Sore Muscles? You don’t have to suffer anymore! Here are five things you can do to help.

Did too many wall balls, lunges or squats in your last workout leave you too sore to descend stairs the next day? Try walking down the stairs backwards (seriously, it really helps)!

Intense workouts don’t have to leave you with lingering soreness for days. CrossFit WOD (HIIT) workouts will make you sweat and trim off inches, but they are often followed by intense muscle soreness and muscle fatigue. Here are five things you can do about it.

Foam Roll

Foam roller popularity has blossomed in the last few years. They are featured all over Fitness blogger Anna Victoria’s Instagram as she swears by them.

According to Women’s Health, foam rollers are similar to a massage in which they increase blood flow to your muscles through applied pressure.  You can either have a partner foam roll your sore quads or you can do it yourself. Blogs and articles that demonstrate the most impactful methods are easy to find. However you decide to foam roll, you will save money by investing in a roller compared to massage therapy. The cost of a roller is comparable to a single session at a nice massage therapy business.

 Tart Cherry Juice

It’s surprising that a sugar laden fruit juice can relieve sore muscles. As CrossFit athletes, we are encouraged to avoid sugary drinks, even fruit drinks. But according to Men’s Fitness , cherries have an antioxidant compound called anthocyanin that helps reduce inflammation.

If you choose this route, make sure you find an organic version, which we would expect to be lower in sugar than its non-organic counterpart. Also, drink cherry juice in moderation if you want to keep your overall sugar intake in check.

Shower alternating Hot and Cold segments

According to Shape magazine,   taking a contrast shower can help with muscle soreness. Shape recommends that you switch between hot and cold every 20 to 30 seconds. This is said to help fight off muscle tension.

Dustin Raymer, an exercise physiologist explained to Shape mag that going back and forth from cold to hot water helps break down lactic acid, (which is what makes your muscles sore). It is best to make the shower go as cold as possible, followed by a sprint of hot shower that is as hot as you can handle. This extreme temperature variation would produce optimal relief for your sore and tense muscles.

Stretching

It is best to stretch right after a workout to get the best relief from sore muscles the next day. You want to stretch while your muscles are still warm. Stretching your arms, legs, and back for 5-10 minutes after a workout can reduce soreness substantially.

Supplements and Food

You can also eat certain foods that help reduce inflammation such as nuts, spinach, and salmon according to Women’s Health, . You can also take Omega 3 fish oil supplements that help reduce inflammation 48 hours after a workout. That is, if you don’t take one every day to receive its many other health benefits.

Soreness Can be Good!

The most important thing to remember is that from time to time, depending on the intensity and/or duration of the workout, you will get sore afterward. While there are many options to help reduce soreness, sometimes it can’t be completely avoided.

Accept your sore muscles. They tell you that you’ve used a muscle that has not been worked this hard recently. And working all of our muscle groups is essential to fitness and good overall health.

If you do get sore, try some of these suggestions to reduce or eliminate it. Even untreated soreness usually dissipates in a couple of days. No one ever said that the road to great fitness would be easy, they just didn’t tell you it might include a bit of post workout aches.