Is Muscle Soreness After a Workout Good or Bad?

Have you ever experienced soreness after a workout? Have you ever questioned if that soreness was normal? Or wondered how much soreness is too much?

WHY DO YOU GET MUSCLE SORENESS AFTER A WORKOUT?

When we workout, we are putting stress and strain on our muscles. Of course, depending on the workout and intensity, different muscle groups will be under stress. This soreness is known as "Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness" or DOMS for short. This often happens 4-6 hours after doing new or more strenuous exercises. This also means that if you are an exercise newbie, you are definitely more likely to experience DOMS more often after a workout! The good

news is that DOMS are normal! When working out, the muscle fibres begin to break down and lactic acid builds up in our muscles. The repair process of these fibres actually strengthens and grows our muscles. This means that you will feel some pain, but our muscles will be stronger and ready for your next workout.

HOW MUCH MUSCLE SORENESS IS TOO MUCH?

Although DOMS is completely normal, some pains we experience after a workout can be harmful. How do we know which is which?

Some signs that your soreness is too much:

1. DOMS typically lasts for 24-72 hours. If the pain persists longer than 72 hours or is stopping or restricting you from making simple movements or completing daily tasks, that soreness is too much!

2. If you start feeling pain DURING or right after your workout, this is not a good pain!

HOW DO WE FIX THESE PROBLEMS?

1. If your pain persists past 72 hours, this is a sign that you could have overworked your muscles. Especially when first getting started with exercising. You have to gradually build up the intensity of your workouts.

2. Warm up. You need to make sure you are doing a proper warm up to prime your muscles for the activity you will be doing that day.

3. If you start feeling pain during or right after a workout it could mean you are performing the exercise with the wrong form. Depending on the exercise it could cause injury most commonly affecting your back, joints or neck. If you are working out on your own, the best way to fix this is to watch yourself complete the exercise in the mirror and compare with the proper form to make sure you are doing it correctly. This is why all of my programs have video tutorials to go with them.

How do we combat this? If the exercise has weights, lower your weights. If it is a body weight exercise try to find an alternative that can help build up the same muscle groups until you build up the strength to complete the original exercise without pain.

SHOULD YOU WORKOUT WITH SORE MUSCLES?

There is really no set answer for this question! It all depends on how much pain you are feeling and if it is a good or bad pain. If you are having typical

DOMS pain, or feel stiff, it is normal and you can workout. If you are having a tad more soreness and it is isolated in one area of the body, you can still workout, but be aware and try to workout a different muscle group to avoid overworking.

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