Muscle soreness
I love the smell of DOMS in the morning
DOMS: Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness
or why your life is miserable after leg day.
It’s early morning, you’re just waking up. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining. Today is a great day. You’re just about to open your eyes to absorb the first glimpse of what should be a beautiful morning. You move a little to do a little morning stretch. Oh? A little pinch in the legs. I guess that workout yesterday is paying off! You sit on the edge of your bed, ready to start the best day of your life, the one you’re about to live. Then you try standing. Is it normal that you feel like you’re giving birth through your quads?
What is DOMS
Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness is an inflammatory reaction to you working out. It your body’s natural response to any type of effort. It can sometimes be light (“oh that was a nice Pilates class yesterday, I can feel my abs if I sneeze really hard”) or it can turn your life into a living hell (“What the f**** is this nonsense crazy pain I’ve had for the past 5 days that render me useless in case of a fire drill?”). The complete mechanism of DOMS is still not entirely understood. The inflammation is thought to be appearing following the micro-trauma that occurs in the muscle fibers during exercise. See, during your workout, you damage muscle fibers. That’s actually the whole point and the reason you actually achieve anything muscle related. Now all that damage induce a reaction to send pro-inflammatory agents to the site of exercise to help with the healing process. Mild swelling occurs, increased blood flow to the area, etc. All that serves to help with the healing of your poor destroyed muscle fibers.
What causes DOMS
Now in my experience, any exercise can cause DOMS, depending on the level of the participant. But to be a little more specific, what seems to be causing the most damage is any eccentric contraction, during which a muscle under tension is lengthened (as opposed to a concentric contraction, during which a muscle under tension is shortened). For example, in a deadlift, the part of the movement during which you raise the bar is considered concentric, and the part where you lower the bar is considered eccentric, relative to your hamstrings.
Preventing and managing DOMS
One of the most used technique for avoiding DOMS altogether is to stay at home on the couch. Very popular, this technique has the downside of rendering you useless as a human being. And if you were interested in doing that, I don’t want you reading my blog anyway. Shoo.
That being said, the best way to prevent it is to progressively damage your muscles at an increasing rate, so that you heal and become stronger. That takes time and dedication to training.
Some supplements have been proven to reduce DOMS and the duration of the pain. BCAAs, or Branched Chain Amino Acids, are comprised of 3 of the building blocks of protein, and are pretty much the best supplement to reduce or even completely avoid DOMS. Fish oil is also a good supplement to reduce inflammation. It won’t help you heal, but will reduce the inflammation chain reaction.
Water is an essential nutrient and will greatly decrease the length of time during which you’ll be in pain. Try to hit your daily requirement, and then add a bit if you’re in pain.
Over the counter NSAIDs (Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug, for example, ibuprofen) can help, but careful with the side effects which can result in stomach irritation. Don’t abuse those. Some creams are good too, but only provide some pain relief. You also end up smelling like a car air freshener.
The best way to get rid of it is to stay mobile and make sure you rest properly. When you move, you increase blood flow to the area. You flush everything out of the swollen muscles and make sure the fibers are irrigated with fresh resources to heal better. You also avoid the muscle fibers to stick to one another, which results in feeling that distinct stiffness in the muscle you’ve worked out. When you sleep, your body heals. So make sure you squeeze at least 7 hours of shut-eye per night.
Dangers of DOMS
Ok, so you’re in pain from that workout you did 2 (or 5…) days ago. What do you do now? Should you train through the pain or rest until you’re completely pain-free?
Unless we’re talking about pain from an injury, in which case always follow what your doctor says, there is no danger in training through the pain brought up by delayed onset muscle soreness. Sure it will be uncomfortable for the first few minutes, and maybe your brain will take over and slow you down or make you lift less. But overall, you’re better off training than not. The blood flow will help the healing process, and you’ll feel significantly better after your workout. Warm up properly and you’ll be all good.
Mild stretching is not a bad thing, although I’d refrain from doing a full hour of a stretching routine. The stretching here is more in the sense of keeping mobile than it is about increased flexibility.
Myths of DOMS
Here are two common misconceptions about DOMS
Stretching
No, stretching immediately after exercise will not reduce your soreness. This is a myth. As the exercise damages the muscles, stretching will do nothing for the subsequent pain. Now stretching in the following days will help just as any other exercise or movement will: by increasing blood flow in the area.
Can’t train while sore
Come on now, really? You’ll be just fine training through the soreness. If anything it’ll help with recovery. Just make sure you have full control and you’ll be all good. No increased injury rates have been found in any DOMS research either, so train as you must.
Conclusion
It all comes down to a few things:
- Train regularly
- Rest properly
- Eat and supplement correctly
Yes, I know your legs hurt. Life sucks. Embrace it. Stop whining.
Direct all questions or requests to Roberto: rmorales@crossfitvillemarie.com
