In spite of the popular fitness slogan “no pain, no gain” over-training your muscles actually turns out to be counterproductive as no one can perform well when hurting all over. In fact, it takes up to 72 hours for the human body to repair any torn muscle fibers as well as build new ones. Some soreness is fine, but it’s generally a good idea to prevent massive muscle soreness with the following seven tips:

1. Stretch: Stretching after your warm up and again at the end of your workout reduces soreness by helping your muscles relieve tension and tightness. It also prevents injuries.
2. Post-workout Nutrition: What you feed your body right after your workout can have a huge impact on your ability to recover from strenuous activities like weight lifting or endurance training. Opt for a post-workout meal or drink like the P90X Results and Recovery Formula with a carbs to protein ratio of 3:1 to 5:1 to shorten your recovery time.
3. Massage: Similarly to stretching after a workout, massaging the trained muscles can further loosen any tightness and reduce inflammatory compounds called cytokines. You can do this very easily and inexpensively yourself with a foam roller or rumble roller. Watch a 10-minute foam roller massage routine in the video below.
4. Ice Therapy: After an extremely tough workout you can reduce inflammation by applying ‘indirect’ ice (in a towel for example) to all the over-worked muscles.
5. Heat Therapy: Take a hot shower or jump into a hut tub once your body has returned to normal temperatures. In other words, cool down after your workout before you jump into any hot waters. Letting your body cool down first will prevent further damage from muscle breakdown. Then the increased circulation from heat will speed up the healing process.
6. Stay Active: Although your body will be protesting you should stay at least moderately active to support the healing process by increasing your circulation and metabolism.
7. Pain Killers: If nothing else helps you can take some Tylenol or any other pain killer to reduce your discomfort.

Especially when starting a new workout program muscle soreness can be expected since it poses a new challenge to your muscles. But if the pain keeps you from continuing your progress you should dial it back a bit to give your body time to adjust to that level gradually. It’s better to make slow progress than none at all.