How to train when you are sore

… And how to reduce soreness before it starts.

Did you play a bunch of games over the weekend or participate in an activity you don’t usually do? You might be feeling sore. If you have a training session on the books, you may be tempted to skip it and rest at home.

Wait, wait, wait— don’t do skip your training.

Did you know that the right training when you’re sore can help you feel better, faster? Did you know that there are also ways to reduce how sore you’ll be before it starts?

It’s called Active Recovery. And I promise we’re not just ‘trying to make a buck’ by keeping you on our schedules.

It’s part of our job as sports performance coaches to educate our athletes on the best methods to offset the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness and how to approach active recovery to get you on the best position possible for performance.

Let’s dig into what it is, why it works, and how we approach it.

Lani Wyrick does a pigeon stretch on the Power Plate (follow her on Twitter)

How “Active Recovery” works

What is Active Recovery?

Also called “Active Rest,” Active Recovery is when you activity, training, or movement that is less intense than what you usually do in your training sessions or games. It’s the opposite of “passive recovery”— letting your body completely rest or be inactive to recover.

Studies show that Active Recovery done immediately after high intensity exercise can help clear out blood lactate more quickly. Blood lactate builds up in the body during intense exercise (1). More blood lactate means more hydrogen ions, which is what causes muscle fatigue and contractions.

Participating in Active Recovery means you can decrease the amounts of hydrogen ions in your body, which helps your muscles feel better. You’ll likely be primed to perform better as well.

Now, if you’re injured or in pain, you may need to fully rest— and seek out a doctor.

How Blood Lactate Clears the Body

Two decades ago, the training industry at large believed that blood lactate stuck around in the body for longer than it actually does. According to a study done in 2006, “Rest alone will return blood lactate to baseline levels well within the normal time period between the training sessions of athletes.” (2) Other studies back this up— blood lactate clears out of the body more quickly than we used to assume. This does not mean that Active Recovery programs are pointless. Rather, studies validate that it’s are more effective at clearing blood lactate than passive rest (3).

Bottom line, with Active Recovery, you’ll feel better faster, and you’ll likely be set up for a better performance next time.

How do we approach Active Recovery?

Research shows that active recovery is most effective when it’s done right after training or right after strenuous exercise. However, training the next day, or two days after strenuous exercise is still effective at helping the body recover.

We approach Active Recovery three ways.

Strategy #1: An active recovery program for after games to flush and reset the body

If you’ve participated in strenuous exercise, an active recovery program will help you recover faster. This is especially true if you performed a lot of repetitive motions— like swinging a gold club, throwing a ball, or running a lot.

Recovery programs should take into account what the game demanded of you (throwing, running, jumping, swinging, etc.), and then do what we call “unwinding the body.” For example, if you spent the whole game swinging, then focus on mobility movements that rotate the opposite direction. Or, if you spent the whole match kicking, focus on mobility movements that open up and restore stability to your hips, lower back, and ankles.

A good recovery program includes more than just the “unwinding,” like lower intensity cardio strategies to also clear out blood lactate. But the specifics of the program vary based on sport, position, and game demands.

We’re working on a recovery program specifically for softball pitchers and catchers— we hope to announce the details soon!

Sydney Mayer works through a recovery program (follow her on Twitter)

 

Strategy #2: Active recovery movements immediately after a training session

We always add cool down movements and active recovery modalities movements to the end of our training sessions. We focus on mobility, and we prescribe movements based on what each individual athlete needs.

We have four mobility staples we include for nearly all our athletes:

  • 90 90 hip rotations

  • Prone swimmer

  • Scorpions

  • Ankle lunges

A lot of our mobility focused movements can be done on our Power Plate — our in house, whole body vibration device — to increase circulation.

 

An example of how athletes can fill out where they are sore in our Wellness Survey.

Strategy #3: Okay, you’re sore. Time to modify the training program.

We have athletes come in after practice, after a weekend of games, and in between games. They might be experiencing DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), or they may be needing an active recovery program before their next game.

Research is conflicting on what the ‘best method’ is to offset DOMS, and how long the benefits last post recovery training. One study notes that exercise is the most effective at relieving soreness, but it doesn’t always have a long term effect (4). Many others have studied the effects of foam rollers, massages, and more.

Another study notes that whole-body vibration can decrease DOMS (5), which is one method that we employ during normal training sessions and recovery sessions by using our Power Plate.

However, the industry does agree that following the three foundations of recovery — sleep, hydration, and adequate nutrition — are the best lines of defense for reducing the intensity of DOMS.

We take a collaborative approach to both offset DOMS and continue to progress our athletes’ speed, power, and strength when they come in. Every day, we ask our athletes how they feel in our in-app Wellness Survey. They indicate which muscle groups are sore and the severity of that soreness.

Depending on their answers, we may modify their program in one of three ways.

  1. We keep the same planned program, but the volume (sets/reps) or intensity (weight/load) is decreased.

  2. We substitute out specific pieces of the planned program by collaborating with the athlete in real time on what feels good in the moment.

  3. We completely scrap the planned program and focus on mobility work. We flush the body with the bike or the rower, and we promote more circulation with the Power Plate (remember— whole body vibration to increase circulation). Resistance bands might feature in here as well, but it all depends on what the athlete needs.

Wrap Up

Active recovery can be added to the end of every training session or be focus of a specific training program to promote faster recovery after strenuous exercise, and reduce the intensity of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

If you’re experiencing DOMS next day, you shouldn’t skip your training. You’ll feel better, faster, if your training session is programmed and modified appropriately AND your coaches take your feedback into account. However, if you’re in acute pain or injured, it’s best to rest and consider calling a doctor to start a treatment plan.

Soreness is not something you can always avoid completely, so it’s best to learn how to push through and adapt to perform your best at any given time. Just remember to get enough sleep, drink enough water, and eat enough to properly fuel your body.

Interested in our Softball Pitcher and Catcher Recovery Program?

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References:

  1. Paul Menzies, Craig Menzies, Laura McIntyre, Paul Paterson, John Wilson & Ole J. Kemi (2010) Blood lactate clearance during active recovery after an intense running bout depends on the intensity of the active recovery, Journal of Sports Sciences, 28:9, 975-982, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2010.481721

  2. Barnett A. Using recovery modalities between training sessions in elite athletes: does it help? Sports Med. 2006;36(9):781-96. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200636090-00005. PMID: 16937953.

  3. Devlin J, Paton B, Poole L, Sun W, Ferguson C, Wilson J, Kemi OJ. Blood lactate clearance after maximal exercise depends on active recovery intensity. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2014 Jun;54(3):271-8. PMID: 24739289.

  4. Cheung K, Hume P, Maxwell L. Delayed onset muscle soreness : treatment strategies and performance factors. Sports Med. 2003;33(2):145-64. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200333020-00005. PMID: 12617692.

  5. Akehurst H, Grice JE, Angioi M, Morrissey D, Migliorini F, Maffulli N. Whole-body vibration decreases delayed onset muscle soreness following eccentric exercise in elite hockey players: a randomised controlled trial. J Orthop Surg Res. 2021 Oct 12;16(1):589. doi: 10.1186/s13018-021-02760-4. PMID: 34641941; PMCID: PMC8513296.

Coach J