We have definitely all been there, you have done a killer workout and you can really feel it in your thighs. That’s right, you might feel your thighs burning after or during a squat – or you might have woken up the day after with the worst cramps in your calves.
These sensations will tend to be results of lactic acid buildup. When you have lactic acid buildup of any kind, you will notice that your body gets tired especially easily – and you might also find that it will take you a lot longer to recover from a training session.
Why Your Thighs Hurt After Squats
Lactic acid buildup is likely the reason your thighs are burning are squats. It happens when your body can’t produce enough oxygen during a workout. The lactic acid is essentially an alternative source of oxygen for your body.
It is important to note that it is the buildup and not the actual lactic acid itself which causes the problems that stop you from training to the best of your ability.
Athletes will train in a way so that they can actually increase their threshold and this is something that will ultimately avoid lactic acid buildup completely.
Additionally, when you workout after an especially long time you might feel your muscles burning – this would be the buildup of lactic acid.
If you can increase your threshold then you will find that you can attain your personal workout goals in a much more effective way, which will enable you to train for much longer and you will be able to train harder too.
What Does Lactic Acid Buildup Feel Like?
Lactic acid buildup in your thighs will generally feel uncomfortable, you might feel soreness and also tightness in your thigh area – and this will make getting from a sitting position to a standing position relatively annoying.
Sure, sometimes that achy feeling of having done an intense workout can be great. But there is a difference between working out muscles that you haven’t done for a while, and the feeling of lactic acid buildup.
It is up to you to work out whether or not you have lactic acid buildup or whether your muscles are just generally aching. You will find that lactic acid buildup will occur when you have overworked your thigh muscles or if you have just pushed yourself way too hard.
It is important that when you workout that you are as consistent as possible, and this will avoid this kind of thing from happening.
Sure, this is more of a philosophical way of viewing things. But if you are much more consistent with your workouts then you will reduce running into the risk of encountering lactic acid buildup.
Can You Prevent Lactic Acid Buildup?
A key step that you can take to ensure that you prevent lactic acid buildup is to warm up sufficiently.
Warming up for a mere few minutes will not be enough. You need to take time to ensure that you have warmed up enough, and that you are ready to start working out.
Warming up in a way which is especially dynamic will also help you to oxygenate your whole body. This is what will prevent the buildup of lactic acid.
What do we mean by a more dynamic warm up? Well, we mean that you could try walking or slow jogging or even doing small kicks and flicks. These kinds of warm up exercises will be especially ideal to help you combat that lactic acid buildup.
How to Prevent your thighs from Hurting after Squats
You need to workout to suit you and you should not overexert yourself. Doing this can lead to you injuring yourself and it can also lead to you struggling with the buildup of lactic acid. Over time your tolerance builds.
When you are working out, you need to gradually increase the intensity of the exercises you are performing.
Starting off too gung ho performing high intensity exercises will lead to lactic acid buildup in a lot of instances.
If you are keen to start HIIT training, you need to build yourself up gradually and this will avoid lactic acid buildup. You need to ensure that you strengthen your fitness levels over time. This is better than diving straight in and pushing your body too far beyond its limit.
If you are new to incorporating workouts into your lifestyle, then you need to ease your way in and try out more gentler workouts first of all.
For example, you could try walking and stretching exercises a few times a week just so that you can get your body used to moving so much. This will enable your muscles to get used to this level of exercise.
Make Sure You Eat The Right Foods
It is true that muscle oxygenation can be controlled by consuming the right foods. It is important that you have the right kinds of food before working out.
For instance, you should make sure that you eat carbs before you workout. Then once you have worked out you should consume both protein and carbs. This will help you to increase the power that is supplied to your muscles.
Preventing Lactic Acid Buildup With Massages
You will also find that lactic acid buildup can be prevented by the help of massages. It is true that any kind of circulation will be able to help to oxygenate the muscles and it will also help the prevention of muscle ache and soreness.
In especially rare cases, it is important to note that there are some medical conditions which can cause lactic acid buildup too. These medical conditions include vitamin B deficiency, diabetes, seizures and some cancers can also contribute to the buildup of lactic acid too.
Is it good if my thighs are sore?
The good news is that being sore from exercising is nothing to be concerned about; it’s a indication of your progress. The fibers in your muscles begin to break down during exercise as a result of stress. Fibers grow larger and stronger as they repair themselves and being sore is just a part of the process.
In Conclusion
Being sore after squatting is a natural side effect. This is especially true when your body isn’t used to doing that exercise. Lactic acid buildup is something that most of us will have experienced, this is something that occurs after working out sometimes in both men and women while squatting. But, you need to make sure that if this is the case that you try and keep your workouts as consistent as possible in order to lessen the thigh pain during and after squatting.
Nothing in life is easy, but the lessons that I’ve learned from the time that I’ve spent lifting weights and pushing myself in the gym have served me well - that’s why I want to share them with you.
I want you to be the best version of yourself that you can be, and I hope that my site will help to inspire you to reach that goal and meet every challenge that you encounter head-on.
Thanks for spending some time on my site and with me, and maybe one day we can spot each other while we’re reaching for perfection.
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