Case in point: Last week not one but two of these alleged experts were tweeting about how important it is that you feel sore the day after a workout and that if you're not experiencing DOMS, your muscles are not growing or getting stronger.
This is patently not true.
According to the Almighty Wikipedia, DOMS is caused by performing exercises to which you are unaccustomed (source). DOMS illustrates a "repeated-bout" effect, which means that if you perform heavy squats for three weeks, you may be extremely sore the first week. However, you will experience a little less DOMS the following week, and the third week, you will feel even less soreness (source).
Additionally, the longer and more intensely you exercise, the less sensitive you are to pain (source). So, as you become an increasingly advanced lifter (or runner, yogi, etc) you could have low-grade DOMS without even feeling it.
Because we are all human and inherently different, some people are more or less sensitive to pain than others to begin with. When I first started lifting, I had a very low tolerance to pain and was in DOMS-induced agony for the first month or two that I lifted. But now? Typically I only notice my soreness after a deload week or a week off. That doesn't mean I've stopped building muscle!
As a rule, almost everyone is more sensitive to pain in certain areas than in others. For example, I can usually detect some DOMS in my butt even if it doesn't actively bother me, but I've only rarely felt DOMS in my quads.
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| Sorry for all the shadow. :( Left leg is relaxed; right leg is flexed. |
In my book, worrying over how sore your muscles may or may not feel is not a worthwhile pursuit. Just follow a program, make sure you're progressing in a linear manner most of the time (you will stall out and you will miss PRs that you hit two weeks before), and eat enough.
Your turn! Do you experience DOMS? Did you / have you ever used it as a measuring stick for your workouts?
SO many people are misinformed or assume the wrong things about soreness. I used to! I get DOMS every now and then - especially last week when I tool body pump for the first time - it showed me that I NEED to work my leg muscles more, and possibly harder than I had been, so I did, and this week I wasn't sore at all. It was awesome. Although I love th efeeling of being sore (wierd...haha) I know that it's not necessarily an indication that my muscles are growing.
ReplyDeleteMuch love!
Meg
I love being sore too Meg!! I actually kind of miss it -- I'm almost never sore now that I'm working at such a high percentage of my one-rep max. I'm just not spending enough time in the negative I think! =( But I guess it is nice to be able to sit down and stand back up again at a normal rate of speed without grunting. HAHA
DeleteI never use it as an indicator as how I am doing- I love body pump and usually I am a little stiff in some places the day after, but then if I miss a week the week I start back it is loads worse! If I get it after running then I know I didn't stretch enough, or sat too still after!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great point -- going from working hard to sitting totally still can really, really, reallllly increase soreness and DOMS! Cool downs are important!
DeleteI neeeeever used to get DOMS when I did full body splits and upper/lower splits. But now that I've been doing a body part split, my legs get sore pretty frequently. I don't know why and I don't like it!
ReplyDeleteSo weird! I had worse DOMS when I was doing a five-day body part split (still almost none in my arms and quads though =/) and now that I'm doing a three-day split I'm almost never sore. But I always assumed the change was because I'm doing a lot less volume and A LOT less reps per set. Hmmmmmm!
DeleteI experience DOMS occasionally. When I first restarted exercising I had it almost continually to one degree or another, then as time went on, it went mostly away. When I do something new or increase weight, it reappears. If I try a new sort of exercise (Like if I go skiing or do a lot of downhill hiking it gets me. It is just your muscle getting used to a new thing you are asking it to do. Little tears in it that you then recover from 24-48 hours later - healing time. Stretching post workout I think really helps lessen the pain later. And maybe a massage by a super hot guy.
ReplyDeleteMassage makes it SO much worse for me! I think it's just that massage makes me feel it versus my usual MO of ignoring it. This is probably a bad thing. Oh well.
DeleteI think stretching helps too even though several studies have refuted that claim...whatever! It works for me so I'll keep at it.
Wow, it's amazing what garbage some people come out with! It's so frustrating when I see people churning out information that simply isn't true. After a leg workout I feel sore 9 times out of 10. Every time I start a new program I feel sore for the first week. But I rarely feel sore in my back, shoulders or arms. I feel DOMS in my chest about half of the time, but it's never as intense as in my legs. But I never feel as if I didn't work as hard if I don't feel sore. To be constantly sore is not a good thing!
ReplyDeleteExactly!!!! Plus -- and this kind of goes hand-in-hand with the "get super sore or you're not really working out!" mentality -- you SHOULDN'T go balls to the wall every session. That's just going to short-change your progress.
DeleteI only get sore these days if I do something crazy. Which is how I prefer it, considering how frequently I work out.
ReplyDeleteI only lift 3x a week now but I am kind of glad I'm not sporting a sore body part for 90% of the week. It makes me MUCH more functional in real life!
DeleteGreat post! I use DOMS as an indication that I am challenging my body, but I don't see it as an indication of growth as such :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tina!!! =)
DeleteI am really glad you posted this because I am one of those that though you being sore was way more helpful! This info helps me in the on-goign process I am going through of laying off the exercise a bit. Aka enough with the excessive workouts for this girl!
ReplyDeleteIt's so important to give yourself time to recover -- and not just one or two rest days a week, but whole rest weeks and deload weeks! My coach has me deloading about once a month and I've never made so much progress in my life!
DeleteI'm kind of with Tina - It just makes me remember I worked something harder. I don't feel major DOMS in my quads often either, it's usually inner thighs or hamstrings really. I actually just read something about it being more rare to feel DOMS in quads. Can't recall where I read it though.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I wonder if the same is true for biceps. I think in my entire almost-2-years of lifting I have only ONCE had DOMS in my bis, and I know a lot of other people who say the same thing.
