You’ve started a new exercise regime, most likely weights, and you’ve woken up the next day or even 48hrs later and you’re sore! so much so that even slight movements really really hurt, then you get stiff and avoid making certain movements. What have I done? “I had good intentions getting into that new exercise regime and this is my reward?”.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS, is muscular pain caused by unfamiliar intense loading, usually with eccentric loading programs as they cause more disruption to the muscle and connective tissue. For example, I am doing Biceps Curls, the lowering aspect of the curl is called the eccentric phase. The pain you feel will last up to 24hrs and peak at 24-72hrs, you may feel tight, have joint restriction, have problems with joint proprioception (sense of space) and feel weak.

In the physio world, DOMS is considered to be a normal response to a new loading regime, and at a physiological level, it is a Grade 1 muscle strain resulting in tearing of muscle fibres and inflammation. This sounds like a bad thing, but in fact, in order for muscles to increase in size, at a cellular level, they are torn and when they regenerate that’s when we get thicker stronger muscles.

What does this mean for training?

Rest assured that DOMS is a normal phenomena when undertaking a new exercise program, and if anything it means that you are loading the muscle effectively for cell reorganisation. With a period of light massage and undertaking the program again sooner rather than later, the earlier your recovery and performance outcomes.

Generally the more you train the less DOMS occurs, but we need a balance between our training load and recovery to prevent maladaptations which can result in further injury. DOMS is perhaps one of the major causes of drop out from new exercise regimes whether you are going to the gym, training at home, or have started a new exercise class like “pump”. But knowledge is power, and with this knowledge you are on your way to a new healthier, and informed you.

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Andy and Sam