Have you noticed that after you’ve warmed up your muscles prior to your training session, they feel strong, resilient and powerful? However, once you finish your workout routine they feel tired and sluggish. Well, this can be defined as muscle fatigue or muscle weakness. Often, this fatigue is most felt in the legs, due to them being one of the biggest muscle groups. But how do you overcome muscle fatigue and DOMS, and what can we do to prevent it?
What Are DOMS?
DOMS and muscle fatigue are actually very different things. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) are a normal side effect of exercise and generally won’t be felt during your workout. However, they could come on later that day, the day after, or even the day after that.
DOMS feel like a sore, aching pain in the muscles. They will generally go away on their own within a day or two as the muscle heals. This delayed onset muscle soreness isn’t as likely to occur in people who have been doing regular exercise for years with the correct form – unless it’s a new exercise. It’s more likely to occur in people new to exercise or if you’ve been on a long run, or long bike ride you aren’t used to doing. As your body gets used to physical activity, this muscle pain will happen less frequently.
What Is Muscle Fatigue?
Muscle fatigue is your body’s way of telling you the muscles have reached their limit. Most people will get DOMS after a workout, especially if it was a particularly difficult or intense workout session. However, not everyone will get muscle fatigue. Muscle fatigue is when tired muscles begin to underperform, feel weak and start to lose strength.
Muscle fatigue decreases your muscle’s ability to perform as well as it could normally, which will reduce your athletic performance. The fatigue generally happens due to a build-up of lactic acid in your muscle fibres. However, it can also occur if you are new to exercise and your muscles aren’t ready for that amount of exercise, or muscle strength needed. It’s simply when the muscles become too exhausted to keep on going, despite your overall energy levels.
When you experience this fatigue, the force behind your muscles will begin to decrease, causing you to feel weaker. Once this starts to happen, only rest and recovery will help the fatigue go away. However, there are a few things you can do to help prevent it from happening. In this article, we will also go into detail about what you can do to help once leg fatigue sets in.
Causes Of Muscle Fatigue
Exercise and other physical activities are a common cause of muscle fatigue. However, there are other possible causes of this symptom including…
- Pregnancy
- Poor nutrition
- Age
- Anemia
- Anxiety
- Dehydration
- Depression
- HIV
- Lack of exercise
- Medications
- Lactic acid build-up
- Illness
- Sleep Deprivation
- Stroke
Symptoms Of Muscle Fatigue
Muscle fatigue can occur anywhere on the body, but normally where your largest muscle groups are – such as your leg muscles. You might first start to notice that your muscles feel weaker than normal, perhaps you can’t lift a weight you have done in the past, or you get a slight shake in the muscle. These are just a few of the signs that would indicate workout fatigue.
Other muscle fatigue symptoms include…
- Soreness
- Localised pain in the muscle
- Muscle twitching
- Trembling
- A weaker grip
- Muscle cramps
Most of the time, this muscle soreness will be down to overdoing it in the gym. However, if you begin having difficulty performing daily tasks or if your symptoms start to get worse, seek immediate medical attention as soon as you can as this could be an indication of a more serious health issue.
How To Overcome Muscle Fatigue
The treatment really depends on the underlying cause of the fatigue in your muscles. In many cases, your muscle fatigue will start to improve with rest and recovery. However, staying hydrated (at least 2 litres of water a day) and maintaining a healthy balanced diet can also improve your recovery time.
Stretching
One of the best ways to help treat muscle fatigue is to ensure you stretch well before and after any strenuous activity. Warming up will help to loosen your muscle fibres by promoting extra blood circulation to the area.
Warming down afterwards will help to stretch out your muscles and work out some of the built-up lactic acid created during your workout. This build-up of lactic acid in your muscle tissue can cause muscle fatigue, so it’s important you take the time to warm down properly.
Active Recovery
Another thing you can do to help reduce the risk of muscle fatigue is to participate in active recovery. This simply means perhaps spending 5 minutes walking on a treadmill after your workout sessions. Don’t just stop once the exercise is over. Make sure you allow your muscles to warm down slowly and gradually to allow the waste products – such as lactic acid, to be flushed out of your muscles.
Some quick tips to help you reduce the likelihood of muscle fatigue include…
- Staying hydrated – take sports drinks with you to sip throughout your sessions
- Warm up before exercise
- Warm down after exercise
- Use a foam roller/massage gun
- Eat a healthy diet full of the right food – Fruits, vegetables, protein…etc
- Have a small amount of carbohydrates before your workout in a light meal or snack, this can help with a lack of energy
- Take rest days to allow for muscle repair
- Hit your daily dose of protein
One very quick and simple way to help your muscles recover is to ensure you drink enough both before and after a workout. Water, of course, is the best option, however there are other drinks you can have that will help. Things such as an electrolyte drink, or even something like Kombucha can help to keep your hydration levels up. So, if you don’t like plain water, try one of these instead.
Using Heat To Increase Blood Flow
There are a number of ways you can use heat to help ease muscle fatigue. Due to the temperature of the skin rising when we apply heat, this increases blood flow to the muscles. The extra blood in the muscles helps them to recover more quickly.
