The Day After Training

[Sec]

Hello,
My question is, after you've had a really hard training session, how do you do to stop yourself aching so much the next day?

I’ve been given a real mix of advice, but before I start trying them I’d like to know what works well for you guys/girls.
Some people have told me to have a really hot shower after training, others have said warm showers are best.
One guy even told me to take a headache pill after training as it thins out the blood, which will flush out any waste (I forget the name)
Do you guys/girls eat much after training? Or just drink water?

Any advise or ideas would be much appreciated :)

Many thanks


- One may have knowledge in the sense that they have memorized or copied from books and not know life. How can someone say they have knowledge and not know themself? No knowledge of life is to fail life. -

[dzu]

For general fatigue I just eat a good meal or two, drink lots of water, and get lots of rest. I may use some dit da jow from Sifu to help with any minor training injuries like bruises but other than that, nothing special.

regards,

Dzu

[wongfeilung809]

surprise, surprise...beer,lots of it,
simpleangles

[chi-kwai]

best way to stop aching is to stop aging!

;)

--
chi kwai

[Sharky]

if you stretch before and after a workout you shoiuldan't ache too much. easier said than done though. working out gives me a real appetite so yea i eat loads. i can get headaches from dehydration if i don't drink too much, so i keep drinking water.

stretching is important dude.

My anus is superior™

[chongnoi]

Well, when I lived and studied in Hong Kong: Had my Asian girlfriend give me a traditional massage.

If you are smart, you will marry a Indonesian, Thai, or Japanese lady. They are skilled in massage and really enjoy giving massages. Ans a wife from those three countries has a servant like attitude towards her husband-something that is lacking in most american girls. I am very fortunate, in that i am getting real close to marrying a traditional Asian lady!!

[Sharky]

"Ans a wife from those three countries has a servant like attitude towards her husband-something that is lacking in most american girls."

Good stuff.

My anus is superior™

[popsider]

Warm down properly. Go for a short jog to disperse the lactic acid that has built up, then stretch. It is more beneficial to stretch after exercise than before. I have heard that bananas are good in providing quick energy AND at helping recovery - not sure about that though but it can't harm, and make sure you remain hydrated as that will help prevent injury, so drink before and after exercise. Apart from that try getting fitter !

[Ish]

"It is more beneficial to stretch after exercise than before."
If you dont strech before exercise you greatly increase the chance of pulling muscles. I'd prefer to ache a bit the next day than pull a muscle that can prevent me from traing properly for days

[Gluteus Maximus]

Everyone else has offered great advice. I do between 2 1/2 and 3 hours of exercise a day - mostly pretty rigorous exercise - and that doesn't include my work, which is also non-sedentary.

I find that glutamine helps, plus protein. When I haven't been able to afford glutamine, I've really noticed the difference. A shake made out of whey powder, glutamine, a banana and 500mL of skim milk pretty soon after doing weights seems to help prevent pain.

If I don't lift weights for a week or so and start again, there's a lot more pain than normal. I do an hour of pretty intense cardio every second day and maybe that helps prevent pain too, once you're in the habit of it. Warmups and stretching are important too, plus lots of water and extra vitamins and minerals. I take a multivitamin, extra C, E and fish oil daily.

Anyway, with this exercise and nutrition regime, I rarely feel pain after workouts - if anything, tiredness rather than pain when I overdo it a bit. It's important to get the right balance between exercise, nutrition and rest. Not an easy thing to do in the real world though! Most of the time I'm bursting with energy, but occasionally I feel exhausted, which I can usually attribute to either insufficient rest, skipping meals or occasionally eating the wrong things.

Rest during the exercise is another thing to keep in mind too. I'm not sure exacty what sort of exercises are making you sore, but if you take rests of between a minute or two every now and then during the exercise, it will help minimise pain as well.

Hope this is of some help.

Max

To know the unseen, you must first learn to see.

[Sec]

Thanks for all the advice ..

I'm working on the whole Asian girlfriend thing ;)


- Someone may feel they have achieved the success of daily life in the "visible", such as material and financial status, but they have failed at the "invisible" success in knowing the basic principle of life and to live it within everyday life. -

[martialdoulos]

As to pain after workouts, lactic acid, hydration, etc, etc, I can recommend no website better than this:

http://www.mydynamics.com

It has an INCREDIBLE amount of very good information on it, and Charles Staley (the site owner) is not only a physical trainer, but a martial artist. He is far more eloquent than I with respect to this subject matter, so I will leave it to him.

Go to the articles section of the site, and look up soreness, lactic acid, and the like. He can improve your performance dramatically, as he has mine...

[dzu]

That link is incorrect. The actual link is http://www.myodynamics.com

IMHO the author focuses primarily on the external aspects of MA. Whether this is intentional or not, I don't know. Suffice it to say that maximizing power does not begin with gross physical motions otherwise the first set wouldn't be called Siu Nim Tau. Be Mindful of the Small Things.

regards,

Dzu

[popsider]

""It is more beneficial to stretch after exercise than before."
If you dont strech before exercise you greatly increase the chance of pulling muscles. I'd prefer to ache a bit the next day than pull a muscle that can prevent me from traing properly for days"

OK you are partly right. It's more important to warm up (light physical exercise) before exercise rather than stretch. However some light stretching will help a little.

The point I am making is just that deep stretches can cause your muscles to become less flexible immediately afterwards and hence more liable to strain or tear. If you stretch thoroughly after exercise you will become more supple than stretching before exercise and less prone to injury in the long term and it will help your recovery from exercise. So yes if you have the time a little light stretching prior to exercise is fine, but in order of importance it comes after warming up the muscles before and stretching after exercise.