What Is Muscle Fatigue?
Fatigue can happen after a few sets while exercising or after a few days of extreme training. Suddenly, you feel as though you can barely move, everything hurts, and you’re weak and tired. Pain and soreness can also accompany muscle fatigue and usually do.
Your muscle power and force are suffering from a temporary decline that stems from physical exertion. Repetitive or sustained exercise can cause this to develop. Remember when you pushed yourself really hard at the gym? Or when you worked out the same set of muscles for three days straight?
It’s not only exercise that can cause fatigue. There are many other factors that come into play, such as poor sleeping habits, dehydration, lack of nutrients, and stress. It can also indicate certain disorders such as depression or Addison’s. Illness can have a major impact on how your body functions and recovers from training.
Symptoms of Muscle Fatigue
Every person is unique, and so the symptoms of muscle fatigue can be wide and varying. If you’re overtrained, you may have delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). It usually occurs between 24 and 48 hours after you finished exercising. DOMS can include inflammation, loss of strength, muscle aches, and fatigue. The pain from it can be very severe.
Don’t worry, you should start feeling like yourself again in a couple of days. Get some proper rest, make sure you stretch, try some foam rolling, and maybe get a massage. These can help relieve muscle fatigue and speed up the healing process. If you get worse, though, or your symptoms don’t subside after a week, head to the doctor.
Watch Out for Low-carb Diet Plans
High-protein diets and sporting supplements are popular for fitness enthusiasts. This is because micronutrients and macronutrients can help enhance physical performances and speed up recovery time. Yet, eating carbs after exercise can also help recovery time and prevent fatigue. High-intensity workouts can deplete glycogen stores, resulting in fatigue.
High-carb foods like rice and fresh fruits are an important part of your diet. Carbs convert to glucose, and your body uses them for fuel or stores them as glycogen in your muscles and liver. If you’re trying out a low-carb diet, it means that glycogen levels will decrease. You can suffer from fatigue, decreased performance, and poor recovery times.
Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies
If you suffer from nutrient deficiencies, your performance can suffer too. You need adequate vitamin D to help prevent muscle fatigue. Magnesium regulates muscle contractions and can have a huge impact on your energy levels. Low levels of calcium can cause cramps, fatigue, and several other symptoms.
Relieving Muscle Fatigue
Relieving muscle fatigue is probably high on your list of to-dos. You can make some changes to your lifestyle to help handle fatigued, sore muscles.
Massage can be very effective at relieving muscle fatigue, soreness, and inflammation. Dietary changes can also have an impact. Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand. Sports supplements are not enough on their own. Eat food that is rich in vitamins. Sleeping more can also help athletes have better energy, stamina, and reaction times. Adequate rest is one of the best ways to recover from muscle fatigue.
If you suffer from muscle fatigue, it’s important to take the necessary steps to deal with it. Whether that’s changing your diet, getting a massage, or getting a good night’s rest, you can start preventing muscle fatigue before it ever happens.