Contents:
- Medical Video: Muscle Fatigue: Why do muscles get tired and weak after exercise?
- Body pain after exercise, a sign of muscle lack of oxygen
- Should I stop exercising when I feel muscle pain?
Medical Video: Muscle Fatigue: Why do muscles get tired and weak after exercise?
Motivating yourself to exercise regularly is not easy. Especially if you often experience muscle aches after exercise, you may be reluctant to continue exercising. Actually, this is normal for people who rarely exercise. However, the body of pain can also be a sign that your muscles are lacking in oxygen. How could that be? Here's the explanation.
Body pain after exercise, a sign of muscle lack of oxygen
Sport does have a myriad of benefits for health. Reporting from the Mayo Clinic, exercise can help increase energy and bone density, improve mood, make sleep better, and improve your sex life.
Behind these benefits, you may often feel body pain after exercise. In fact, this problem can happen to anyone, both those who rarely exercise and even professional athletes who are very well trained. This happens because the muscles of the body tend to lack oxygen during exercise. How come?
When on the move, all cells in the body need oxygen to convert sugar into ATP, which is the main energy source in the body. Similarly, when you exercise. Muscle cells also need extra energy because they have to contract as long as you exercise.
Have you ever felt heavier breathing and increased heart rate during exercise? This also can not be separated from the influence of the muscles of the body that is asking for extra oxygen supply from the lungs and heart to produce more energy. Then automatically, you will breathe faster to supply a lot of oxygen to your body's muscles.
However, sometimes the circulating oxygen is still not enough to convert sugar into ATP needed by muscles. As a result, the sugar will be converted into lactic acid through anaerobic activity (the process of producing energy without oxygen).
When lactic acid builds up, this will trigger a stinging and aching sensation in the muscles, sometimes even burning. If this happens to you, then you need to immediately reduce the intensity of exercise or rest to restore the body to pain after exercise.
Should I stop exercising when I feel muscle pain?
Basically, body pain after exercise is not a dangerous thing. In fact, the pain tends to subside when you start exercising again.
So, you don't have to stop exercising immediately when you experience muscle aches or body aches after exercise. Slowly reduce the intensity of your exercise to get rid of the remnants of lactic acid that triggers aching and aching bodies.
If muscle pain after exercise doesn't subside, then it's time for you to give a momentary pause to rest and let it recover completely. Calm down, this won't reduce your fitness level, really.
In between breaks, eat foods that contain lots of protein such as meat, eggs, or soybeans. Because, protein is an important nutrient for building and maintaining muscle strength. It can also help relieve body aches.
Don't forget to always meet your fluid needs after exercise to prevent dehydration, even if you don't feel thirsty. Reporting from Self, a study shows that dehydration can make after exercise. You can drink water or drinks that contain electrolytes to help reduce the buildup of lactic acid that causes muscle pain.
