muscular soreness

[alfresco]

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)

A recent post of mine, quoted below, regarding muscular soreness got me thinking ( I know . . . a dangerous prospect )
it might just deserves some further attention and discussion as we all have experienced it . . . from being crippled by it to
it being a minor nuisance.

What do we really know about muscular soreness?

We know how to induce it and how to avoid it. Is it necessary? Should it be avoided? Is it indicative of future growth? Is the
part of the muscle that get sore (really a misnomer as the actual ‘muscle’ does not get sore), but even if, is that the part that
will grow (think lower biceps)? And we know how eliminate it faster than if the muscle is left dormant. Why do some exercises
produce muscular soreness and some do not? And what part of the exercise is responsible for this soreness . . . eccentric or
concentric? How fast is the onset after exercising? Why does some soreness go away fast, while others seem to linger?
Do steroids have an effect and what effect might they be? Do machines produce less or more soreness than free weights?
Is soreness desirable? Do higher reps produce more soreness than heavy weights and if so, why? And does age effect how
fast and how sore you get? Do females get more or less sore than males? And what if anything do we learn when we get sore?

I don’t know all the answers . . . hell, I don’t even know all the questions but I do think this would be a fun topic to kick
around because we are all subject to it and experience it, to some degree or another. And it might be of particular interest
to the folks getting back into weightlifting / bodybuilding after a prolonged absence or perhaps the existing trainee when
he or she changes their exercise routine because somewhere along the way they will experience some degree of soreness.
What can we do about it . . . if anything?

So, pick a topic and let us get this show on the road. I am anxious for your share, to hear and learn from all your experiences,
. . . the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’ll start first.

“Training a ‘sore’ muscle will help to remove the soreness better than not training it at all . . . assuming the soreness
was exercise induced.

It is painful but it works. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but try it.

I have experimented with it after an absence from training. Take bb curls for instance. I did db curls with one arm, and
nothing for the other. The arm that was exercised rather then rested felt less sore by a bunch. Very noticeable.

Muscle soreness as induced by exercise is not a very well understood phenomena regardless of what people think.

Some exercises are capable of inducing great, if not crippling soreness while other exercises (think leg extensions)
produce zero soreness. Interesting.

We know how to induce and how to mitigate ‘it.’ And we don’t really know what actually gets sore as the actual
muscle does not have the type of nerves capable of registering pain as witnessed when you do a deep
intramuscular injection. Once you break the skin, pushing the needle in through the muscle is not painful, is smooth
as butter, painless, at least on me.

Could go on and on but don’t want to bore you . . . as this subject, muscle soreness, is not without controversy.”

 

[n3mo0101]

My calves usually get sore no matter what type of calf raises I do (seated, standing, leg press, etc.). What I found is that stretching them on my rest day actually makes them MORE sore. Like WAYY more sore. My lats, however, never get too sore. Sometimes I feel a slight ache, but nothing that would impinge my active range of motion.

Gear doesn't really change whether or not I get sore. What has the biggest impact on soreness for me is how long I have been performing the exercise for. For example, if I stick to the same workout routine, after about 4 weeks I no longer get sore from those exercises (except squats and calf raises). I prefer to switch things up on a weekly basis to keep the muscles shocked. This might not work for everyone, but I see progress, and the soreness stays with me each time.

I have come to like the soreness. It never fails me

 

[Ty]

I'm sore all the time. Whether I'm on or off gear. Whether I'm bulking or cutting. Whether I'm doing full body or separate body workouts. Whether I'm weight training or doing HITT.

It does affect my everyday life. For instance, whenever I "roll out" of my sports car, or get up from the couch, I groan. Makes me realize what it will feel like when I truly get old..um...old(er).

I've always gotten sore, but I note that the older I get, the more sore I get. But saying that, I'm lifting a HELL of a lot more weight now than I was just two years ago. So in my mind, I may be sore as hell, but compared to many (most?) peeps in the gym, I have a right to be, darn it!

With that said, I notice that warming up helps a lot. Before say doing bench, I warm up with 225 high reps before going plus 350. If I'm doing HITT, jumping jacks help. I also get a medical massage once a week and my back cracked about every 6 weeks. Hot tubs and steam rooms help. I also make sure I stretch for 5-10 mins after working out, especially on leg days. My significant other recently bought me one of those foam rollers to try out..haven't seen much results yet.

Supplement wise, I think fish oil helps. Also gear wise, I notice "wet" keeps my joints more lubed, but makes my abs looked blurred.

I know that many peeps say that you shouldn't gage soreness as an indicator that you are growing, but I think that after being sore for so long, if I wasn't, I'd be worried.

 

[n3mo0101]

I know that many peeps say that you shouldn't gage soreness as an indicator that you are growing, but I think that after being sore for so long, if I wasn't, I'd be worried.

That's why I know it is time to switch my up routine and the way I am hitting the muscles when I stop getting sore.

 

[LK3]

I agree that this is very complicated n not well understood.

also, there are different kinds of soreness. some "good" some "bad".
good meaning productive to growth.

bad being counter productive.

also I think you can see soreness come n go.

I have experimented with this a LOT as I am constantly getting back to things.

I think you can achieve soreness with most any exercise, though there are a lot of buts, I think it comes down to intensity n working the muscle.

I see most do leg extensions for example with lots of weight, they are not really working or even so much feeling the quads working as they are moving the weight up n down. I only do these to warm up and or after real work to squeeze the last lil bit out, but super light weight.

i think soreness is also a factor of cns.

muscle soreness n cns ( soreness ) are different.
when just getting back to they gym often ppl get extreme doms, this i think is more cns related then muscle related.

if you go hard you can get through it faster, but more pain. i used to do this when i was young.

now i kinda feel like and am experimenting with prolonging that.

i have found if you go slow and easy with the weights, not going full intensity for a while, you get less sore ( obviously, lol ) but drag that out so rather then being 2-3 weeks it lasts 2 months.

at that point using light weight only i have gotten myself back into good shape. then just keep the ball rolling. short deconditioning period, then back to it, keeping a certain level of soreness pretty consistently.

i use that or rather the lack of that and the ability to move more weight as signs of adaptation, thus time to push the weight a lil more n up intensity, generating more soreness as cns adapts. i have found the sort of key is to be careful pushing the weights as when you get to the top of performance you start pushing new limits and form constantly progressing at some point you need rest.

key is recognizing this before getting hurt. lol

very interesting!

ps

that said, muscle soreness is not always an indicator of growth.

not simple subject, lol

 

[gungalunga]

I liked what "Smelly" said in the documentary " Bigger,Faster,Stronger" about muscle soreness....."If you cant deal with pain, then don't lift heavy weights."