# Getting sore



## WinterS3ason

Just Yesterday, i went snowboarding. Today i am hella sore at my neck, arms, legs, and shoulders. Do u guys have a way to prevent this from happening or should i just live with it? Hmm... Maybe i shoulda stretched before i went snowboarding.


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## Mysticfalcon

Snowboard more. the first few days of the season Im a little sore the next day but after that I'm fine. The more you get used to it the easier it will be on you.


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## dharmashred

I've got some great holistic tips, but you will need to take them consistently (they can be taken year round) for the maximum benefit. 

1. Arnica Montana - this can be found at any whole foods or vitamin story. They are little pellets that dissolve in your mouth. They come in 6c. 12c, and 30c. Start with the 30c, 5 pellets 3 times a day, that should help you out right away. If you continue to take this on a regular basis you will notice you are not nearly as sore as you would be.

2. Epsom salt bath, take a hot hot bath with a shitload of epsom salt in it (the box will give you the right measurements.

3. Start taking omega 3/6/9 daily, this is a natural anti-inflammatory, but will not provide you immediate relief. You should start to feel a difference after a month or so.

4. Yoga and stretching. Make sure to stretch before and after, even now while you are sore, this will help to loosen those muscles that are too tight right now. 

It's hard work ain't it! Par for the course, it'll get easier, your body will adjust.


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## BurtonAvenger

Stop sitting on the couch watching snowboard movies and ride.


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## david_z

WinterS3ason said:


> Just Yesterday, i went snowboarding. Today i am hella sore at my neck, arms, legs, and shoulders. Do u guys have a way to prevent this from happening or should i just live with it? Hmm... Maybe i shoulda stretched before i went snowboarding.


Don't worry - stretching wouldn't have helped. If you never go to the gym, but tomorrow decided to go do a few sets of deep squats, you'd be majorly f*cked before you could walk out of the gym. Same with snowboarding.


Short answer is unfortunately that there's next-to-nothing you can do _now_ to fix it immediately. The next time you go, won't be as bad, and the time after that even less. But ifyou don't train in the off-season, you'll be going through this same feeling every December.

Even if you work out regularly (including cardio, resistance, etc.) when you go snowboarding you are going to use muscles that you didn't know you had, and you are going to use the muscles you _do_ know about in ways that you've never worked them before. The pain in your shoulders comes from lifting yourself off your ass, either from falling or at the top of the hill when you sit down to putyour bindings on. You probably pressed up like that 40+ times yesterday. Do that in your living room in the middle of july, and you'll be sore the next day, too 

The neck soreness is definitely from falling. Not much you can do about that except to practice, get better, and stop falling 

Legs, well that's a no-brainer. Snowboarding does a lot of work on legs & core. You're using your quads in a way you've probably never used them, and your doing a lot of standing on your toes which strains your feet & calf muscles. You can build up this strength in your calves & toes by doing lots of jumping rope. It sucks, but I force myself to do it in he off-season because I know it pays off in February. Calf raises help, but not as much.


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## bassholic

Excellent post. After being out on the mountain last weekend i wondered how out of shape people are able to handle this sport.


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## Phenix_Rider

david_z said:


> Don't worry - stretching wouldn't have helped. If you never go to the gym, but tomorrow decided to go do a few sets of deep squats, you'd be majorly f*cked before you could walk out of the gym. Same with snowboarding.
> 
> 
> Short answer is unfortunately that there's next-to-nothing you can do _now_ to fix it immediately. The next time you go, won't be as bad, and the time after that even less. But ifyou don't train in the off-season, you'll be going through this same feeling every December.
> 
> Even if you work out regularly (including cardio, resistance, etc.) when you go snowboarding you are going to use muscles that you didn't know you had, and you are going to use the muscles you _do_ know about in ways that you've never worked them before. The pain in your shoulders comes from lifting yourself off your ass, either from falling or at the top of the hill when you sit down to putyour bindings on. You probably pressed up like that 40+ times yesterday. Do that in your living room in the middle of july, and you'll be sore the next day, too
> 
> The neck soreness is definitely from falling. Not much you can do about that except to practice, get better, and stop falling
> 
> Legs, well that's a no-brainer. Snowboarding does a lot of work on legs & core. You're using your quads in a way you've probably never used them, and your doing a lot of standing on your toes which strains your feet & calf muscles. You can build up this strength in your calves & toes by doing lots of jumping rope. It sucks, but I force myself to do it in he off-season because I know it pays off in February. Calf raises help, but not as much.


:thumbsup: The better shape you're in overall, the less sore you'll be. It's the same running or swimming or anything else. If you take a substantial break, you will be sore starting out. But the more you do of everything, the better your body handles new activity.

I don't believe any of the holistic "herbal" or omega/fish oil stuff (just eat a balanced diet), but dharma has some good suggestions. Stretching regularly will keep your muscles and joints loose, which means falling and flailing is less likely to strain something. And epsom salts in a warm bath will help your muscles relax and improve blood flow, making recovery faster.


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## maf05r6

Pretty much what everyone else is saying. If you are a couch potatoe and head out you are going to feel it. After a couple the season you should be alright after a day of riding and it won't even phase you.


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## Guest

STRETCH STRETCH STRETCH!!! Before and after!!!

Before you board do a light, but thorough (meaning hitting your major muscles) stretch cause its never good to stretch a cold muscle, and after you board make sure you spend like a good half hour stretching every major muscle in your body. Then you really shouldn't be so sore.


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## Mountainmenace

Hot tube is my life saver .



