Dear Lifehacker,
I went to the gym the other day and did a very difficult (brutal) workout and now my whole body is sore. It's hard to walk and my knees buckle when I go down the stairs. Is there any way to quickly recover from a tough workout? Things I should be eating, stretches to do, or anything else? Should I head back to the gym today (please say no) or not?

Thanks,
Overdid It

Dear OI,
We feel your pain. Seriously, anyone who's exercised intensely or tried a new workout after inactivity has probably gone through that post-exercise soreness you're describing, more formally known as delayed onset muscle soreness (from here on referred to as DOMS) or muscle fever. It's perfectly normal, but thankfully there are a variety of ways to ease that perfectly normal pain too, from eating the right foods to treating your body. Let's get you some help right away.

Work Out the Knots In Your Muscles

Light movement: If you feel up to it, try a little light exercise like walking or swimming. Keeping your muscles in motion may bring you some relief, according to WebMD. But take it easy—listen to your body and don't go back to heavy exercise until your damaged muscles are repaired (usually within 72 hours). Alternatively, try massage therapy to help soothe that muscle tightness.

Foam rolling: Two fitness experts I spoke with, Francesca Pucher, a wellness coach in NJ, and Todd Cambio, author and sports nutritionist, recommended a foam roller. Pucher calls it the best self massage you can give while Cambio calls it the "Poor Man's massage therapist." Running Times offers these directions for "the (almost) magical foam roller" which costs about $25:

Use the roller against the muscle knots with your own body weight to generate the direct pressure. Imagine using a rolling pin to roll out lumps in bread dough.
Key Points for Specific Foam Roller Exercises
1. Roll back and forth across the painful or stiff area for 60 seconds.
2. Spend extra time directly over the knot or trigger point itself.
3. Roll the injured area two to three time a day. For prevention of injuries, two to three times a week is recommended.
4. Avoid rolling over bony areas.
5. Always stretch the area following foam rolling.

Cambio's ebook, How to Reduce Everyday Pain and Inflammation, provides foam rolling routines for each area of the body and more guidelines.

What to Eat When Your Muscles Are Sore

Omega-3s: Food is another important factor when your muscles are sore, Pucher says, because it could be a sign of dehydration, lack of sodium, protein, electrolytes, or vitamins, and it's different for everyone. She suggests taking Fish oil omega-3 supplements or eating foods rich in those fatty acids such as salmon, avocados, and almonds. (Research studies, one published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine and another in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine seem to support this recommendation. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce inflammation, and delayed onset muscle soreness is basically inflammation.)

Water: Don't forget to drink water — Lots and lots of water to stay hydrated. Coconut water is very hydrating and a natural source of electrolytes (even works as well as sports drinks when enriched with sodium).

Other Strategies for Soothing Muscle Soreness

Contrast bath or ice and heat packs: Alternating cold and heat therapy is an old technique we've mentioned before. The contrast bath is, however, a somewhat miserable undertaking that involves submerging yourself in hot water for one minute then ice cold water for a minute and repeat for up to ten minutes in the shower. Celebrity fitness trainer Terri Walsh says cold is a natural analgesic that soothes the muscles and the warmth then relaxes them. You can use ice and heat packs instead of water to achieve the same results.

Sleep: Finally, but perhaps most importantly, get enough rest. Uncommon Body notes:

During sleep, your body releases growth hormone and repairs the damage that has been done to your muscles during intense workouts. Taking a twenty to sixty minute nap once a day is a great way to see faster results.

If you can, take naps. But at the very least, get at least the recommended eight hours of sleep at night, allowing your muscles to repair.

Postscript: Prevention and Some Misconceptions

Even bodybuilders and elite athletes can get muscle soreness, so don't let some aching muscles discourage you from trying the workout again. In fact, a little soreness shows that you actually worked those muscles.

The main thing to keep in mind: The "no pain no gain" mantra is a big misconception. You absolutely don't need to feel sore the next day to have had a good workout.

Next time you exercise, to reduce your chances of DOMS, warm up for at least five minutes with some light movement, e.g., on the treadmill or bike. (Static stretching doesn't seem to prevent injuries and may actually make your muscles tighter, before running at least.) Then make sure you get a good cool down period at the end of your workout.

And shortly after exercising, grab a snack or light meal with high-quality protein and complex carbs (e.g., egg on whole wheat bagel or tuna and pasta salad). And don't forget to hydrate!

