This week we will take a break from the nutrition and cardio lecturing to look something that I know we have all felt at one time or another; muscle soreness. We all love to be sore the next day after a hard workout but is it a good thing? Remember the first time you did a really intense workout and felt like you couldn’t move the next day---what causes that?
When we look at muscle soreness we have to first discuss the difference between Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and muscle strain or pull. Muscle strain is an instant soreness or pain that usually causes swelling due to overtraining or overexerting. This is not a good burn and should be taken as a serious warning sign. If you are feeling pain or soreness during your workout it is best to stop immediately to prevent any further injury. Now we look at DOMS; this is the soreness we feel the day or two after our training sessions. Believed to be caused by lactic acid build up for years, many people thought that performing a cool down or stretching at the end of the session would reduce the soreness. But more recent studies have proven this to be false and the soreness to be caused by tiny muscle fiber tears. When we exercise vigorously we start to “feel the burn”. This burn is a sign that you are damaging the muscle fibers and the damage is what causes muscles to be sore the next day or two. There is no harm in this type of soreness and can be a great gauge for your workouts. Although not necessary to be crippled after every workout, a little muscle tightness the next day is ok. It just shows that the workload increased and that the muscles are adapting. The blunt of the fiber tears occur in the eccentric phase (usually the downward motion) of the exercise. For instance; if you were doing a Bicep Curl the eccentric part of the motion is the slow lowering of the weight once you have curled it to the top. This gives us reason to focus on lowering the weight in all of our reps versus letting gravity take over and drop it.
Once an individual has experienced delayed muscle soreness at a specific exercise intensity, he or she shouldn't encounter that sensation again until the intensity level is increased. So until (or unless) the exercise intensity level is changed, soreness won't occur. If you are new to exercise or just getting back into the swing of things you may want to take it easy the first few sessions to prevent extreme DOMS. No one wants to be stuck in the seated position because they can’t move their legs for days! There has been no real evidence of any treatment or technique relieving the soreness but we can look at ways to make it easier to deal with. We obviously want to make sure we are recovering properly after all of our exercise sessions and this will help the fibers repair faster. Glutamine is a great supplement to aid in the recovery of muscle fibers. Take 10-20 grams post workout at minimum. Since you have the Glutamine out, time to add in the protein! A Whey Protein powder is essential when it comes to building lean muscle mass. Shoot for 20-30 grams with the Glutamine immediately following activity, even cardio. Another way of aiding recovery is to increase flexibility. Stretching will not stop DOMS but I will help loosen up the muscles you just destroyed in the weight room. Learn Foam Rolling techniques to really massage the tight areas and break up the lactic acid around the muscle membranes. This will encourage growth!
DOMS takes around 8 hours to even kick in so that’s how you can decipher between the good and bad burns. If it comes on immediately it’s an injury, if it’s next day soreness just wait it out and hit it again! Focus as much on recovery as you do on the actual workouts and you will see results faster, plus you will never be too sore to workout. Have light days in between your high intensity days to ensure you are not over training. Crank up the intensity to feel the burn that day and the next. A little pain is only your body adapting to your new lifestyle so pop a few Aspirin and BRING IT!!!
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