o Vitamin supplements (I take these anyway). Your body needs a lot of different things to help repair muscle damage, especially
vitamin E.
o CEE, Creatine Ethyl Ester. This stuff is supposed to speed up recovery, it helps out with the vital amino acids required to rebuild the protein in the muscle. More at the bottom of the post on this stuff!
o Pineapple - there is an enzyme in the pineapple called bromelain which helps rid the muscles of the dead protein from the ripped muscle, the dead protein causes swelling and muscle pain while the body attempts to repair it.
o Plenty of water, muscles are 70-75 percent water or something ridiculous, so a good supply is needed!
o Tea, whilst tea is a diaphoretic it is also a good source of anti-oxidants. These are needed to get rid of the crap bulding up in the used muscles
o Rest! pretty self explainatry
o Light working of affected muscles - this stimulates blood flow to the area which in turn brings vital nutrients and oxygen as well as supplying transport to remove the crap. This is almost illogical to me as I usually am of the opinion that if my body aches it must want to rest it! But then I consider what physio is all about and so I carry on.
How creatine works, taken from: here
Creatine is an amino acid found primarily in the skeletal muscles. The human body gets most of its supply from meat and fish in the diet; it is easily absorbed from the intestinal tract into the blood stream for transport to the skeletal muscles. When the dietary supply is inadequate the body can make a limited amount of creatine from a combination of the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine.
Creatine plays an important role in muscle contraction. It helps replenish ATP, a chemical which is the immediate source of energy for all muscle contractions. In spite of its vital role, ATP is in short supply in the body; there is only enough available at any one time to provide energy for about ten seconds of explosive contractions. ATP, therefore, must be constantly replenished.
ATP provides energy to the muscles by releasing a phosphate molecule; it then becomes another compound called ADP. That's where creatine comes to the rescue. Creatine transfers phosphate to ADP, recreating ATP. The resynthesized ATP can then be used again to fuel more muscle contractions. Creatine, consequently, is a limiting factor in the resynthesis of ATP. The more creatine in the muscle, the more times ATP can be quickly regenerated.
The availability of creatine also delays the production of lactic acid, the substance which causes the famous "burn" and can eventually shut down the muscle. When creatine is present the muscles don't have to switch to a second energy system called glycolysis. But when glycolysis kicks in the muscles rely primarily on glycogen (muscle sugar) to generate more ATP. Lactic acid is a by-product of glycolysis. Lactic acid inhibits glycolysis and blocks the resynthesis of ATP through the combination of ADP and creatine. By delaying the accumulation of lactic acid, creatine allows the muscles to continue working with less pain and fatigue.
Admittedly, this is a bare-bones simplified explanation. The bottom line is that more creatine in your muscles allows them to contract harder and longer, especially in activities involving short bursts of explosive energy, such as weightlifting, bodybuilding and sprinting.