Have a great recovery.

Love,
Lifehacker

P.S. Got other tips for speeding up the recovery process? We're all ears in the comments.

iOS: As we grow older and have more commitments, it becomes harder and harder to get friends together in one place to watch a ball game or play video games. Xbox Live and PSN help take care of the latter, but how about the former? If you don't mind holding an iPhone the whole time, there's PlayUp.

PlayUp's idea is chat rooms where you and your friends—or even you and strangers—can text-chat-discuss a game as it's going on. It's something you can easily do now with any IRC room or Google Hangout, but where PlayUp stands out is that they know every single game that's going on in many sports, from soccer to football to baseball, to ridiculous ones like Australian football and cricket. (And I mean ridiculous in the most endearing way possible.)

Once you log in, either through Facebook or their proprietary account, just join an existing room or make your own, then get to chatting about how the Texas Executioners are gonna be totally killing the St. Louis Vuittons.

PlayUp

The MLB World Series is kicking off tonight between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals, but with Fox holding down the broadcast rights, it's difficult, but not impossible, to find a means to watch the games without tuning in on your television.

The Official Way

The official means to watch the game comes in the form of a $19.99 subscription to MLB.TV's Postseason plan. However—and this is a big catch—the games will not be streamed live in the U.S. The live video stream won't be available until 90 minutes after the game is over. A live audio broadcast of the game from both teams home broadcasts are available in the app, as well as video highlights for great plays as the game happens.

Seems like kind of a bum deal, right? Viewers outside of the U.S. and Canada will not have the same delay of the live broadcast, and according to a representative at MLB.com, the service detects your IP address at the access point, so you theoretically could run your internet connection through a proxy server that lives outside the U.S. to gain access to the live footage, but proxying video streams across oceans can get choppy, so your mileage may vary.

If you're not worried about the picture, you can also stream the radio broadcasts live from ESPN for free. This might come in handy if the live video streams are having hiccups with audio.

The Unofficial Way

Unofficially, you'll have a few options for streaming content online, although there is no guarantee on the quality of the streams you'll have available.

The first and easiest to use is First Row Sports, a web site which aggregates user-submitted streams and allows anyone to submit their own live stream of the game for fellow fans to enjoy. The quality depends on who is streaming it and from where they're streaming, and the sources are wide ranging, from Justin.TV to straight P2P sites. Alternately, you can try LiveTV, or Wiziwig for similar services, or visit a streaming site like Justin.TV or Ustream directly 30 minutes before the game's start time.

Ways to Enhance the Game

Once you get your live stream up and running, you might want to delve a little deeper into the game and if you're a fan of pitch-by-pitch tracking, your best bet is going to be MLB.com's Gameday. If you prefer to use your phone or tablet as your second screen during the game there is a 99¢ official app, MLB At Bat, which is available for iOS, Android, WP7, Blackberry and webOS.

For more indepth stats on the web, you can follow the modern stats at FanGraphs or the more traditional statistics from Baseball Reference. FanGraphs also has an iOS app if you don't want to juggle tabs in your browser. If you're the type to crunch numbers during games, both of these will provide in-game stat tracking on a variety of levels, including win-loss projections, pitch tracking, detailed match-ups and more.

If you're more interested in being a part of the game and keeping track of stats yourself, the $10 ESPN iScore Baseball Scorekeeper is a way to keep track of every little thing that happens throughout the game. Title Photo remixed from the originals by: Ken Lund and Christoph Weihs/Shutterstock.

Here in the US, the fall football season is in full swing, and the playoffs for a number of other sports are well underway. Unfortunately, just because the game is on doesn't mean you can stay glued to the television. This week we want to know which mobile app you turn to when you want to make sure you're on top of the previous nights' scores and up to date on the game you may be missing.

We know, if you really wanted to stay on top of the Sunday afternoon game or Monday Night Football, you'd make sure you were parked in front of the television to see it. Sadly, that's not always possible, and there are plenty of mobile apps available for all platforms that can help you keep track of your favorite team or the latest scores when you're on the go. Which one do you prefer? Leave your favorite in the comments below.

Hive Five nominations take place in the comments, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: BEST MOBILE SPORTS TRACKER. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another commenter. Instead, make your vote and reply separate comments. If you don't follow this format, we may not count your vote. To prevent tampering with the results, votes from first-time commenters may not be counted. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's five best ways to use a regular phone for internet calls. Photo by Ed Yourdon.