If you’ve ever been active in your life and have had different workout sessions or have played any sports, you must’ve experienced that muscular soreness and aching that you feel in your entire body afterward, aka DOMS. IT can be confusing what to do with the muscle soreness and be sure if it is a good or bad thing. The lack of information and misconceptions prevalent in society don’t help ease the worries of anyone going through muscle soreness either. In this article, we’re going to touch on this muscle soreness and if it’s good for you. 

Understanding this topic is critical for any beginner, and even advanced athlete since it can severely affect performance and stamina. When you get a better understanding of these issues, you can start determining if you should keep working out the way you already do or if you need to change something. So without further delay, let’s get to it and find out what you should be doing after muscle soreness.

1. Learn More

The most important thing for you to do as an athlete is to learn more about issues that persistently plague you. Muscle soreness is a part and parcel of a fit lifestyle, thinking that you can avoid it forever would be too ideal of an assumption. For the layperson, pain is usually closely associated with some sort of wound or tissue, or skeletal damage, however, that’s not always true. People also think that pushing through all pain will lead to further damage to their bodies, as is the commonly accepted knowledge these days and rightly so with certain types of pain, but this is entirely wrong in this case; the pain experienced during soreness isn’t indicative of anything physically wrong, but is just a sign that the muscle is exerting effort. So you can just keep on exercising, with a properly researched and fitting program, without worrying about furthering the damage; the soreness will soon subside when your body adapts to the regimen. The only time you need to actually halt is when your body noticeably refuses to cooperate and the pain is much more significant than simple soreness.

This may still sound confusing but it does come with time and experience. If in any doubt, it’s always good to get a professional opinion and guidance of a personal trainer for example.

2. Form

Our fitness culture has learned to take proper form into consideration. Just because you have pain doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s because of improper form. While this may be true in the case of actual physical damage, it’s seldom true for muscle soreness.

Regardless of how good your form is, you can’t avoid muscle soreness while working out since it doesn’t really depend on form. In many cases, it’s actually a good idea to find yourself a physical therapist. Physical therapists from https://themovementdr.net say that form can be crucial and should get the focus it deserves, and this is something that can only be pinpointed by a professional that understands what needs attention in terms of recovery. 

There’s not much you can do to dissipate muscle soreness since it’s the natural reaction of your body to being subjected to stress levels that it has rarely experienced before. What you can do, however, is stretch and perform appropriate recovery exercises post-workout so that any soreness is minimized, and it is always a good thing to keep your form in check to avoid any other sorts of injuries. Remote coaches and physical therapists will teach you how to stretch and perform appropriate recovery exercises post-workout so that any soreness is minimized.

3. Know When to Take a Break or a day off

The most common advice mindlessly given out by people whenever soreness is mentioned is to stop exercising altogether. While this may be useful if you’re suffering from a fracture or a torn ligament, this isn’t advisable if you’re only suffering from a little muscle soreness. There’s always a threshold in exercising beyond which you shouldn’t push through, but muscle soreness doesn’t really reach close to those levels; minor appropriate exercises can even help the soreness subside.

However, if you don’t feel that confident about your abilities performing movements properly, in good form, and without any pain, then you should take a break to let your body recover. It’s for your own good and will help you get back to exercising properly sooner rather than later.

For this, you’ll have to tune in to your body and understand when it demands you to take a break and when it can push further safely and strongly. It’ll take a little bit of experimentation along with a bit of trial and error for you to be aware of your limits, but once you’re there, you’ll automatically know what to do to get them higher.

These are a few things that you should know about muscle soreness so that you can handle it better while working out. Above, we discussed how there are quite some prevalent misconceptions about this topic, and unfortunately, a lot of people are getting unjustly influenced by it. We also took a look at some steps we can take to avoid any serious damage and reduce muscle soreness. It doesn’t hurt to remind you one more time that sore muscles are a natural and completely expected sign and side effect of working out said muscles.

If you’re experiencing soreness then there’s nothing physically wrong with you, you’re experiencing growth. At certain points that you will know, just take a break if things get too intense and your body will automatically recover, even taking a day off to rest it out is a good thing to do.

