Watermelon Juice – Part II

I summarized an article published by researchers in Spain who found that watermelon juice prevents sore muscles when the subjects drank the pulverized watermelon immediately prior to intervals of intense cycling and rest periods. I ended by saying that I would try it. Well, I did. I am a slalom water-skier and had the opportunity to ski yesterday after a two-month gap since the last time I water skied. Skiing after that much time typically leaves my arms, shoulders, and upper back very sore. I remembered to bring a mini-watermelon and my Vitamix blender along with me to whip up some fresh watermelon juice to drink immediately prior to doing a slalom water ski run. And guess what? IT WORKED!!! I woke up this morning with a little muscle fatigue, but no muscle soreness!!! And as the day wore on, the muscle fatigue disappeared to the point where I don’t feel like I water skied yesterday! So while my study was very informal with a small sample size (n = 1, me), the results of my little study are consistent with those of Aguayo and her colleagues in Spain.