Exercise is essential, but so is taking a break from your workout.

Photo: Globus

They're a regular fixture in physiotherapy clinics, and serious athletes and body builders have turned to them to help beat muscle fatigue, so will an electronic muscle simulator (EMS) help you take your workout to the next level? That's the question The New York Times recently asked NYC physical therapist Brendan Toner.

An EMS sends an electrical current through the muscle, causing it to contract, and they're most often used to relieve pain. But these days, they serve a few other functions -- like rejuvenating muscles after a tough workout, easing muscles spasms and strengthening weak muscles. Sounds like they're pretty useful -- but at $500 to $900 for a portable unit (the kind you use outside of a physio clinic), you'll want to be sure before you pick one up.

So what can it do for you? An EMS will help you fend off muscle fatigue that comes from an intense workout, as well as ease any muscle spasms. And, according to a study from the 2005 Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association, using a portable unit is just as effective as using the clinic one. It can also help you strengthen weak muscles, but Toner is quick to point out that it shouldn't be used in place of strength training, and the best way to increase strength is still by working out.

The bottom line? If you're really serious about your workout and have a few hundred to spend, one of these could really help your recovery. However, I suspect most of us will stick to stretching.

A little soreness after a good workout is expected. That slow-developing ache that comes knocking a day or two after a good workout is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. As long as it's just a mild discomfort, it's normal. In fact, you should almost expect it, especially when you're starting a new activity.

But sometimes we go a little far and the aches and pains are a bit much. Non-medication treatments like ice packs, hot showers and massages can provide some relief. And medication certainly can help, but NSAIDs (such as Advil and Aleve) can lead to stomach upset and acetaminophen (as found in Tylenol) has been linked to liver damage. Though, as That's Fit recently told you, taking small doses of painkillers for exercise-related pain isn't that harmful.

Still I wonder, when you overdo your workout, how do you treat the aches and pains?

Remember, mild aches after working out are expected. But if the pain you're experiencing is sharp or severe, it may indicate an injury and you should see your doctor. Speaking of workouts, have you ever considered working out at the beach?

Photo: Martha Edwards

If you're spending the warm summer months on the courts playing tennis, good for you -- not only is tennis fun, it's a great way to get fit too. But if you're not used to swinging your racket, or you've been hitting every day, a case of tennis elbow can leave you relegated ball boy.

Caused by overuse of the tendons in the arm, it's more than just a painful nuisance -- it can seriously hamper your summer fun. And it's not just caused by tennis -- painting, gardening or any repetitive arm movement can lead to the condition. Luckily, a recent study found that for those afflicted with tennis elbow, an $8 rubber bar may help get them back on the courts.

The FlexBar is a rubber handheld therapy device that you use basically by bending and twisting. Sounds too simple to be effective, right? Don't be fooled -- it really does work.

OK, I already knew that caffeine could give my running pace a boost (and I haven't run a race without a cup of coffee to start things off since!), but it turns out caffeine has another benefit -- a reduction of post-workout pain. Shoot, I might be more excited about that than I am about running faster!

A small study found that fit, young men experienced less soreness after a tough cycling session if they had a dose of caffeine prior to the workout. This held true for both those who habitually ingested caffeine and those who generally avoided it. So, even if you guzzle the java every morning, you might not build up a tolerance, so everyone can enjoy the benefits. Yay!

So why does caffeine reduce post-workout muscle soreness? Robert Motl, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was one of the researchers involved in the study. He found that caffeine affects a system in the brain and spinal cord involved in pain processing, and, as any athlete knows, less pain can lead to improved performance.

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz. My wife and I had been doing a fantastic job of getting into shape, but then I sprained my foot and she got pregnant. Our daughter is nine months old now, and it's still really hard for us to find time to go the gym in the evenings. I've got a gut but and my wife thinks I'm smokin', so I'm not really concerned about weight loss. I do worry about my cardiovascular fitness, though. It's not unusual for my heart rate to top 100 BPM while I'm just sitting working at my desk, and that's pretty much all I do all day.

Because of my sprained foot (it's healed, but prone to re-injury), the treadmill is not recommended but the rowing machine is fine. I've recently started going to the gym on my lunch hour a couple of times a week, but I only end up getting about 20 minutes actually working out. If I plan well, I could probably stretch that to 30 minutes. What should I be doing to get maximum bang for my buck in terms of cardiovascular fitness? I want to have the endurance to keep up with my daughter as she grows up, and I want to be around a long time after that as well. Mike

A. Thanks for the super question, Mike! I broke my foot and tore soft tissues in a very bad way a couple of years ago, so I can completely identify with your situation. (Photo of me with my sexy cast on right.) I got stuck on a kayaking machine for months, which was mental torture for me, but like you, I was dedicated to my cardiovascular health. Since you've told me your foot has healed and if you've been given a doctor's release to exercise, I have some great ideas for you!

Spring is in the air, and the sidewalks are finally bustling again. Walking and running are perfect activities, but sometimes along with the good, comes the bad. Fitness expert Fitz, of Fitzness.com, explains where shin pain comes from, how to avoid it and how to get rid of it. These simple steps will keep you training productively and out of recovery.

For more innovative training videos, visit Fitzness.com.

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That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Everlast and Everlast Woman have been giving gorgeous workout T-shirts to each featured member! We are so grateful for their generous support and have been honored to partner up with them. We bid them farewell with great thanks, and are excited to introduce our new That's Fit Club sponsor. We welcome adidas to our club and are proud to announce they'll be providing awesome gym bags to each new featured member starting next week. To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions, with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: JJ Gies

Age: 35 +

Occupation: Utility Player, part time student, teacher and customer service.

