After you workout for the first time you’re going to be sore. 

So sore. 

Last week one of our newer clients called the gym and asked what she should do because she was so sore after her first training session that she couldn’t walk.

Now that’s a little dramatic for me, but it doesn’t change the fact that her legs probably hurt like hell after exercising for the first time in a while.

DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness normally happens the day after you workout.  You won’t feel it during your workout. 

Maybe an hour after your workout you’ll feel tired and your muscles might feel “slow” like their functioning in molasses. 

The bad soreness will hit you when you wake up the next morning. 

Most people notice it when they try to stand up off the toilet.  Don’t smirk, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

They look up at the sky and they curse and wonder “why is this happening?!” as dramatic music plays from the other room.

DOMS isn’t bad or good. It’s simply your body repairing itself.  

You know when you bang your knee on the side of the table?

And you get a bruise?

That bruise is your body repairing itself.

Although it will hurt, feel tender to the touch and even limit your range of motion it’s an inflammation that your body produces to heal damaged tissue.

DOMS is pretty much the same thing but internally.

When you lift weights or exercise you are causing tiny tears in the muscle fiber, to heal those tears your body becomes inflamed with fluid to heal them.  Those tiny tears are the same things that cause muscle strength, and muscle growth.

So repairing them is important for both your goals and for your body to function optimally. Hypertrophy and strength occurs via this repair process.

DOMS can happen whenever you train for the first time after some time off, whenever you do more than you normally do, whenever you lift heavier than you’re used to or whenever you push the intensity higher than normal for you.

At first you’re going to feel ridiculously sore, but that’s only because your body is not good at repairing itself yet.

The more efficient your body becomes at repairing itself the less sore you will feel.

That’s why the worst thing you can do when you’re sore is to skip a workout, or lay on the couch and watch food documentaries on netflix.

DOMS is not the sign of a “good workout” nor is it something you should expect, or aim for every time you train.  

DOMS is your body’s reaction to a new stimulus.

You may feel sore after trying a new training program, switching focuses, or after a long layoff but your body will adapt to these new things and become better at healing itself. 

If you’re chasing soreness you’re basically chasing entertainment and novelty, and you’ll end up getting hurt before you can achieve any results.  Random never works in the gym.

Here are a couple easy ways to beat DOMS

1.Go back to the gym

Sitting on your ass is the only guaranteed way to prolong your feeling of soreness. Blood Flow is the key to beating DOMS and it’s hormonal underliers. You might not want to bust your ass, but movement is key to beating DOMS and feeling normal again.

2. Go for a walk

Let’s get nerdy, since so many of you are in love with “the” science. DOMS occurs via fluid build up in the venous and lymphatic systems in your body. That just means that these inflammation causing chemicals and hormones are transported through your body via your veins. These fluids settle in the areas you’re feeling sore.

The act of walking is low stress on the joints, but stressful enough on your muscular system to create enough tension to push the fluid that has accumulated in those local systems (where you’re sore) back into central circulation, where they can be excreted.

All that means is that the blood flow you create by walking will “flush” or “detox” (if we’re speaking in instagram language) the fluids that are making you sore out of your system soyou’ll feel better.

Walking is a simple way to manage inflammation.

3. Get your lifestyle in order

This one’s not going to be popular. The best way to beat DOMS is to keep an active lifestyle, develop a healthy diet and fix your sleeping habits.

Your body does most of it’s muscular repair during sleep. If you’re not sleeping enough you’re not repairing enough, so you’ll be sore more often.

Your body uses nutrients from a sensible diet to create the environment in which it repairs muscles. If you’re eating like a 16 year old gamer you’re going to be sore more often, and on top of that you’re going to be tired all the time.

It’s almost like your lifestyle and your habits impact every aspect of your health? Including your ability to recover from an intense workout.

Crazy. I know

There’s no magic way to avoid DOMS or some targeted soreness when you’re getting in shape.

You need to just embrace it when it happens, but definitely don’t chase it. DOMS is a biological response, it’s not an award for how hard you workout.

Take it as a sign that you’re starting to put in the work needed to create change in your body and then align your lifestyle and habits with that goal.

A Gym That Gives a Sh*t