You know that extremely sore feeling you have after the first day of ski season or a random group class that a friend talked you into?
The feeling that your legs might buckle under you going up the stairs or when you slowly unwind yourself from the couch to go to bed that evening? Then somehow, two days later it’s still getting worse instead of better?
That is called DOMs, delayed onset muscle soreness.
I teach a group strength class to a bunch of ladies once a week and one of them recently asked me this question.
“I haven’t been sore for a while which makes me wonder if that’s good or if I’m possibly not pushing myself hard enough.”
And here is what I told her in response, “You're more likely to be sore if you miss a week, do new exercises you haven't done before/recently, or if you suddenly increase the weight a lot. That's one of the reasons I don't change the workout every week. You can make a lot of progress without feeling this level of soreness every week. Arguably more progress.”
This is why the first day of the season is always the worst, and then as the season goes on this happens less and less. Your body adapts to the movement, gets stronger for it, and starts to recognize it.
Challenging physical activity causes microtraumas to muscles that trigger adaptation to that activity through muscle growth and increased neural connections. The microtrauma to the muscle fibers is less severe when you are working consistently on the same movements and activities making it easier to recover from and continue building on.
DOMs isn’t “bad” for you, but it does make it harder to continue without interruption. If you find that you are someone who gets DOMs frequently, it may be worth talking to a provider. You should be able to adapt to activities that you do regularly.
For most folks, once they're in the routine of lifting regularly they aren't getting this sore very often. This helps you balance building strength while still having energy and capacity for all the things you really want to be doing outside. Missing a week of workouts will make it harder to recover from each workout when you do get back to it. That can make it feel like you’re treading water and getting set back by a single workout.
Next time you feel this, remember, it gets better with practice! The more consistent you can be, the less you’ll have to suffer from DOMs after a workout. So even if that means a short workout to keep it up during a busy season of life, that’s great!
Hope you're having a great summer!
Katy
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