Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) - For those starting a new exercise routine or learning a new sport, some muscle soreness may be felt from 12-48 hours following the activity. You may also experience muscle stiffness, fatigue and weakness. This is a normal response to unusual exertion as the muscles adapt to the new stress. Over time this adaptation leads to greater muscle strength and endurance and the same activity will no longer result in soreness. Delayed onset muscle soreness is generally the worst within the first 2 days following the activity and subsides over the next few days. It is due to microscopic tears in your muscle fibers. Your body will flood these tears with water over a few days to repair the muscle and you will likely see an increase in your scale weight.

One thing people need to realize when you are exercising is that if you are true to the program and exercising even if you gain you “know” it isn’t fat. It’s just water in your muscles repairing the damage you have done and that’s a good thing. Muscles can’t burn fat unless you have enough of them, for one, and two, that you are giving them a reason to need the fat stores…working them enough to tear them up.

Also, not everyone gains when they start exercising. It’s usually when you do do weights or a new type of strenuous exercise that makes you sore and even then you still might not gain.

But, like I said, keep in mind that exercise induced weight gain isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a temporary effect that pays off big time in the coming weeks. People who exercise regularly stand a far greater chance of avoiding plateus, stalls, really slow losses, flabby results when they hit goal, and increased stamina and health. That’s another thing we almost always forget…this needs to ultimately be about our long-term health and not a number looking back at us.

Tips for treating DOMS:

• Rest - if you are really sore do not try to push through the pain with more weights or strenuous exercise.
• Light, low-impact, aerobic activity - try walking or light cycling to keep the blood flowing through the muscles.
• Lots of water - drink a gallon of water over the course of the day to give your aching muscles the water it needs to repair.
• Ibuprofen
• RICE - Rest, ice, compress, elevate. You can try massaging the area for the compression part of RICE.
• Vitamin C - a little extra C over the course of the day may help.