How do I recover from muscle soreness faster?

Start with what Nikkiey calls the baseline. On Ep. 147 she explains that DOMS typically shows up 12 to 24 hours after a workout and can last up to 72 hours. If you're still very sore past that, she says to step back and ask whether you've slept poorly, haven't eaten enough, or have been under-hydrated in the last couple of days. She says she can trace her own lingering soreness to exactly those things. On Ep. 18 she adds that soreness lasting two to four days usually means you went too hard or did too much. At that point your body is healing damage rather than adapting and building muscle, and the growth itself happens during rest and recovery, not during the workout.

Then look at how your training is structured. If you train legs several times a week and are constantly sore, Nikkiey suggests training them once with a solid workout and focusing on recovery afterward. On Ep. 82 she recommends full-body training, phase three in the WarriorBabe app, over one big leg day. Leg exercises are spread across five days, so you do three to four hard sets and then get 24 hours before the next one. She says switching to full body was a game changer for her own recovery. For a member also training for a race, she suggested keeping at least one to two rest days a week and not pairing very long runs with strength sessions.

Food matters more than most women expect. Members on the show describe the same shift. Amy (Ep. 310) went from days of CrossFit soreness to rarely feeling she overdid it once she was eating enough. Laura (Ep. 333) credits getting her protein in by pre-logging her food. Melissa (Ep. 234) was too sore to walk early on until her coach adjusted her diet and workout. If you've been sore for years, it may not be your body. It may be that the plan never fed or rested it enough.