Previously, I've only put things about literature up, but that's going to change. I think that some people are actually interested in topics other than literacy, no offense to literacy or anything. I honestly just can't think about what to write about without stealing other people's ideas. I love reading, writing, debating about random topics, but I'm going to try a change. I mean, it can't hurt... Right?
So, I'm going to try, well, something different. Maybe I'll make it official one day, but I'll be lenient right now, just in case if no one likes this idea. Maybe on Monday I'll write about one thing, then another day I'll write something different, unless if I have something off topic that I just HAD TO say. Just so I could keep ideas flowing.
Well, enough blabbing from me.
Today, I'll talk about... Sports related things, I guess. Because right now, I am rather sore.
How about... How to treat soreness/feeling bad after an exercise?
Here I go!
If you want to prevent yourself from becoming sore or just feeling horrible the next day after some exercise such as running, here are some tips you can follow (from personal experience):
1. Drink a lot of water. Don't drink it before, or else you would feel the water in your stomach sloshing around and you might cramp up very easily. Drink it after. When you exercise (properly), you probably end up with a lot of sweat dripping off of you. Sweating is good. It makes you healthy. But all of that water you lost while sweating needs to be made up. So just keep drinking water. And I don't mean, drink 5 gallons today, don't drink anything the next day, etc. I mean, just regularly take a sip of water to quench your thirst and to keep yourself healthy.
2. Rest up! It would do you no good if you stretch your limits and exercise with sore muscles. It is good to push yourself to perform better, but not to the point of injury. Exercising with sore muscles could easily injure you, and that could prevent you from doing strenuous exercises ever again. Or, you can, but you can't perform as well as you did before. I know this because my dad was playing basketball for a bit too long, and he ripped his Achilles tendon. He had to lay in bed for three months, only getting up to stretch his muscles every so often. He was walking around in crutches, and it was not a good sight. Now, he could still run, and he's getting stronger with every exercise, but if you asked him to sprint 100 meters, he would not be able to do that well. If it was a 5k (or 3.1 miles), he would do fine, because it just slowly tires your muscles. So rest! Don't push yourself too far!
3. If you are worried about being sore, you can dunk yourself into a bucket of ice cold water, or just ice yourself, if you don't want to go that far. Ice baths are VERY cold, and not very fun, but the result is amazing. Icing yourself works the same way, but it most likely doesn't cover the whole area which is sore. But it still works fine. These actions reduce swelling and pain. Don't ever directly apply the ice to your skin (results could be very, very bad, don't want to talk about it) and always put a towel or something of the sort around your ice pack. If you aren't swelling up, then apply heat. Like the ice, don't apply it to your skin directly. I think of treating soreness similar to treating a bruise in this way. The cold restricts your blood, and the warmth makes your blood flow.
4. Compress. Compress the area that is sore with some sort of bandage. This reduces swelling also, but if you make the bandage too tight, you have to loosen it, or else the area above and below will swell up. It could also cut off your circulation, which is NOT good.
5. Elevate. Elevate the sore area. I don't know why, but do it, because it's in RICE. I think it minimizes swelling. Who knows.
And that, peeps (what I call people), is how you treat soreness and other bad stuff after you exercise.
And question to y'alls: who likes this new... I don't even know what to call it. Format? Schedule? Post-thingy? Please comment!