What helps against sore muscles?

Muscle ache is a pain that usually occurs after physical exertion, especially due to excessive or unfamiliar strain on the muscles. This pain usually only becomes noticeable after 12-24 hours and remains for 1-3 days.

In the past, it was assumed that strong efforts to produce large quantities of lactate were the cause. The assumption was that lactic acid causes an overacidification of the strained muscles. Meanwhile, it has been found that the muscle ache is mainly caused by strength training.

Muscle ache is caused by small cracks in the muscles (microtraumata) in which inflammatory substances accumulate. These cracks usually occur when braking movements, a good example is the attachment of the foot or walking downhill.

What helps before?

• Stretching exercises can help
• Slowly increase training/loads
• Steady downhill running 

What helps after:

• A light massage can help, but you should not try to stress the affected areas, but rather to eliminate the pain superficially.
• Heat can also lead to faster regeneration, as the improved blood circulation dissipates the inflammatory substances. Therefore the bathtub or sauna is a good idea!
• Ice white powder in recovery drinks should also help
  • Bodybuilders swear by WHEY shakes with a lot of BCAAs (see Google)