How to relax your muscles after a long run

Long-distance running is a long-distance, high-intensity exercise, after long-distance running is more likely to appear in the hip, thigh and calf anterior extensor and posterior flexor pain. This muscle soreness that occurs 24 hours after exercise is also known as "delayed muscle soreness" in sports medicine. To avoid muscle soreness, you need to learn how to relax your muscles after a long run. So what should we do after a long run to relax the muscles after a long run? How to make the body recover fastest?

Why do you need to relax your muscles after a long run?

During long-distance running, the strenuous exercise causes the muscles to be in a tight and hypoxic state, and the body will produce energy by decomposing glucose, but at the same time, it will also produce a lot of lactic acid, and the muscles will have a sore feeling. So you need to relax your muscles after a long run to reduce the chances of muscle soreness.

How to relax your muscles after a long run

Do aerobic activities such as jogging

After a long run, do not stop immediately to rest, you can do some aerobic exercise, such as jogging. Slowly stop the exercise, it takes about 10-20 minutes to release the lactic acid produced by the exercise and let the tight muscles relax after the exercise.

Static stretching

After a long run, stretch the thighs (front, back, inside and outside), calves (front and back), hips (front and back), trunk (upper back, lower back, chest and abdomen), shoulders, neck and other muscle groups. Each stretch is best maintained for 20-30 seconds and done for 2 cycles. Static stretching stretches the muscles to accelerate muscle relaxation and helps the recovery of spastic muscles.

Consume alkaline food

After running, drinking water can replenish the water lost in long-distance running. At the same time, you can eat some alkaline foods, such as fruits, vegetables and soy products, to maintain the basic balance of acidity and alkalinity in the body and eliminate the fatigue brought by exercise as soon as possible. It can minimize the degree of muscle hardening or soreness.

Massage

After a long run, massage is a more effective way to eliminate fatigue and relax muscles. It can be chosen 20 minutes after the end of exercise or before going to bed the night of exercise. You can use the following massage methods to relax. Massage - four fingers together, and thumbs apart, placed on the skin being massaged, rhythmically push forward with the palm of the hand, from light to heavy, from shallow to deep. Mostly used for the lower back and buttocks. Kneading - four fingers together, thumbs apart, into a pincer shape, pinch the muscle slightly upward, and rotate forward to knead, fingers and palms at the same time force. Mostly used for large intestine and small intestine. Rocking - Both hands hold the calf or foot, and do flexion, extension, retraction and rotation activities according to the original range of motion of the lower brain joints, mostly used for the knee joints.

Cold water bath

As the muscle microstructure is damaged after a long run, and a hot bath will accelerate the blood circulation of the injured muscle, thus aggravating the damage to the muscle microstructure, which will lead to increased soreness. At the same time, it will increase the fatigue of people and even lower blood sugar. The cold bath or ice constrict the capillaries of the damaged muscles, so that the destruction of muscle microstructure caused by exercise will not continue to expand; at the same time, cold compresses also have a painful effect.