(DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS)
Picture this, you’ve just finished your first workout in a while you’re proud/happy/hungry and go home to eat, sleep and repeat. HOWEVER you wake up in shock at the realization that as the day goes on, every muscle fiber in your body is screaming at you.
This is DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness). DOMS is an accumulation of lactic acid, minor connective tissue damage, inflammation and sometimes muscle spasms. Generally due to unfamiliar exercises or overloading and the muscle fibers are not used to that amount/variation of stress/load. Depending on the person and their recovery strategy or lack thereof. DOMS can hang around for 2-5 days.
To prevent this from happening to you there are multiple things you can do.
- EASE BACK INTO YOUR FIRST WORKOUT… ESPECIALLY IF YOU’VE BEEN OFF A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF TIME. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THE SAME EXERCISES/VOLUME
- HYDRATION – REPLACE WHAT YOU LOST IN BW OF FLUID IN LITRES OF WATER POST SESSION
- STRETCHING/MASSAGE POST WORKOUT. WITHIN 2-4HRS POST WORKOUT. HELP THOSE MUSCLE FIBRES RECOVER AND MOVE THAT LACTIC ACID
The BIGGEST misconception with DOMS
Regardless of what people believe, you DO NOT need to have DOMS for the workout to be effective. In my opinion it means the opposite. When you over do it and get 3+ days’ worth of DOMS you’re practically writing off your next few days’ worth of sessions. When you are that sore, I PROMISE your workout will be compromised.
1 HARD workout a week will never beat 5 AVERAGE workouts a week
For the year that’s 50 hard sessions vs 250 Consistent sessions
Which sounds more effective?
Be smart, train smart, train consistently.