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## AAA

The first couple days of the season are always a little rough. Make sure you stretch well before you get on the lift. Quads, calves, hamstrings, shoulders. Swing your arms around in big windmills. Limber up. It'll prevent soreness and you'll see an improvement in your riding. Also, there's a pill called Sportlegs that works wonders at minimizing muscle burn. It's some sort of calcium compound that prevents lactic acid from building up. Take it an hour before you ride. Some carefully timed Advil's work great, too. Above all, ride more and try to exercise.


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## Deviant

Protein rich foods. All the tips here seem to be good but I think one major thing people are overlooking is eating right, and I dont mean just on the day you're riding, I mean everyday. Drink lots of water too.

If you're old like me (31) then you get stiff after riding too, stretching helps right after coming off the hill, and it seems stretching in a hot shower helps. I stretch before I get onto the hill and before I get into my car when I leave.


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## racerstf

Instead of creating a whole new thread, i'll ask here...
I've gone snowboarding 6 times this season and after each day for a couple days; my neck is really sore, especially if I ride switch. I dont fall much, so it's simply just from riding. Is there any kind of neck exercises I could do to prevent this soreness each time?


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## david_z

racerstf said:


> Instead of creating a whole new thread, i'll ask here...
> I've gone snowboarding 6 times this season and after each day for a couple days; my neck is really sore, especially if I ride switch. I dont fall much, so it's simply just from riding. Is there any kind of neck exercises I could do to prevent this soreness each time?


weird. I ride switch occasionally (not for entire days, but for entire runs, etc.) but I've never experienced anything like this. there are plyometric neck excercises you can do, just press your palm to the side of your head and push against your palm with your head, using your arm strength as resistance. Do this for 10-15 seconds in each directoin: front, back, left and right. Lather, rinse, repeat. I guess do this a few sets. We used to do this as part of our calisthenics before football & rugby practice. 

But not understanding the nature of this pain, I don't have any idea whether this would help you.


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## Deviant

> weird. I ride switch occasionally (not for entire days, but for entire runs, etc.) but I've never experienced anything like this. there are plyometric neck excercises you can do, just press your palm to the side of your head and push against your palm with your head, using your arm strength as resistance. Do this for 10-15 seconds in each directoin: front, back, left and right. Lather, rinse, repeat. I guess do this a few sets. We used to do this as part of our calisthenics before football & rugby practice.
> 
> But not understanding the nature of this pain, I don't have any idea whether this would help you.


+1

Also I wonder if this could be from tensing up. If not, you're probably just looking ahead in some sort of slightly-off way, maybe a little weird of an angle since you're not used to riding facing that direction.


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## Leo

Actually, Dharma has excellent advice regarding things like the Omega 3 intake. Omega 3 is highly beneficial to us living organisms. It even helps dogs with their coat and ever since I started feeding it to my husky, his coat gained a very nice sheen to it and became much softer. It is also excellent for pregnant women to help with their health.

Fact is, taking Omega 3 vitamins (or eating a lot of Salmon like I do) helps with the soreness due to it's inherent anti-inflammatory effects. That is just science.

With that said, no amount of stretching, exercising, or vitamin/food intake is going to stop soreness dead. All they will do is help make it much more bearable.

Make sure you drink plenty of water as well. Dedicate about 15 minutes to stretching before you ride. A lot of people also don't realize that you need to stretch after you ride as well. Especially your neck.

As for neck soreness, it is from your falls. Nothing you can do about that except take some ibprofen if that's your cup of tea.

To the person experiencing neck pains even though they don't fall much... This could be an issue with your stance. If it hurts more when you ride switch, that means you have to turn your neck more to look forward. Try ducking your stance more towards mirror. The less you have to turn your head to look forward, the better for your neck. make sure you do plenty of neck stretches before and after.

Here is how I do my neck exercises (this is the method I learned from Tae Kwon Do)...

1. Tilt your head all the way up and count to 4

2. Tilt your head all the way down and count to 4

3. Slowly roll your head counterclockwise and by count 4 you should be back at the down position

4. Do the same as step 3 except clockwise now

Repeat this several times (I do around 10 repetitions of this) and do it again after your day of riding. It won't completely cure you, but it helps to greatly reduce the sore/stiffness.


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## Gnarly

racerstf said:


> Is there any kind of neck exercises I could do to prevent this soreness each time?


Could start giving out BJ's? That'll get your neck in shape quickly.


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## racerstf

Gnarly said:


> Could start giving out BJ's? That'll get your neck in shape quickly.


Hmm thats a thought, but unfortunately for you I dont swing that way. 

I had a minor-moderate neck injury when I was 10, and 10 years later my neck is still not exactly the same as it was. I'll try out both of those neck stretches. I think they might help quite a bit. Thanks Leo and David!


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## Leo

racerstf said:


> Hmm thats a thought, but unfortunately for you I dont swing that way.
> 
> I had a minor-moderate neck injury when I was 10, and 10 years later my neck is still not exactly the same as it was. I'll try out both of those neck stretches. I think they might help quite a bit. Thanks Leo and David!


No problem. You now have two different stretches from two very different sports. Football and Martial Arts. And by their powers combined, I am Captain Plan... *ahem* I mean both of those exercises combined will make for an excellent warm-up and post shred stretch.


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## david_z

Leo said:


> ... I am Captain Plan... *ahem*...


Were you about to say "Captain Planet" ? like from that terrible kids' show from the early 90's, or were you about to say "Captain Plan B" ? like from those cheesy Captain Morgan's rum commercials, which incidentally make me want to drink whiskey more than ever.


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