Muscle Soreness Got your Down?
New research on Sore muscles after workouts.
Muscle Soreness After Workouts Got You Down?
Muscle soreness after workouts got you down? Many newbies to fitness are fearful of the first few weeks of exercise. Each day can bring a new ache or pain and you just never know when you are going to need assistance just getting up the stairs. You will be excited to hear that a study coming out of Tokyo on decreasing muscles soreness two to three days after exercise is showing excellent results. Could this be the beginning of the end for the old phrase, “No pain. No gain.”?
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein which then is used to build muscle. Branch chain amino acids are a type of amino acid that are abundantly found in muscle protein. Researchers are interested in the effects of these amino acids on delayed onset muscle soreness that frequently occurs a couple of days post exercise. The researchers have hypothesized that by increasing supplementation of these particular amino acids, the delayed onset muscle soreness can be reduced.
Twelve female participants with low exercise habits were instructed to drink a solution of either a placebo powder or branch chain amino acids. After drinking the solution, the participants were asked to perform squats targeting the quadriceps and gluteal muscles. Two to three days later, the participants were then asked to rate their level of muscle soreness.
The results of the study show that the group receiving the branch chain amino acid supplement were displaying much lower levels of delayed onset muscle pain than the control group. Implications of this study could lead further investigation into the power of branch chain amino acids to significantly lower muscle soreness in not only untrained athletes, but also in professional athletes to increase their workout potential.
Further study involving amino acids as supplements to decrease muscle soreness will have to be completed before recommendations to add these supplements to the dietary intake of athletes will be officially made. It is quite possible that someday, with additional research, amino acids may hold the key to eliminating delayed onset muscle soreness permanently. This could result in increased fitness and exercise compliance in new exercise participants and greater workout potential for professionals.
Works cited
Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation Before Squat Exercise and Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness. International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism; Jun2010, Vol. 20 Issue 3, p236-244
