We’ve all been there, right? Whether we’re trying to get back into a sport after a while, are training for a marathon, or just had an active day, the muscle soreness that comes the next day can be a lot to handle. Especially if we want to keep active and don’t want the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) to hold us back. 

How do I reduce muscle soreness? 

Well, it turns out there’s a pretty simple answer: tart cherry juice.

Dr Malachy McHugh, PhD, Director of Research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma (NISMA) recommends it to all the athletes he works with because in his words:

“The best way to maximize performance is to drink tart cherry juice."

When he first encountered a Cornell study on the impact of tart cherry juice on athletic performance, he was surprised. But after observing the results for himself, it became clear that tart cherries really are an antioxidant-rich superfruit with a tremendous number of health benefits that stack on top of each other.

He specifically calls out the 35 phytonutrients packed in tart cherries as being the benefit that puts this fruit above other antioxidant rich superfruits like açai berries, blueberries, beets, or pomegranate juices.

As he puts it:

“The fact that you have multiple different phytonutrients, means you have different pathways. If it was just one phytonutrient, you might saturate that pathway, but by having multiple different fighting nutrients, you don't saturate any given pathway. Since there are multiple different phytonutrients, some of them have antioxidant effects, some of them have anti-inflammatory effects, and some of them have both.” 

Both the antioxidant effects and the anti-inflammatory effects are essential to what makes tart cherries such a powerful tool in an athlete’s arsenal, but it’s the latter that is so important to an unsung aspect of any athlete’s routine.

How does tart cherry juice help me recover after a workout?

Muscle soreness is a natural inflammatory response as the body repairs micro-injuries in your muscle fibers caused by strenuous activity after physical activity. It's why it's common to have tight or sore muscles after a strenuous workout or trying a new workout where you use different muscles than your typical exercise routine.

It’s in rest and recovery that your body works to repair itself and fight inflammation so that you can can really reap the benefits of your workouts. 

"There's a particular type of antioxidant in tart cherries called anthocyanins and these are very potent phytonutrients that fight inflammation and block the enzymes that cause inflammation," explained Malachy McHugh, Ph.D.

And he’s not the only person advocating for tart cherry juice.

It’s used by over 500+ professional and collegiate sports teams, 100% of American professional football teams, 8/9 of the past professional football champions, and 100% of all collegiate football and basketball champions since 2007.