How To Get Rid Of DOMS [7 Ways]
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You’ve just started working out, and it’s good to be doing something again.
But then the next day comes around…
You’re hurting in places you didn’t know existed, holding up a hairdryer feels like a workout, and you’re seriously thinking about ringing someone to install a stairlift so you can get up and down the stairs.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness aka DOMS.
That’s why you’re here. So let’s show you how to get rid of DOMS if you do get them and better still not get them in the first place.
Why are you waking up feeling like you’ve gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson?
The soreness/pain you’re experiencing in the muscle is due to inflammation.
During your workouts your muscles sustain tiny amounts of damage. This damage will spark inflammation.
There’s a rush of inflammatory cells to the damaged muscles which helps to remove damaged cells and recruit stem cells from surrounding tissue to assist in repairing and regenerating new muscle cells. That’s how you build muscle and improve your strength.
DOMS won’t last forever though, as you train consistently you will start feeling less sore. This is because you’re getting used to how you’re working out.
1. Do not ice, it’s a myth
Think of icing your muscle a bit like pressing pause on the healing process.
Research shows that icing delays muscle repair. Icing your muscles after a workout prevents white blood cells, whose sole purpose is to heal damaged tissue, going to your damaged muscles.
Icing is NOT an effective way for you to get rid of your muscle soreness. Let your body go through its own natural healing process.
2. Walk it off
Remember when your parents told you to walk it off? Well, they weren’t wrong.
Light movements when you have sore muscles can be a great way to contract your muscles to bring more white blood cells to the damaged area to reduce muscle soreness faster.
Something as simple as doing a low intensity walk the next day can be enough to help you get rid of muscle soreness faster.
Doing 20 minutes of exercise per day can decrease inflammatory cells by 5%. (1)
3. NMES can reduce muscle soreness
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can help you to get rid of doms and recover faster. This is a great alternative if you’ve really overdone it and can’t even walk.
These devices send electrical impulses to your nerves helping to flush waste out of sore muscles through the lymphatic system.
Your blood vessels will open, allowing more nutrients and white blood cells into your muscles, which will speed up the healing process.
A few NMES devices you should definitely consider:
Med-Fit 1 Dual Channel TENS Machine (best budget NMES device)
4. Start foam rolling
Another way to reduce muscle soreness is by foam rolling. This helps to promote blood flow to the sore area helping your muscles to recover faster.
Foam rolling helps to flush out waste by-products and damaged tissue through the lymphatic system.
It’s a bit like milking a cow to get milk, but instead you’re squeezing and contracting your muscles to force fluid, damaged tissue and by-products out of the muscles and bring white blood cells in.
We recommend starting with 1-3 minutes on sore muscles. When you find a spot that is really tender, try to stay on it for 60 seconds and slowly roll over it.
You can also use a lacrosse ball to get deeper into areas like the glutes and hip flexor muscles.
5. Avoid NSAIDs
Like icing, Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) blunt the body’s healing process when there is inflammation.
Ibuprofen and naproxen are common NSAIDs. You may feel immediate pain relief by taking these, but they do not support your body’s natural healing process.
Simply put you will not recover faster from DOMS by taking NSAIDs.
6. Follow a low inflammation diet
Refined carbohydrates and seed oils will spike inflammation and will not help you to recover from muscle soreness.
Eating more fruit, vegetables, and seasoning with anti-inflammatory spices like turmeric will help your body’s natural process of healing and reduce inflammation faster.
Rule of thumb here: if it comes from a plant eat it. If it’s been made in a plant, don’t!
7. Take well-researched proven anti-inflammatory supplements
I’ve left supplementation till last. The reason being, that to get rid of doms quicker the biggest focus should be on moving more and improving the quality of your diet.
Supplements are the 1%. They enhance what you’re already doing well.
Should you work out with DOMS?
If you’re experiencing muscle soreness or pain and you think it could be due to an injury, the answer is no. You should consult a physiotherapist, sports massage therapist, osteopath, chiropractor, or another physical therapist.
If it’s because you pushed yourself more than usual in a workout, or because you’re new to working out, the answer is yes…
But there are a few things to consider if you’re planning to work again
Make sure you have a read-through and action steps 1-7 on this blog
Leave at least 24 hours between workouts, as it takes somewhere between 24-72 hours for full muscle recovery
So, if you’ve trained on a Monday, try not to train the same muscles again on a Tuesday.
Make sure when you do decide to train you do a proper warm up, and you also do a proper cool down
As you’re working out keep an eye on how you’re feeling
If your soreness and pain doesn’t go away as you begin working out, stop the session.
It’s better to skip one session and go into the next feeling recovered, rather than trying to push through and doing more damage to yourself.
Now you now know how to get rid of your doms.
If you don’t want to go through the pain of DOMS in the first place
If you’re thinking of getting back into training, why not contact us.
We can build you a programme that minimises DOMS and gets you to your goal faster.
A lot of people go back to exercise too hard, to fast and they end up stopping – usually because of an injury of burning themselves out.
What’s worse is they internalise this idea that getting fit, healthy and in shape means pain and that they have to suffer.
Working with Unstoppabl is different. Let us show you an easier way to get to your goals without spending hours doing so, without getting injured, and without hating every moment of training.
Book a call to discuss your goals and see how we can help.
