Feeling sore after crushing a tough workout? Good for you! This shows that you're really pushing yourself in the gym! However, if you're always sore, you might be overtraining. The old saying "No pain, no gain" isn't necessarily true. Stiff, aching muscles can affect your overall performance and stall your progress in the gym.
What Causes Muscle Soreness?
Most athletes and gym goers experience muscle soreness after intense training. Exercise puts stress on your body, causing micro-tears in the muscles. At the same time, it increases lactic acid and stimulates the release of inflammatory chemicals. This leads to aches, pain, and fatigue, and swelling.
Muscle soreness comes in two forms. Sometimes, it occurs during or immediately after an intense workout, and goes away within one or days. It's a sign that the muscle has been stressed, which is good.
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), on the other hand, causes debilitating pain and swelling. Unlike acute soreness, it occurs 24 to 72 hours after exercise and takes as long as one week to go away. The pain can be so severe that you might not be able to work out the next day.
This condition may also cause tenderness to touch, joint stiffness, loss of strength, and reduced mobility. Theoretically, any activity, whether it's walking, running, or heavy lifting, can lead to DOMS. However, its symptoms are more common in untrained individuals and those who push themselves too hard. Their severity depends on the type of force placed on the muscles.
Does Muscle Soreness Indicate a Good Workout?
Strength training and other activities involving eccentric muscle contractions (ie: the lowering phase of the movement,) which causes trauma in the muscles. When your muscles recover, they grow and recover stronger than before. Considering these facts, it makes sense to say that muscle soreness is a good thing - but this isn't always the case.
DOMS usually affects those who are new to exercise, trying a new workout, or going overboard. Many times, it's a symptom of overtraining, which has a negative impact on muscle growth and repair.
Extreme soreness can be counterproductive. You'll have a hard time recovering from training, feel weaker, and experience fatigue. On top of that, your cortisol levels will go through the roof and your motivation will drop.
Muscle soreness is not an indicator of hypertrophy. Understand, you don't need to be sore after exercise to build muscle. A little pain and soreness are perfectly fine. However, if you're constantly experiencing this issue, tweak your workouts and get more rest.