The Very Best Way to Ease Muscle Soreness, According to a WNBA Trainer

Pilates, Buria explains, “has been huge for us.” The exercises are performed in a slow, controlled manner, which is a contrast to all the quick, explosive jumping and bounding the players do on the court. “It’s just a way for their bodies to train differently than what they’re used to,” Buria says, and provides “a reset” for the players.

The team works with a Pilates instructor who provides video workouts for the Dream to follow, including ones focused on stretching and others centered on core and glute activation. These sessions, Buria says, provide the added benefit of helping the players mentally chill out.

There are also what Buria calls feel-good sessions, where the athletes use foam rollers, lacrosse balls, bands, and assisted stretching to gently move their bodies and relax tight areas.

Active recovery, Buria says, is something that the Dream players have “bought into.” They’ve noticed that when they do it, they tend to feel better than if they were to sit around and do nothing. “They like to do it, and the movement actually helps push out some of that soreness,” she says.

There’s a reason for this: Active recovery increases blood flow to your muscles and tissues, which shuttles nutrients (like amino acids and oxygen) to your muscles so they can repair themselves, as well as flushes out residue from the inflammation, as SELF reported previously.

“We like to think of it as movement is medicine,” Buria says.

Quick caveat: To be clear, while there is a place for active recovery, there’s also a very important one for absolute rest. There are times when pure rest is “definitely necessary,” Buria says. In fact, the Dream have dedicated “blackout” days where the athletes aren’t allowed in the training facility “because we don’t want them to think about the Dream,” Buria says. Instead, they are encouraged to take these days off to simply do nothing, she explains.

And beyond that, sleep, nutrition, and hydration are also big priorities. That’s because if those three factors are neglected, “then nothing else really matters,” Buria explains. Indeed, what you eat and drink can play a role in how sore you get, since your muscles need quality nutrition and hydration in order to effectively rebuild and repair following a tough workout. Sleep is paramount too: A 2023 study published in the journal Sleep Medicine concluded that not getting enough of it can increase the pain of DOMS.

All in all, a number of things affect how sore you feel and how long that discomfort lasts, including what type of workout you did; how well you’re sleeping, eating, and hydrating; and your individual biology. But in general, carving out time for gentle movement is one of the best ways you can help your aching muscles recover. And that holds true whether your goal is to net the playoff-winning layup…or simply make it through another Wednesday night spin class.

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