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Delayed onset muscle soreness, i.e., DOMS is not something anyone likes to experience, and a side effect certainly no one enjoys. So let’s explore what it is, what its causes are, and how it will actually impact your training.

What is DOMS?

Delayed onset muscle soreness is pain and muscle stiffness you experience anywhere between 24 and 72 hours after exercise.

It most often occurs when you have engaged in a high-intensity activity you’re not accustomed to. DOMS can affect even the most experienced athletes, so it’s not so much about fitness levels, as it is about intensity levels.

DOMS is not the same as the muscle fatigue that you feel right after a workout – it is more intense, and can last for several days.

What causes DOMS?

DOMS is caused by the microtears you inflict on your muscles while working out.

While it may sound a bit scary, in fact, these microtears are what makes muscles grow. You will be inflicting them on your muscles every time you work out – but if you have done too much, and pushed your body too far, DOMS will be your reward.

Why does it feel worse before it feels better?

Contrary to popular belief, DOMS has nothing to do with lactic acid buildup in the muscles.

What actually happens is a temporary inflammation around the muscles you have overworked, which is why they are so sore. As time goes by, your body mobilizes blood cells to rush to the inflamed area and promote healing, and this will peak somewhere between 24 and 48 hours after a workout.

How to prevent DOMS?

The only way never to get DOMS is not to work out. But since that is not an option, there are several things you can do to make it easier on your body.

You are most likely to get DOMS when you first start lifting weights (or engaging in any other high-intensity training), or after a longer break. DOMS can also be caused by significant changes to your usual routine.

This is why the best advice we can give you is to take it slow – i.e., push your body more with every workout, but not over a certain limit.

If you increase your workout intensity or rep count by 1% with each new session, you are certain to both avoid DOMS, and to still achieve the results you are looking for.

It may not sound like much, but 100 sessions from now, you will be doing 100% more than you are at the moment. Which is anything but insignificant.

Remember that in order to make your muscles grow, you need to inflict those microtears on them with every workout. But taking it overboard is what causes DOMS, so if you stay within a safe rep and intensity range, you should be hitting just the right spot.

How to make DOMS heal faster?

If you’re already suffering from DOMS, you will have to wait it out. There’s not that much you can do once it sets in, but a few things might help.

First, you will need to be patient, as time is the best cure for DOMS. While you might be rather miserable for a few days, two to three is all you will need to suffer through most cases.

Also, you should provide your body with plenty of fuel to repair the damage you have caused by eating more protein, as it is the building block of muscle fibers.

Sleep is the single most important thing for muscle growth, so make sure you get enough sleep as well. And it shouldn’t just be about quantity; the quality of your sleep is even more important. There are numerous hacks to sleeping better that you can try out, and thus improve your muscle recovery.

It may surprise you that working out is another way to help your muscles recover. Although you’re sore, you can still do some lower intensity workouts just to keep the blood flowing, and to prevent your other muscles from stagnating. Don’t try to do your usual reps though – stick to something light and ‘easy.’

You can also try Epsom salt baths and foam rolling, which can ease some of the symptoms – but they are not a cure.

Is DOMS bad for you?

Yes and no.

No, it won’t have a very significant impact on your goals. After all, as long as you recover properly (with the help of quality sleep and nutrition), your muscles will rebuild themselves stronger than before.

On the other hand, the pain and soreness is certainly not pleasant, and it can even impact your daily life. Make sure you’re not injured and are just suffering from DOMS – if the pain is localized and worsens when you move, you may be injured.

Try not to push your body extremely over the limit every time you work out. The entire point of exercise is to make you feel better, and no, being in pain does not mean you are doing something right. It’s more about finding that rep range and intensity that works your muscles but does not leave you limping for days afterwards.

Final thoughts

DOMS is the bane of most athletes, professional or amateur. But luckily, they are not that long-lived and can be an excellent guide to how much your body can actually take.

Author bio:

Caitlin is a bookworm, student, and recreational dancer. She is quite passionate about nutrition, fitness, and wellbeing. When she is not trying to find the meaning of life and the Universe, Caitlin is researching and writing about various health-related topics. She is happily addicted to art in all its forms, grilled tofu, and hiking. To see what she is up to next, check out Caitlin’s Twitter.

Photo Credits:

• Depositphotos.com

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