I've been reading through Casey Johnston's old Ask A Swole Woman columns, because she is smart and funny and she totally gets all the weird complicated stuff about lifting while female, and this morning I came across one called "How to Prevent Debilitating Soreness."
I have been going back through it, trying to find the quote that will spur you to click through and read it, and I just want to share the entire first half. Here's one piece of it:
Soreness is actually more like the gap between what you did to break down your muscles with exercise...and what you gave them to rebuild themselves in the couple of hours and days following in terms of proper food, water, and rest.
In light of this column I am thinking about all my past experiences of painful muscle soreness, some of which are recorded in these pages. (Does anyone remember my first Pilates Reformer class?)
In a culture that tells women "The purpose of exercise is to make yourself smaller," eating for recovery is not a big focus. I absorbed the idea that I should eat some protein after a run, but I had no idea how much protein is recommended to optimize muscle growth. (A lot. A lot a lot: about a gram per pound of bodyweight per day if building muscle is your focus.) There is not a chance I was ever eating that amount of protein in my Pilates Reformer days, and Casey Johnston's take on muscle soreness makes a lot of sense to me in hindsight.
I am so curious about your reactions to her post, you guys. I feel like men get this advice in the gym but women (by and large) hear that it is better for them to restrict post-workout calories so they can chisel away more of themselves. This is bad advice, it turns out. Take a look at the post and tell me what you think!
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