogen. But light interferes with melatonin release (since melatonin is secreted in response to a lack of light), allowing oestrogen levels to rise. Too much oestrogen is known to promote the growth of breast cancers.

6. Decreased alertness and ability to focus.
A recent study showed that people who were awake for up to 19 hours scored worse on performance tests and alertness scales than those with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent–legally drunk in some states. Also, this can lead to injury in the weight room since lack of alertness can cause you to neglect securing a machine correctly or even lose balance as you perform an exercise.

7. Hardening of the arteries.
Stress imposed on the body due to lack of sleep causes such a very sharp rise in cortisol levels. Such an imbalance can lead to hardening of the arteries, something that can cause a heart attack. In addition, we also know that very high cortisol levels lead to muscle loss, increased fat storage, loss of bone mass, cause depression, cause hypertension, cause insulin resistance (the cells in the body lose the ability to accept insulin), and lower growth hormone and testosterone production.

8. Depression and irritability.
Lack of sleep also causes depletion of neurotransmitters in the brain that are in charge of regulating mood. Because of this, sleep deprived people have a “shorter fuse” and also tend to get depressed more easily.

Why do muscles ache after exercise?

A: The ache you feel the day after your workout is caused by micro damage to your muscles and the build up of Lactic Acid. Basically, you have just torn your muscle fibers up and they are entering the repairing stage. Feeling this ache is very normal because this means you have used and stretched muscles beyond their normal use. Now eating the right foods after your workouts and stretching out will help the muscles repair and get bigger.

How do you reduce muscle aches from exercise?

A: Warming-up before any strenuous exercise is important. Stretch each muscle group before and after exercise and increase exercise gradually. All aches and pains cannot be avoided all the time, but this should help.

Muscle recovery: The post-exercise window of opportunity: why we need to start drawing the curtains

There are four components of muscle recovery: restoring fluid and electrolytes, replenishing glycogen, reducing muscle and immune stress, and rebuilding muscle protein. Nutrition is vital for each of them.

Consuming a drink within 30 minutes after your workout containing a fast protein (Whey), carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals will kick start your body into rapid recovery.

Why do my shins hurt?

A: Because Muay Thai fighters kick and block with their shins when you first start training you may experience pain or soreness in this area.
As your training progresses you will start to kick the bags and pads and your shins with become tougher.

If you do suffer from shin pain or soreness then try the following method.

The R.I.C.E. Method

Rest: Resting is important immediately after injury for two reasons. First, rest is vital to protect the injured muscle, tendon, ligament or other tissue from further injury. Second, your body needs to rest so it has the energy it needs to heal itself most effectively.
Ice: Use ice bags, cold packs or even a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a thin towel to provide cold to the injured area. Cold can provide short-term pain relief. It also limits swelling by reducing blood flow to the injured area. Keep in mind, though, that you should never leave ice on an injury for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. Longer exposure can damage your skin. The best rule is to apply cold compresses for 15 minutes and then leave them off for at least 20 minutes
Compression: Compression limits swelling, which slows down healing. Some people notice pain relief from compression as well. An easy way to compress the area of the injury is to wrap an ACE bandage over it. If you feel throbbing, or if the wrap just feels too tight, remove the bandage and re-wrap the area so the bandage is a little looser.
Elevation: Elevating an injury reduces swelling. It's most effective when the injured area is raised above the level of the heart. For example, if you injure an ankle, try lying on your bed with your foot propped on one or two pillows.

After a day or two of R.I.C.E., many sprains, strains or other injuries will begin to heal. But if your pain or swelling does not decrease after 48 hours, make an appointment to see your doctor, depending upon the severity of your symptoms.
Once the healing process has begun, very light massage may improve the function of forming scar tissue, cut healing time and reduce the possibility of injury recurrence.
Gentle stretching can be started at this time.
Try to work the entire range of motion of the injured joint, area or muscle, but be extremely careful not to force a stretch, or you risk re-injury to the area. Keep in mind that a stretch should never cause pain..
Heat may be helpful once the injury moves out of the acute phase. Moist heat will increase blood supply to the sore area and promote healing.