How to Recover from Workout Soreness

After a hard workout, most people begin to experience soreness in the body parts trained within 24-48 hours, lasting for as long a week after the soreness sets in. This type of pain is called “Delayed onset muscle soreness” or DOMS.

Scientists aren’t 100% sure of all the causes of DOMS, but they have a pretty good idea. The burn you feel during the performance of an exercise is caused by the buildup of lactic acid, a by-product of exercise metabolism. It was once thought that the next day soreness was a result of this lactic acid staying in the muscle. Today, most exercise physiologists agree that the primary cause of DOMS is the tiny tears that occur in the muscle that as a result of high intensity exercise – especially resistance training.

When you work out, you literally “tear down” muscle tissue (these are microscopic tears – not like a “torn” muscle in the medical sense). During the days after the workout, the muscle begins to rebuild itself, provided it is allowed enough time to recover and sufficient nutrients are provided. This rebuilding process creates a “new” muscle that is bigger and stronger than before. In a nutshell, this is how the enitre process of muscle growth takes place.

This type of pain is different than the burn you feel during the workout and it is different from the pain of an injury. It’s important that you develop the ability to differentiate between the “good pain” of soreness and the “bad pain” of injury. Unless the soreness is so extreme that it is debilitating and prevents you from participating in sports or performing routine tasks (like walking up a flight of stairs!), then next day soreness is GOOD PAIN! It is a sign that you had a good workout – that you trained hard enough to break down muscle tissue. As a result, your reward is going to be bigger and stronger muscles.

DOMS will be greatest in a beginner who has never worked out before. The more your body adapts to the workload you impose on it, the less soreness you will feel. If you continue to repeat the same workout over and over again, it will eventually cease to make you sore. Unfortunately, you will also cease to make any progress. Progressive overload is the cornerstone of getting stronger and building muscle.

Soreness doesn’t just occur in beginners. No matter how many years you’ve been training, you may also get sore when you begin a new routine. Shocking your body and providing progressive overload are the keys to muscle growth. Each time you “shock your body” with a new workout program, new exercises, new techniques you’ve never used before or techniques you haven’t used in a long time, you can expect the soreness to return. Be aware of this every time you begin a new training program or if you follow someone else’s routine that you’ve never done before. Sometimes the amount of soreness just from a change in your routine can be incredible. Always go easy the first day on a new program and build intensity gradually or you’re asking for it!

Negative repetitions, where you lower the weight more slowly than usual, also seem to increase the level of muscle soreness. It is believed that this portion of the repetition causes greater micro trauma to the muscle fibers than the concentric or lifting portion of the repetition. (Which, by the way, is a good reason to never eliminate the negative portion of your rep as certain exercise machines do).

What if you’re still sore from your previous workout? Should you still train? If the soreness is very minor, then yes, go ahead and train right through it. As blood gets in the area and your body temperature increases, the remaining soreness will dissipate. However, if there is any substantial amount of soreness remaining from the last workout whatsoever, that is a sign that you have not completely recovered yet. Your body is still “healing.” If you keep breaking down muscle before it has a chance to recover, the effect will be the opposite of what you want: you will get weaker and smaller.