tl;dr
Working out makes you sore. Consistent working out makes you less and less sore over time. Sleep and good nutrition help your muscles recover.

You’ve just decided it’s time to be a new you. You’re tired of gasping for air on the stairs, not fitting in your clothes, and feeling weak.

So you order up a trainer and he or she kicks your butt (probably not literally). You’re doing things you’ve never done before.

First of all: GO YOU! This is a HUGE step on your journey to your new lifestyle.

Second, why the hell does it hurt so badly?

My arms, my legs… I can’t even sit on the toilet!

I don’t know why this happens exactly. There’s the thought that the muscles, when pushed to these new limits, become damaged. Little proteins called myosin in your muscle may actually snap in a bunch of places. Who knows if that’s true.

What I DO know is that it hurts.

What can you do about it?

  • Stay the course
  • Rest
  • Eat well

Stay the course

I know this muscle soreness is painful, but did you know that it will get better? Frequent exercise makes your muscles more resilient.

It also does the same thing for your bones, heart, and every other part of your body.

Rest

SLEEP! Sleep is so important.

You see, we have a finite ability to deal with stress… work stress, training stress, life stress… all of it. Even just being awake is stressful. Isn’t that weird?

The magic of sleep is that it regenerates your body and mind, leaving you with room to deal with stresses. We can take that and use those good stressors to build you up. The new you becomes:

  • stronger
  • fitter
  • more patient
  • a clearer thinker
  • slimmer
  • more muscular and defined
  • etc…

So don’t forget to sleep so your body can repair itself. Progress doesn’t happen without rest.

Eat well

Did you know that certain proteins may reduce muscle soreness? A nutritious diet supports all of their body processes we just discussed. You can’t build a racecar out of legos if you don’t have any legos! Make sure you have the protein legos to build your own body racecar.

Shoot for one gram of protein for each pound that you weigh. This is a lot, and it’s hard for people to reach. Start by setting easy goals.

For example, if you weigh 110lbs, you are shooting for 110g of protein every day.

Count your protein one day (mobile apps make this much easier than it used to be). Let’s say it was 30g. Adding 80g of protein is DAUNTING and difficult to do. But what about adding 20g? You could get that from one scoop of protein powder in a shake! And 50g is better than 30g.

Next week, you can choose another goal within reach. Maybe you shoot for 70g?

Conclusion

  • Keep working out
  • Rest and sleep
  • Eat your veggies and proteins