If you can, begin to apply the heat within a few hours of the workout finishing for the best results. A few ways to apply heat include…
- Use hot water bottles placed directly on the aching muscles
- Have a hot shower after exercise
- Wrap a towel dipped in warm water over the muscles
- Spend time in a sauna or steam room
- Use a CBD balm to rub over the muscles
Muscle Soaks, Balms, Oils & Gels
Personally, having a hot bath using Weleda’s arnica muscle bath soak, followed by rubbing in a muscle balm, or some Weleda arnica massage oil seems to work wonders in relieving tired muscles. Leaving the balm/oil to work its magic as you get on with daily life – easier to do without having to lug around a hot water bottle with you all day.
However, if you don’t have time for a bath, or are showering at the gym then something like this energising shower gel from Weleda could help to reduce muscle soreness.
When to use…
Massage Oils & Balms – will help to heat the muscle and is left on the skin.
Energising Shower Gels – help to energise the muscles after a workout and don’t get left on the skin.
Bath Soaks – great for reducing muscle soreness by warming and relaxing the muscles.
This kind of muscle relief works to help reduce inflammation and muscle stiffness. The natural oils from the Arnica warm the skin which in turn helps increase blood flow to the area, helping to relieve pain, and stiffness and healing micro fibre tears. These micro fibre tears happen during exercise and are what make your muscles grow bigger and stronger over time. What’s great about a muscle balm is that once you’ve applied it, you can leave it to get to work throughout the day.
Most muscle balms, rubs and oils will smell quite strongly, so bare this in mind if you have a hot date after your gym session.
If you’ve never used a muscle balm before, here are some tips…
- Use it sparingly at first
- Do NOT put it anywhere near your intimate regions and your eyes – it stings!!
- Wash your hands well after rubbing it in
- It can make your skin look pinker than usual
- You should feel a tingle, then a warming sensation
- If you don’t like the feel, you can wash it off with warm, soapy water
Massage Therapy
Massage gives great relief and comfort to the muscles and can be a great solution to cure muscle fatigue quickly. A recent study showed that having a massage from a physical therapist after exercise can help reduce pain and muscle damage, especially if done within 48 hours. Even if you’re not a professional athlete, regular massage can reduce the intensity of muscle soreness.
Muscles that’ve been massaged regularly tend to have more blood vessels compared to those that haven’t. Massaging promotes tissue regeneration more effectively once the fibres are broken down in an extensive workout, which leads to more rapid muscle recovery.
You don’t even have to go to a massage therapist, you could instead just invest in a massage gun and take it into your own hands – literally! It might cost you a bit initially, but you’ve got it for life and they generally work just as well at helping to relieve muscle aches and pains.
Start Foam Rolling
Using a foam roller is great, especially if you can’t get to a massage clinic Plus, it’s more convenient and way cheaper!
Foam rolling is easy to do as you simply have to place the roller on the ground. Then place different parts of your body (only the muscly parts) on it and roll slowly on top of it. Do each muscle section one at a time to ensure you are getting deep into the muscle.
Due to exercising, tension will build up in the connective tissues of the muscles. Foam rolling will help to release this tension. This is a one-time investment and should last you a lifetime. You can get them from around ￡5 and upwards. Use it for 10 to 15 minutes on different muscles after a workout once or twice a day to get rid of muscle fatigue.
Compression Garments
Compression garments have recently become extremely famous among fitness fanatics for their many benefits. The question is when to wear them and for how long. It’s said to be true that wearing it for a longer time can enhance its benefits. However, you can’t neglect the fact that they’re not so comfortable either. For example, you should never wear them overnight unless a medical professional is told to do so. Compression stockings are perfect for leg fatigue and are the most popular form of compression among athletes.
Perhaps start by wearing it for 1 or 2 hours a day, extending it to 3 to 4 hours a day. So, once you are back from the gym, have a shower and put on your compression garment. Then leave it to do its magic.
Cold Therapy
OK, so this might sound like a contradiction suggesting the use of both heat and cold therapy. It depends on the reason for your muscle fatigue as to which one you use. Ice is generally used for inflammation, whereas heat is for general muscle aches and soreness. If you aren’t sure, try both (not at the same time), and see which one feels better for you. Inflammation generally occurs when the muscle has been damaged, so it’s likely you’ll need heat over ice.
Don’t ever apply ice directly on the skin as this can cause blisters. Put it in a piece of cloth and then apply it to the skin. Apply it gently to the muscles, moving it in slow, steady circles over the area.
Help Your Muscles From The Inside
OK, so now we’ve covered everything you can do externally to help with muscle fatigue, here are a few things you can do to help from the inside…
- Hydration – One easy way to help with muscle tiredness is to ensure you drink enough water
- Food After Workouts – Feed your muscles by giving them enough energy to heal
- Food Before Workouts – Give your muscles the sufficient energy they need through proper pre-workout nutrition
- Supplements – Omega 3, Turmeric for inflammation, Protein powders for muscle growth and healing
- Rest Days – The most important thing you can do for your muscles is to ensure they have enough time to recover from exercise
Hopefully, this article has given you some useful information on how you can avoid, or deal with muscle exhaustion should it arise in the future.
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