Five tips to limit aches after sport

It’s a sensation that most regular sportsmen or Sunday amateurs know. After a good sports session, body aches can appear the day after physical exercise and these sensations are sometimes unpleasant. Sports coach Anouk Garnier, also a top athlete, shares her tips on the show Well done for you
to help all athletes to reduce this phenomenon, because aches remain impossible to avoid anyway.

Train regularly and manage your intensity

First, the sports trainer emphasizes the regularity of sports practice. “Train regularly. If you do a session once a month, it doesn’t work. The body is shocked each time, and suddenly, we will react with strong inflammation and aches,” she explains. at the microphone of Europe 1.

In addition to regularity, there is the intensity of the physical effort: “If you are a beginner and you do an advanced session, you are bound to have incredible aches each time. The intensity is to be managed according to your level. .” Anouk Garnier also adds the number of sessions: “If you do five a week all at once, it’s not going well, you have to go slowly.” The coach also indicates that aches are not dangerous for health, and that it is good to “allow yourself a few days of recovery”.

Pay attention to your diet and hydration

The second tip to limit body aches is to be attentive to your diet, while hydrating regularly. “Food is essential. It’s what will feed your muscles. If you don’t feed them properly, you won’t rebuild properly,” explains the sports coach. “You will need a little bit of protein, but you don’t have to take supplements. For example, you need nuts, almonds, or even fruit,” adds Anouk Garnier, who also stresses the importance of meals. balanced.

You also need good hydration. “Water is essential”, proclaims Anouk Garnier. This can go through sparkling water, rich in mineral salts. “You need at least two liters of water a day, especially on days when you play sports,” says the coach.

Get quality sleep

For Anouk Garnier, rest is also an important element to limit aches. “Sleep is going to count a lot. If you have quality sleep, you will necessarily recover better,” she explains on the show. Well done for you.

Circulate blood with light effort

Limiting aches also involves the duty to circulate the blood well. For this, massages can be a good solution, as can light exercise after a sports session. “The blood brings all the nutrients to the muscles to rebuild themselves, so the faster we circulate it, the better it will be,” adds Anouk Garnier. The sports coach advises to “move with little intensity”, and takes the example of “a short walk and a little scrubbing”.

Try the Scottish Shower

Finally, Anouk Garnier affirms that alternating hot and cold on the body helps to limit aches, like the Scottish shower. “A small cold shower on the thighs, on the calves, after a good running session. Alternating hot and cold, it will really get the blood circulating,” says the coach on Europe 1.

If all these tips can “calm” the aches, Anouk Garnier adds that stretching, often recommended, is not necessarily necessary. “I’m from the school ‘Do what makes you feel good’. Try it, and if it makes you feel good, do it”, assures the coach.