DeleteI remember reading a post somewhere a while back about how DOMS wasn't necessarily related to effort/exertion. Might've been on bodyrecomposition.com. But yeah, totally agree. I've been squatting 3 times a week for the last 5 weeks, and now I get rarely any DOMS, even though I'm squatting more than I ever have.
ReplyDeleteYep!! I'm working at a higher %age of my one-rep max than I ever have before and I've been sore...well almost never! But I am DEFINITELY working way harder than I did before -- in part because the past 4-5 months have been the only period during which I've had a serious performance-related goal!
DeleteI'm the same! quads rarely (usually only if I go back to front squats) but my butt... I get sore butt big time. For the rest of me it's back and forth. I do have days where I'm stiff or sore, but rarely to never ever am i "so f-ing sore" hahaha
ReplyDeleteLOL yep I'm right there with ya! I look at people kind of funny when they say their legs are/have been so sore that they can't walk or whatever...I have literally never been that sore EVER, and I think I would cry and stay in bed all day if I was. haha!
DeleteI'm almost completely the same as Tara. I get DOMS all the time after doing legs but rarely feel anything in my arms and shoulders. Back and chest are fifty-fifty. I agree though that it is no indication of how hard you worked that body part. Personally, I just feel a kind of weird satisfaction in feeling DOMS, I guess they just grew on me after a while lol.
ReplyDelete(Your initials are the same as my sister's!!!!)
DeleteI am the same way. I'm kind of sad I haven't had much DOMS lately haha... I like the day-long 'token' of what I did in the gym the night before, you know? It's like a constant reminder of my goals and what I'm working towards.
Love this post and I agree completely. Just because you:
ReplyDeleteA. Sweat a lot during a training session, or
B. Get super sore afterwards
does not mean that what you did was conducive with an effective workout, whether it's fat burning or muscle building!
I could sit in a lawn chair and wave at my neighbor all day long and my arm would probably experience some DOMS the next day... but that doesn't mean I built muscle! Oy!
Ahhh Jen so funny to see you comment here -- I was reading all of your columns on elitefts during the slow parts of work today! LOL! And that is a GREAT example. I'm stealing it ;-)
Deletei do experience DOMS sometimes...not all of the time but sure...however with that said I dont use it as an indicator...I KNOW I can have a kick ass workout and not be super sore the next day and Im okay with that! its all about getting stronger and progressing for me, which sometimes doesnt have to include not being able to walk :)
ReplyDeleteExactly! I'd much rather use a graph of my 1rms (which I do....nerd alert!!!) over time than worry about how sore I am!
DeleteI actually like DOMS, weird as that is. But I don't get it very much anymore. In the last couple weeks I'v only gotten it a couple times despite hard workouts for every muscle part. I liked it because it made me realize there are certain areas I wasn't hitting as hard with previous workouts... which fits in with what you've said about DOMS being about working new muscles!
ReplyDeletehaha exactly!! I can always tell if I haven't activated my calves in a while -- they'll scream for a day or two after squats!
DeleteI've learned the hard way that being sore after every workout not only is not a sign of muscle growth but it's a bad thing. When I was overtraining I was sore ALL THE TIME and thought that meant my workouts were working. Totally not true. These days I still get sore sometimes - generally when I radically change up my workout (which knowing me, I do quite often;)) - but I'm definitely not sore all the time like I used to be. I'm with you on this one!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm doing an article for Shape.com about inspiring bloggers who've lost weight and kept it off and I'd love to feature you and your blog - I love that you found your passion in powerlifting, something that a lot of women don't think about when losing weight (but they should!)
That definitely makes sense! I've never *actually* overtrained (yet! knock on wood) but the times that I've gotten close I've definitely been more sore, and the soreness was different -- it lasted for three or four days as opposed to one or two and that kind of thing. I wonder if anyone's studied that!
DeleteAnd thank you! =) I definitely think powerlifting is intimidating to most women -- possibly even more so than bodybuilding, just because of the "fat powerlifter" stereotype and the fact that many of the famous/prominent female powerlifters are...well...they look like the biggest IFBB women bodybuilders. But as with anything else, it's a case of the extremes getting all the attention...if you compete in a (legitimately) tested league, you do not see women benching 600#. haha. It just does not happen.
I suffer fibromyalgia and I'm not sure if it's connected, but even after lifting for almost 2 years, I *still* suffer bad doms after each workout. I don't mind back and chest doms.....but legs that refuse to work for days afterwards is a little frustrating (and if I skip a week, then I end up like I did last week where I'm grocery shopping and the shopping trolley literally carried me around the supermarket!).
ReplyDeleteI don't see the pain as a measure of success. I know that some people don't get them. I guess I feel like I've had a good workout when my DOMS are at their worst though.
Oh geez...that sounds kind of horrible :( It definitely makes sense that it may be connected to the fibro -- my aunt has that and she can go for a short jog one day and be sore for days afterwards.
DeleteHi Sable! Well, I think a newbie who is really changing from a sedentary to a very active life will be very sore for a long time. In the beginning, I was sore for 2 straight months. Since then, however, like you, one of the pleasures of being very fit is that I'm hardly ever sore *and* I can still do amazing things in the gym.
ReplyDelete:-) Marion
I've basically had a sore butt for the past two weeks since I started walking the threadmill at the highest incline (per trainer's orders). I cannot wait till I can't sit down and not mumble, "Ouch, my ass..." I know what you mean, I'm so tired of hearing, "If you aren't sore, you aren't working hard enough." Good post as usual Sable! Oh, and great quads!
ReplyDeleteYou just made me feel so much more incouraged to start strength training again. Knowing that it will get better definitely makes me more inclined to go there again and not get discouraged by the soreness. Knowing that it has a timeline and that it isn't a permanent thing is defintely helpful.
ReplyDelete