# NSAIDS & Muscle Recovery



## EpiEMS (Aug 14, 2017)

Are NSAIDs a bad idea for muscle recovery?
I just (re-)started a running program to try and lose some weight, but I'm finding that delayed onset muscle soreness is giving me more trouble than I'd like. I thought NSAIDs would be ok, but I remember something about how COX2 inhibitors impair muscle recovery. Is that right? @Akulahawk, do you know anything about this?


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## StCEMT (Aug 14, 2017)

Restarting anything sucks for a bit. Sleep, proper diet to help muscle growth, mobility exercises, and foam rollers are all your friend. I don't remember ever seeing anything about NSAIDs helping muscle recovery, but I will throw a few back if I have to do physical activity after a particularly intense workout that leaves me unusually sore.


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## VentMonkey (Aug 14, 2017)

I'll skip any medical advice re: NSAIDS and just echo the start slow mantra. Recovery days work wonders, as does cross-training.

Also, proper dieting, like food pyramid proper. None of this trendy fad-diet crap. Awful stuff, truly.


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## StCEMT (Aug 14, 2017)

And @VentMonkey is the crazy type of runner who likes 10 mile runs. He knows things.


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## Flying (Aug 14, 2017)

I recently started again like you and tried exercising on a schedule that alternated days and had similar troubles with muscle soreness impairing my performance. I extended my rest period to the point where I felt muscle and joint pain wouldn't impede reaching my goals (about 2-3 days instead) and have been able to improve all sorts of numbers and continue losing weight that way.


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## EpiEMS (Aug 15, 2017)

Thanks, all!


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## Akulahawk (Aug 15, 2017)

StCEMT said:


> Restarting anything sucks for a bit. Sleep, proper diet to help muscle growth, mobility exercises, and foam rollers are all your friend. I don't remember ever seeing anything about NSAIDs helping muscle recovery, but I will throw a few back if I have to do physical activity after a particularly intense workout that leaves me unusually sore.


From my recollection, NSAIDs do not actually help with muscle recovery. They help with some of the inflammation and resulting soreness but actual recovery, no. Time, a good diet, mobility exercises and stretching to improve local circulation, and appropriate rest all contribute more to post-workout recovery than likely anything else. If you space your workouts of a given muscle group too closely together, you won't make any good gains because you're not allowing the body's recovery process to completely repair the damage you caused during your workout. It's the recovery period _after_ a workout where your strength gains happen.


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## EpiEMS (Aug 15, 2017)

@Akulahawk Thanks! This is exactly what I needed!


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## Mike Hammer (Nov 28, 2017)

I'd also suggest checking out turmeric. It isn't likely to aid muscle recovery exactly, but can help reduce inflammation if taken consistently. Personally, I've had to adjust my diet quite a bit and still like to exercise, so I've learned how to get carbs from other things besides the "food pyramid" base of grains, etc. If you can tolerate that, great, but you can lower inflammation (makes recovery better IMO) and train using carbs and fats. It just takes more awareness on things like salt and water intake, where to get the carbs and things your body needs etc. 

Some people do train in Ketosis also, but that's not generally recommended from my understanding.


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## Carlos Danger (Nov 28, 2017)

I just re-started weight training recently and have come across a few things on this. NSAIDS are thought to interfere with protein synthesis resulting in inhibition of muscle rebuilding after strenuous exercise. The reasoning seems sound and it seems to be a widely held belief among folks who know what they are talking about, but that the actual evidence supporting that hypothesis is weak. 

My take-home is that I won’t use NSAIDs to treat the soreness that normally follows a tough workout, but I also won’t worry too much about it if I’m inclined to take them for some other reason.


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## CALEMT (Nov 28, 2017)

Feeling the burn = gains bro


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## VentMonkey (Nov 28, 2017)

CALEMT said:


> Feeling the burn = gains bro








I can laugh about it now, but this is about what my MRI looked like 5 years ago almost exactly to the date.


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## Ensihoitaja (Nov 28, 2017)

I’ll definitely second the foam roller mention. I started doing it on the recommendation of my cycling coach and it makes an incredible difference in muscle soreness.


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