Got DOMS?
Do you LOVE exercising and all its health benefits, but hate the soreness that it brings?
I know I do! I *really* love challenging my muscles by frequently incorporating new moves into my routines. Not only does this keep exercising fun and interesting, but it also ensures that I am incorporating good variety and hitting every muscle group.
Unfortunately, upping the intensity of my workout often means serious DOMS the next day. DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, simply refers to the soreness you experience 24-72 hours after an intense workout.
This pain is thought to be caused by little tears created in our muscle fibers when we create enough resistance to challenge the muscles being used.
That’s why it is so important to allow the body to fully recover between each workout. You need to rest so that your musculature can heal.
But that’s another email for another day…
Today’s email is all about DOMS and what you can do to help alleviate the symptoms.
Ditch the DOMS
Here’s a quick and super useful tip that I frequently use to alleviate DOMS. It won’t cost you any extra *time* or *money.*
You actually do it in the shower right after your workout!
Here’s what you do:
- When you get into the shower, start with hot water.
- After 30 seconds, turn the temp down to as cold as you can stand.
- 30 seconds later, turn it back up to hot.
- Repeat until you are finished with your shower.
We’ve all heard of taking long hot baths to relieve soreness and tension, right? While that works okay, I find that the
cold-hot method above works much better.
That’s because alternating between extreme temperatures helps to stimulate blood flow, which reduces swelling.
This technique, also known as Contrast Water Treatment (CWT), has actually been shown to reduce and improve recovery deficiencies caused by DOMS. In other words, you are able to recover more quickly!
So if you want to experience the benefits of strength training without all the soreness, you have to give this tip a try. I always try to finish my workout with one of these quick hot-cold showers because when I do, any soreness is *dramatically* reduced.
And it’s totally simple, totally quick, and totally free!
Now go build some sleek, sexy muscle!
Go raw and be fit,
Swayze
P.S. No amount of physical activity, whether it’s running, swimming, or lifting weights, will erase the harmful effects of an unhealthy cooked food diet. If you truly want to experience optimal health, you need to eat a caloric AND nutrient dense diet.
I first learned about such a diet – a low fat, high fruit raw vegan diet, of course – from Frederic Patenaude and his book The Raw Secrets. Frederic does a fabulous job of exposing the many raw food myths, while at the same time providing the absolute best raw vegan diet for optimal health.
If you want to learn about a healthy raw food diet from the “master” and read the book that actually convinced me to go raw, please follow the link below:
