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Old 12-09-22, 03:03 PM
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canklecat
Me duelen las nalgas
 
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An easy spin on the indoor trainer works best for me. Which reminds me, I need to set up the trainer again in the living room so I can watch TV or movies. More relaxing for long easy spins, no temptation to turn it into a workout session.

I rarely get sore muscles from cycling anymore but often do from running when I do occasional interval sessions. Including this week. Quads, calves, even my right heel is sore, which is probably referred pain from a strained achilles tendon. But I neglected to take my own advice and set up the trainer to spin as soon as I got home. Instead I took a long nap, possibly the worst thing to do after that kind of workout. Woke up stiff and achy, been that way all week.

Or just time and rest. I have a hunch most miracle cures for soreness, aches and pains related to exercise are actually a way of passing the time while waiting for rest to heal the injuries. I've been taking alpha lipoic acid for a few weeks for cervical spine nerve pain, on advice from several folks. At first I thought it was helping, but realized it wasn't doing a thing for chronic lower back and hip pain. So I suspect the real reason for the neck pain easing up was because I was spending less time on the bike and more time running. All I managed to accomplish was giving the neck time to rest and heal, while transferring the burden elsewhere on the body.

I've tried GABA, HMD, magnesium, pretty much every supplement available. Can't say any of them actually works. When the advice claims we need to give it time to work -- two to eight weeks -- such as with alpha lipoic acid, there's a pretty good chance the advisers are conflating time and rest with the presumed efficacy of the supplement.

It's not like taking an NSAID or acetaminophen and feeling relief within an hour. But, as noted above, ibuprofen and other NSAIDs may not be the best thing to take after a workout if the goal is adaptation. At my age I'm not really adapting to anything anymore, just maintaining fitness and delaying the inevitable. If I'm still in pain from inflammation a day later, I'm taking a couple of ibuprofen. But I try to keep it to a minimum. Due to an auto-immune disorder, if I take ibuprofen longer than two or three days I'll develop psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis symptoms (recently confirmed by published studies). So I try to take Vitamin I only on occasions when nothing else helps: rest, cold packs, soaks in a hot bath with Epsom salts, massage, TENS unit, etc.

I also like my heavy marble rolling pin. It's mostly a kitchen decorative item that actually gets used once a year for baking. But it gets more use for massaging my quads, hips and calves. The cool marble and weight make it easy, less muscle involved than other methods. I also use it before running, rather than stretching. Seems to work for me, especially if I'm still a bit stiff and sore from the previous day's workout.

Last edited by canklecat; 12-14-22 at 02:46 PM.
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