Muscle Soreness | 4 Tips for Post-Gym Recovery

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) can be so uncomfortable and make your next gym session feel harder than it needs to! 

We're here to help with some tips for improving your muscle soreness post workout, increasing muscle protein synthesis for better muscle growth outcomes and getting you better results overall! 

Our Tips for DOMS: 

1. Electrolytes: A lack of electrolytes before, after and during your workout can contribute to DOMS. During any type of exercise your muscles are working harder, your sweating and therefore losing more water and electrolytes than you would outside of a workout. Replacement of these essential baselines can support improvements in muscle soreness the next day.

2. Magnesium Glycinate: Found in both our Rise + Shine and Rest + Sleep formulations, reaching your magnesium intake across the day can support muscle function and recovery after strenuous exercise therefore reducing your risk of DOMS. Further supporting a reduction in muscle tension with relaxant properties to reduce overall pain outcomes.

3. Glycine: Glycine is a major component of collagen as a key amino acid. Collagen peptides such as glycine have been shown to reduce exercise related muscle soreness, with a 2023 study on males confirming it alleviated muscle soreness, fatigue and affected muscle strength after exercise (1). Glycine can be found in a therapeutic 3g dosage within our Rest + Sleep night formulation, making it the best way to end any day, particularly those you've been to the gym, on a hike or an intense pilates class. 

4. Protein: Evidence shows that consuming 20-30g of protein post-workout within 30minutes induces a significant rise in muscle protein synthesis (2); this supports muscle growth and therefore reduced muscle soreness as it provides the amino acids in order to repair the muscles unlike a low protein intake would. 

Muscle soreness post-workout can be a halt in a lot of people's exercise schedules with wanting to push through the pain not always at the top of everyone's list. To help you stick to your workouts, improve your ability to reach your gym goals and increase overall comfort working proactively to decrease DOMS can be done with some simple additional steps around/after your workouts. 

References: 

1. Kuwaba, K., Kusubata, M., Taga, Y., Igarashi, H., Nakazato, K., & Mizuno, K. (2023). Dietary collagen peptides alleviate exercise-induced muscle soreness in healthy middle-aged males: a randomized double-blinded crossover clinical trial. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 20(1), 2206392. https://doi.org/10.1080/15502783.2023.2206392

2. Cintineo, H. P., Arent, M. A., Antonio, J., & Arent, S. M. (2018). Effects of Protein Supplementation on Performance and Recovery in Resistance and Endurance Training. Frontiers in nutrition, 5, 83. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2018.00083