Sore Muscles

How do you feel about being sore after a workout?  Personally, I LOVE it!  Well, ok, I love it in my upper body, but not so much in my lower.  Walking like you just rode a bicycle for about 100 miles isn't so fun, but still, soreness lets me know I worked it.

What is that soreness?  Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is most prominent within 72 hours after a tough workout.  Usually it goes away quickly after it peaks around that time.  OK, we know this right?  Why does it happen?

Many people believe that DOMS is caused by the build up of lactic acid in your muscles that grows during the final reps of each set of muscle building.  This is actually not correct - while lactic acid does build up (and is what leads to failure on that 8th rep) the soreness is actually caused by tiny tears in your muscles.  The tears come during the stretch part (or extension) of the exercise.  For example, the tears come on the extension of the bicep on the curl, not the contraction.  After the tears occur, the body works for the next 48 hours or so to rebuild the tears, and in fact, will build them slightly bigger than they were before.  This is what makes your muscles grow and get stronger.

A word of caution however.  If you aren't sore - it DOESN'T mean that you aren't working!  Often the biggest tears only happen the first or second time through a new routine.  After that, you're still building, but the DOMS might not be as noticeable.  I do a routine between 4-6 times before I change it up to utilize muscle confusion.  (Just like the P90X schedule!)

Here are a couple ways to help DOMS.  It won't cure the cold - just relieve the symptoms...

• Over the counter anti-inflammatory meds or pain relievers (ex. Ibuprofen) in safe doses can help the pain if it's too bad.
• heat vs. ice: heat or cold compress helps decrease swelling in muscles and helps the pain while the tears are healing (growing!)
• Massage the muscle - of course - duh!
• Stretch after your workouts!  You should be doing this anyway right?  A short cool-down and stretch will help so much more than the drag of doing an extra 10 minutes right after your hardcore workout.
• ACTIVE RECOVERY!!!!  This is my favorite!

If you're crazy sore, the WORST thing you can do is just lay on the couch.  First, it gets you into lazy mode!  Believe me on this one.  Seriously - lazy mode is so easy to get into and so hard to get out of.  Do a workout.  If your lower is sore, do upper.  If your upper is sore, do abs.  If your abs are sore, do cardio or yoga.  Seriously, active rest/recovery is absolutely key to the long term success of a program.  You WILL be sore from time to time, it's a good thing.  Power through it.

POWER THROUGH!