Should I Be Sore After Weight Training?
Copyright 2006 Marc David
It’s long been a myth that if you didn’t get sore from your
last workout, then you didn’t work hard enough and you
probably didn’t improve. But it’s just a myth. Soreness is
not an indicator of a successful workout.
Muscle soreness that occurs directly after a workout is
known as acute muscle soreness. Muscle soreness that
appears 12 to 48 hours after exercise is known as delayed
onset muscle soreness (DOMS) or post exercise muscle
soreness (PEMS).
Acute muscle soreness or inflammation can last up to an
hour after exercise and can be caused by a reduction in
normal blood flow to the muscle and a build up of metabolic
byproducts like hydrogen ions or lactic acid.
The physiological mechanisms that cause DOMS or PEMS are
not completely understood but the leading hypotheses are:
(1) the Connective Tissue Damage Hypothesis, (2) Skeletal
Muscle Damage Hypothesis, and (3) The Spasm Hypothesis.
Connective Tissue Damage Hypothesis.
In a 1997 study, Brown, Child, Day and Donnelly reaffirmed
an early study done by Abraham suggesting that DOMS or PEMS
is due to a disruption in the connective tissue of the
muscle and tendinous attachments.
Skeletal Muscle Damage Hypothesis.
In a 1986 study, Clarkson et al found that serum creatine
kinase concentration was elevated with concentric,
eccentric and isometric contractions, with greater
perceived muscle soreness associated with the eccentric
contraction. In a 2000 article entitled “Effects of
Plyometric Exercise on Muscle Soreness and Plasma Creatine
Kinase Levels and its Comparison with Eccentric and
Concentric Exercise” (The Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 68–74), the
authors found Clarkson’s study not only proved to be true
but also concluded that plyometric activities had incurred
perceived muscle soreness than concentric contractions.
Spasm Hypothesis.
In a 1980 study, Devries proposed that DOMS or PEMS is due
to a restriction in blood supply, generally due to factors
in the blood vessels, with resultant damage or dysfunction
of tissue called ischemia. As you continued to workout,
further ischemia would result in more damage and
“soreness.” This theory was further proven by work done in
2000 by Barlas, Walsh, Baxter, and Allen.
Sources: ISSA Complete Guide to Fitness: Edition 8.1.5,
Unit 15, pp. 415
DOMS or PEMS seems to be a side-effect of muscle tearing
and repairing that occurs after a workout. It’s an
unfortunate side-effect as well because you are very sore
and it takes 2 or more days for the soreness to go away.
Soreness should not be a goal of training. Many people
experience soreness when they do a particular exercise with
a moderate to heavy weight and get a good, deep stretch.
Not every person experiences muscle soreness. In fact,
many do not yet they continue to make fantastic progress.
Forget soreness as an indicator or progress and use the
most underutilized piece of equipment in the gym to tell
you EXACTLY where you are, where you’ve been and if you are
making forward movement.
What’s the piece of equipment?
A training journal!
Your goal should be to improve on your last efforts.
Getting a little bit better with each step and each
workout. If you track your progress in some type of
journal, it’s easy to see if you are improving. It’s even
more beneficial to track some of your body measurements
(fat loss, weight gain, size on arms and legs).
Use your journal to track your progress and your perception
of how you feel. When you are done with a workout, you
should feel better. Not so fatigued you can’t drive home.
And not puking or so nauseous that it’s difficult to
impossible to eat post-nutrition foods. You want to push
yourself and get better but blasting yourself to the point
of fatigue and overtraining where you are tired 2 days
later or getting so sore it takes 7 days to walk again, is
not good training. It will affect your recovery and that
ultimately affects your next workout like a domino effect.
Soreness is not an indicator of a good workout. That myth
has been around forever. Getting tired is easy. Getting
better is not. I’ve never seen any proven scientific
results that says soreness is a must in order to get better
or stronger or bigger.
About the Author:
Learn how to avoid overtraining and increase your recovery
in the Beginner’s Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding. If
you aren’t tracking your progress in any fashion, you
should seriously the pitfalls of that choice. Let me show
you step by step how to avoid the mistakes and frustrations
in a complete bodybuilding system.
http://www.beginning-bodybuilding.com