I overdid it at the gym and now three days later I still ache all over. Any advice on how to feel better now and avoid this in the future?
I recommend Dara Torres's AminoSport
It will allow you to recover faster from workouts. What this stuff is essentially medical-grade broth, which would be better to use for recovery except making a turkey all the time for the broth is a pain. Broth
9 Answers
Drink lots of water and do lots of stretching. I also find that sometimes it is best to hit the gym again to work out tight muscles.
There really isn't much you can do at this point, but to avoid it in the future I recommend a short stretching routine after your workout. Many gyms have stretching stations that offer instructions for which stretches apply to which body parts. Other than that I'd say just don't over train again, you may think that by pushing yourself to over soreness you'll get better results.. but in reality it can set you back weeks.
If is the first time you've been back in a while, and you've done a heavy session, it's most likely Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS). You'll be able to do the exact same work out next time with barely any pain whatsoever.
The best thing for soreness is to take protein with some l-glutamine which will combat the soreness. Also very important to stretch before and after your workout. If you have a pool and sauna, what I do is swim couple of hundred yards at a slow pace making sure i stretch as i swim and then hitting up the sauna for at least 20 mins. Stretch in the sauna too.
If you keep your routine consistent your body will get used to the lactic acid build up. Don't forget to warm up and cool down before and after your work outs.
stretching is mostly bullshit. Most people walk in to the gym cold, stretch, and then jump into a weight routine. Get on an elliptical machine for 10 minutes, get warm, then get into your strength workout.
Stretching doesn't prevent soreness, it lengthens the muscle, and that can easily cause injury and surely set yourself up for a sore couple days if you're not sufficiently warmed up.
throw some glutamine in your routine... hot-tubs and swimming pools help me a bunch.