Have you ever hit the gym and then couldn’t walk up or down the stairs without holding onto the railing for dear life? Or maybe you spent a few hours gardening at the beginning of spring and felt a bit of back stiffness for the next few days? Maybe you started playing in a rec league again and were left with shin splints and soreness from all the movements you haven’t done since last season? This, my friends, is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS.
It’s a common misconception that you need to always be sore in order to have a good workout. I often hear in the gym people saying either things along the lines of, “I wasn’t feeling it enough after that class,” or “oh my gosh Becky my legs were sore for a week after that workout!”
Contrary to popular belief, muscle soreness is NOT:
An indicator of an effective workout
A measure of how hard you trained
A sign you’re getting stronger or putting on muscle
What Causes Soreness?
Soreness comes from exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), usually from exercises you’re simply not accustomed to, and is often accompanied not only by soreness, but also localised swelling, pain, and some loss of function. This damage consists of both structural damage to the myofibers (muscle tissue), and an increased level of leukocytes (white blood cells) in the affected areas.1,2,3 It’s often associated with increased levels of creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), myoglobin, c-reactive protein (CRP), and various interleukins. 4,5
Soreness Doesn’t Mean Gaining Strength or Muscle
Lots of people mistake soreness as making progress in the gym. While one of the drivers for gaining strength and putting on some muscle mass may be associated with soreness, the processes for these adaptations still occur even when soreness isn’t experienced.
In fact, one study from 2017 found that increases in post-workout muscle protein synthesis (MPS) (muscle building) contributes to increases in muscle size only after a progressive reduction in muscle damage, and even more so when the damage is minimal.6 Meaning, muscle damage is not at all the process that arbitrates or increases muscle hypertrophy after resistance training.
Another cool finding is that resistance training programs that didn’t induce significant muscle damage still saw similar strength and hypertrophy gains compared to programs that did incite initial muscle damage.7
When Does Soreness Happen?
Usually soreness kicks in when you’ve done something new - something your body isn’t used to. This would include things like:
Trying out a new exercise
Focusing on eccentrics or the lowering portion of a movement
Increasing range of motion during an exercise
Starting a new program
Returning to activity after a long break
Reasons Why Soreness Isn’t Ideal
While some people like the feeling of being sore, here are a few reasons why it’s actually not a good idea to be too sore too often:
You’ll probably have to decrease training frequency and/or volume
You’ll need more rest since you’re sore
Decreased performance
You won’t be able to move how you usually do
Less muscle activation
Soreness negatively impacts your body’s ability to activate muscles as efficiently
Decreased motivation
Greater chance of being fatigued and less excited to hit the gym again if you’re feeling achy with every step
It’s completely normal to feel some soreness if you’ve started a new workout program, but that soreness should become less and less frequent as the weeks go by and as your body gets used to the movements. Mild soreness is ok, but DOMS is the type of soreness that’s even worse 2 days later, and that’s the type of soreness we want to minimise.
Recovery
The goal should be to recover as effectively as possible between training sessions so you can go about your day without feeling completely fatigued and so you can hit your next training session just as intensely. So if you’re feeling sore, here are some things you can focus on:
Consuming a sufficient amount of protein8
Protein is the building block of the body so making sure you get enough of it will allow the body to repair itself
Light movement
This could be walking, dynamic stretches, … this will help keep the body feeling a bit more limber and the movement will promote blood flow (hello nutrients!) to those sore muscles.
Getting your Zzz's
Getting enough sleep is crucial for overall health and performance, and a lack of it can lead to decreases in cognitive function, strength, endurance, and more.9
Proper programming
If you're excruciatingly sore after a workout, it might be a good idea to dial back a bit. This can mean adjusting the volume, using a lighter load, or choosing an easier variation of the same exercise.
Supplements
There’s emerging studies that show supplements such as creatine, omega-3’s, beetroot juice, tart cherry juice, curcumin, taurine, etc can be helpful in reducing muscle damage, and thus, soreness.10 More studies need to be done and these supplements should definitely come after good eating, sleeping, and training habits.
Final Notes
So forget about how sore you are after a workout and focus more on how you feel and how you’re performing during your training sessions instead. You’ll make far better progress when you’re feeling good, well rested, and pumped up about training as opposed to if you’re constantly sore, fatigued, and exhausted.
This is why smart programming is so important. A good program will be made with intent, usually repeating the same movements, using proper volume, and continued for a certain amount of time. This repetition is what will allow your body to adjust and keep soreness at a minimum, while progressively seeing improvements in strength and body composition.
If you’re looking for quality exercise programming, check out our services at Delta Kinesiology! We offer 1-on-1, semi-private, and small group training options to suit your needs.
About Us and How We Can Help
Our goal at Delta Kinesiology is to help women reach their health and fitness goals. We specialise in conditions and injuries that women are more likely to experience, and we tailor the sessions using evidence-based principles and methods to help you reach your goals. Whether that be going about your day pain-free, building muscle, improving stamina, or feeling better about yourself, we are here to help.
Check out some of the ways we can help below!
References
Clarkson, P. M., & Sayers, S. P. (1999, June 24). Etiology of exercise-induced muscle damage. Canadian journal of applied physiology = Revue canadienne de physiologie appliquee. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10364418/
Howatson, G., & van Someren, K. A. (2008). The Prevention and Treatment of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage. Sports Medicine, 38(6), 483–503. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200838060-00004
PEAKE, J. M., SUZUKI, K., WILSON, G., HORDERN, M., NOSAKA, K., MACKINNON, L., & COOMBES, J. S. (2005). Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage, Plasma Cytokines, and Markers of Neutrophil Activation. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 37(5), 737–745. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.mss.0000161804.05399.3b
Clarkson, P. M., & Hubal, M. J. (2002). Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Humans. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 81(Supplement), S52–S69. https://doi.org/10.1097/00002060-200211001-00007
Peake, J. M., Neubauer, O., Della Gatta, P. A., & Nosaka, K. (2017). Muscle damage and inflammation during recovery from exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(3), 559–570.
Damas, F., Libardi, C. A., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2017). The development of skeletal muscle hypertrophy through resistance training: the role of muscle damage and muscle protein synthesis. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 118(3), 485–500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3792-9
Flann, K. L., LaStayo, P. C., McClain, D. A., Hazel, M., & Lindstedt, S. L. (2011). Muscle damage and muscle remodeling: no pain, no gain? Journal of Experimental Biology, 214(4), 674–679. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.050112
Pasiakos, S. M., Lieberman, H. R., & McLellan, T. M. (2014). Effects of Protein Supplements on Muscle Damage, Soreness and Recovery of Muscle Function and Physical Performance: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine, 44(5), 655–670. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0137-7
Vitale, K. C., Owens, R., Hopkins, S. R., & Malhotra, A. (2019). Sleep Hygiene for Optimizing Recovery in Athletes: Review and Recommendations. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 40(08), 535–543. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-0905-3103
Harty, P. S., Cottet, M. L., Malloy, J. K., & Kerksick, C. M. (2019). Nutritional and Supplementation Strategies to Prevent and Attenuate Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: a Brief Review. Sports Medicine - Open, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-018-0176-6
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