Last Updated on May 21, 2023 by Michael Brockbank
Yesterday, I decided to run another case study on myself about losing weight while playing the Xbox Kinect. It’s been a while, and I wanted something to keep me motivated. Today, I’m dealing with sore muscles.
This is what happens when you don’t stay consistent with working out.
To top it all off, I don’t just play the Kinect for cardio activity. No, I add wrist weights and weighted gloves when I play. This amplifies the workout exponentially and adds to muscle definition.
it also adds to the amount of pain you’ll feel the next day if you haven’t been regular with exercise for the past couple of years.
Why My Muscles are So Sore Today
I remember back in 2018, I was able to grind out 18 rounds of playing Virtual Smash while wearing three pounds on each hand. I did all of this without feeling sore.
Of course, that was months after pushing through the soreness.
Now, I can barely do 12 rounds while wearing one pound. It’s quite disappointing that I degraded so much from my progress. Then again, I didn’t really expect to keep the muscle density and mass for three years without putting in the effort.
I Push Myself When I Play
First of all, when I play the Xbox Kinect, I really play the game. I don’t just stand in one spot and move my hands around.
Nope. I throw myself into whatever I am playing with a certain amount of gusto.
For example, when I play tennis, I am all over my living room swing my imaginary racket and putting in as much effort to crush the ball as I would if I was really on a court.
The amount of energy I put into each session is what drives up my heart rate and turns me into a sweaty mess. It’s a fast-paced, grueling workout that I love doing.
I’ve just spent the last couple of years coming up with excuses of why I can’t afford 30 minutes to play a game I love to play.
The Added Weights
A couple of my favorite pieces of exercise equipment are wrist weights and gloves. The added weight forces my body to compensate, which builds onto muscle mass and dexterity.
After using the weights for three months, I geek out quite a bit by how fast I am without.
At any rate, my biceps grew about an inch and a half just from using the weights and playing the Xbox. At the time, I didn’t lift anything except my arms to play my games.
Today, the sore muscles are simply reminding me that I should have paid more attention to physical activity over the past couple of years.
Yes, it’s going to take a bit of time to get used to the weight again. However, the ends definitely justify the means. I mean, I was starting to look really good there for a while.
Too Long of a Hiatus
And obviously, taking so much time off from really working out is going to affect how sore your muscles feel. This is because you essentially have to start over building up that strength and stamina.
The amount of strength you lose depends on the type of activity you’ve done in the past. So, there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all explanation for how long it takes to lose muscle.
But, from everything I’ve read, it usually happens after about one month. Considering I’ve been out of action for 34 months compared to my previous awesomeness, well, there’s no wonder why I can’t do the same activity today.
Consistency is key if you want to keep that muscle mass, definition, and stamina. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
And this all plays into why I gained 20 pounds over the past 12 months.
4 Easy Ways to Recover from Sore Muscles
So, there are a lot of different ways I can recover from intense workouts. Though, not all of the methods I’ve read online are realistic in my case.
For instance, I have no intention to get a massage. For one thing, I feel awkward letting someone put their hands all over me without taking me out for dinner first.
Secondly, I really can’t afford a massage.
Post-workout Protein Shake, Normally
Normally, when I play the Kinect first thing in the morning, I’ll follow it with a protein shake from Max Muscle. Personally, I have a thing for blueberry maxpro ELITE mixed with dark chocolate almond milk.
I drink almond milk because of my psoriasis. I find that dairy products tend to flare up the skin disorder, at least in my case.
At any rate, I find my personal recovery time is lower after having a serving of this post-workout. This works perfectly for me as it makes for a great breakfast.
And, I’ve been feeling a lot better lately now that I am back to eating one banana in the morning with the shake. In fact, my energy levels have been much better after lunch.
The problem I keep running into is how my kids wipe out my bananas every weekend. I haven’t had a bunch to myself in quite some time.
Keeping Hydrated
The road to recovery in any regard is painted in water. Well, I guess that would be the “stream of recovery.”
Anyway, keeping well-hydrated aids in muscle recovery as well as alleviating joint stiffness and soreness. And I think I’ve had more water in the past several days than I’ve had in the past several weeks.
I’ve even curtailed my caffeine intake. Instead of about 8 or 9 cups of coffee per day, I think I’m down to about 5 or 6.
For me, that’s a massive difference.
More Sleep*
Apparently, getting enough rest also aids in recovery to alleviate sore muscles. I wouldn’t know because I haven’t slept well since 1998.
There are just a lot of things going on in my life right now that takes away from a good night’s rest. Lately, it’s mostly sleeping on a bed that is WAY to hard for my comfort.
This is why I listed this with an asterisk. I’d love to tell you that it works perfectly and you’ll feel better in the morning after 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
Unfortunately, I only get more than 7 hours of sleep at night during the weekends. And that doesn’t happen all that often, either.
But, experts say how sleep can aid in recovery. Since it’s something easy that most people can do, I added it to my list.
Proper Rest Periods (Recovery)
Ever wonder why those who go to the gym focus on one muscle group per day?
Is it leg day? Are we doing core workouts?
This is because giving those muscles the day off is important in recovery and building strength. If you keep doing intense workouts, you’re constantly creating tears in the muscle so your body can rebuild with greater reinforcement.
But, if you constantly keep tearing the muscle to shreds, it’ll take longer to repair.
Take one day off to help alleviate sore muscles. They’re sore for a reason, and resting expedites recovery. You might even find yourself bulking up faster.
Living Through the Sore Muscles
Having sore muscles is all part of rebuilding yourself from scratch. After several months of sitting on your ass, you can’t expect to jump right back into working out without the pain.
Eventually, the soreness will subside. At that point, I’ll know when I’m ready to either add more weight or increase the number of rounds I play. Or, perhaps even both.
Just make sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard. As beneficial as it is, you can do some severe damage to yourself through exercise.
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