Going hard at the gym, whether it is a leg day or upper body or whatever you decide to target that day, can sometimes leave you feeling sore afterwards. This is especially true when doing core workouts. Your core muscles do a lot more than you realize, and after working them, it’s not unusual to feel very sore and still the next day. This can make doing common, everyday activities uncomfortable, and it can even be debilitating in some cases. That’s why it’s important that you know how to work your core muscles properly and understand how to take care of them.
If you’ve injured your core muscles, you’ll know it very quickly. It can be difficult to sit up, move, and even breathe if you’ve put too much strain on them. These muscles are involved in doing many activities, and even sore core muscles can make doing some things unpleasant. It’s also one of the most common areas that our chiropractors treat.
When The Core Is Sore
After leaving the gym, you may feel wonderful, but within 24 to 48 hours, you might start to feel some soreness in your core muscles. Medical experts call this delayed onset muscle soreness, and as long as the pain is mild in nature, your fitness regime is working just fine. It’s also not uncommon to have this delayed soreness, so it’s not a sign that you’ve injured yourself or that something’s wrong.
When trying to improve your overall strength, feeling some level of soreness is expected. You’re pushing your muscles beyond what they’re used to doing, and that’s going to make them tired. Having a balanced workout routine will help increase your core strength, flexibility, and overall level of fitness. Many trainers do tend to focus on the core muscles, but sometimes leave out other components such as the pelvic, buttocks, and even the side and back muscle groups. While improving one group of muscles can help with specific activities, you do need to work your entire body to ensure that those muscles are supported correctly.
However, while some soreness is normal, if you find yourself in immense or sudden, sharp pain, you are most likely overdoing it at the gym. This means you need to adjust the type of exercises you’re doing, their intensity, how often you’re working out, or a combination of all three. This type of sharp, debilitating pain is not normal, and it could be a sign that you’ve injured a muscle. If you do feel core pain that is unusual or more intense than normal, you may need to seek medical attention, especially if it’s so bad you’re unable to stand or if it hurts to breathe.
Why It’s Important to Have a Strong Core
Having a strong core will help make other muscle groups stronger and can have a major impact on a number of areas of your life.
Your Career: Believe it or not, your core can affect your career. Those who work physically demanding jobs such as construction or manufacturing will find it easier to do their daily tasks if their core is in better shape. Even jobs that require you to sit at a desk for most of the day would benefit from a strong core as having good posture will decrease the chance of developing chronic spine conditions, neck pain, and migraines. Having good posture provides a number of benefits to your body:
- It puts less stress on the spine.
- You breathe easier and better.
- You look more confident.
- It creates a more flattering silhouette.
Sports and hobbies: A strong core will help you excel at any sport you play. All sports require balance, flexibility, and strength, which a strong core will give you. It’s also helpful with many of your hobbies. With a strong core, you can enjoy everything from running to gardening.
Although a hobby such as gardening may not seem strenuous, having a strong core will make it easier to help plant flowers and vegetables since bending and stretching is part of that activity. Even hobbies or activities that only require walking and standing will require less effort if you take the time to build up your core muscles.
Daily Activities:Activities we partake in everyday such as putting on clothes, showering, and standing in lines all require us to use our abdominal muscles whether we realize it or not. These types of activities may not seem strenuous, but what if your core muscles become injured? That core muscle group is often taken for granted, and any injury to it can greatly impact everything you do.
This is why our chiropractors in Atlanta want you to know that they’re here to assist you with any injury to your core muscles. The core is an important part of the body and needs to be taken care of. Even if your core hasn’t been injured due to strenuous exercise, there are still a number of ways you can hurt these muscles. Poor posture can lead to a weak core, but our Atlanta chiropractors can help with that! Call us today to learn more about how we can help. Call (404) 855-2141 to schedule a consultation.