How often do you exercise? I used to train six days a week with one day of rest, but because of the tumor in my foot, I am limited to working out every other day.

What type of exercise do you do? Rollerblading, mountain biking and lifting weights. On a good day, I play beach volleyball.

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? I just convince myself that no matter the pain or how I feel that the end results justify the means, Plus I know that after a workout i feel so much better all around.

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Some people think fitness needs to be complicated. (Just ask Liz why she thinks fitness is stupid.) But sometimes, the simplest activities are best. Walking -- perhaps the simplest activity of all -- has long been touted as a good activity for helping you maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress and reduce the risk of conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Research now suggests that a walking program can help reduce pain associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Even if you don't have a condition such as PAD, walking can make a big improvement in your health. You can use it as an occasional break from your more intense workouts or walking can be your exercise of choice.

Are you a walker? What changes has walking made in your fitness and in your life?

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Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight, and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose the last 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every Wednesday about every win and setback along the way.

If the squeaky wheel gets the grease, then I am oiled for life. I have made more calls and visits to my surgeon than I am sure she ever anticipated. Let me preface this by saying that I consider myself nobody's weakling. Ironically enough, this arm lift surgery has brought me to my knees. Ouch. Two weeks later and while the bruising is gone, the pain is not. It has definitely lessened, but still lingers. As much as I hate them, I am still taking pain meds, simply because I really need them.

Aside from the actual arm pain itself, my stomach is a wreck from the pain med + antibiotics combination. By the way, this is round two of antibiotics. My surgeon thought I had more swelling than I should've had at last week's visit and decided to prescribe them as a prophylactic measure. I have been constantly nauseated and have found minimal relief from anything over the counter. Let's add some Benadryl to the mix to relieve the itching and voila! -- you've got a zombie named me. I can hardly eat, and I sleep more than I probably should. However, that's the only time I am truly comfortable.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the problems I've been having with plantar fasciitis. I hadn't been to see a doctor yet, but based my the symptoms, I was quite certain plantar fasciitis is what I'm dealing with. My pain was typically worse in the mornings after I worked out -- to the point that walking was difficult until things loosened up for me.

Since I wrote my original post, I've tried out some tips. All in all, I think they're helping. I've been able to wake up the morning after working out and (aaah, aaah the angels sing), I can actually walk. There's still some pain, but it's not nearly as bad. Check out the gallery for details.

Do you have plantar fasciitis? If so, what's worked best for you?

I overpronate, so my workout shoes wear out rather quickly. Recently, I made the cardinal sin of fitness buffs and tried to wear my shoes long after they needed to be replaced. Six months later, I'm paying the price. While I'm not 100 percent positive that I have plantar fasciitis, the symptoms certainly point to it. For example, the morning after a long workout, I feel like someone is jabbing knives up my feet. A new pair of shoes and a trip to the doctor are in my near future.

Plantar fasciitis is caused by straining the ligament that supports the arch of your foot. While it's painful, plantar fasciitis doesn't need to put you on the sidelines. Some tips:

• Buy good shoes. Shoes are not something to skimp on. Look for shoes with good arch support or consider motion control shoes if you overpronate.
• Stretch. Do calf stretches and towel stretches several times a day.
  
• Avoid hard surfaces. If you're a runner or a walker, try moving your workout to an indoor track. Cement and other hard surfaces may aggravate your pain.
• Try new exercises. Swimming won't aggravate plantar fasciitis and other activities -- such as biking -- may be easier for you.

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That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind. Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Everlast and Everlast Woman are giving gorgeous workout T-shirts to each featured member! To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Jorn

Age: 38

Occupation: "Tech Things"

How often do you exercise? Three to five days a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Resistance work; I hope to get back to TaeKwonDo soon.

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? 1. Knowing that I have never, ever, ever said to myself, "Gee, that workout sucked. I shouldn't have exercised today." 2. Back fat. Ewww. 3. Most people peg me for being 10-15 years younger than I am. That didn't happen when I was fat a few years ago.

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Professional and elite athletes rely on sports-med doctors to stay in the game. They don't wait for an injury to become so bad that they can't play -- they can't. Their jobs depend on it.

The rest of us might not be so quick to see a doctor when we feel a little pain -- we tend to rely on RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation), often focusing on the "rest" part more than anything else. And that might be totally fine, but some injuries require attention from someone whose medical credentials don't rely solely on their love of Grey's Anatomy.

Shape magazine has some great tips on how to treat some injuries at home as well as information on what kinds of injuries might require further medical attention. There's even a list of some of the most commonly treated injuries as well as suggestions for avoiding these injuries in the first place.

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It's not just a tough workout Twilight villain Cam Gigandet loves -- it's pain that might be the key to his heart.

Cam -- you may know him from stints on both The Young and the Restless and The O.C. -- is accustomed to pushing through pain. Tough workouts, career bumps (he was fired from his soap opera gig), and waterskiing accidents are all par for his course. "I love pain," says the 26-year-old, whose upcoming movie opens November 21.

Pick up a copy of the recent issue of Men's Health magazine for more dirt on this star. Keep flipping through the pages, and you'll learn how to gain muscle and lose pounds, how to get the greatest abs around, and how to eat for a flat belly.

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