“No pain, no gain.” If you’ve ever woken up unable to sit down without wincing, you may have wondered whether that soreness means the workout worked. Here’s what I tell my clients in Maroubra.
The short answer: soreness isn’t the score
I tell clients to embrace soreness when it shows up. But I don’t want you chasing it. Soreness is not a measure of a good workout.
The research agrees. A review by Schoenfeld and Contreras found that soreness is a poor guide to muscle growth. It correlates poorly with muscle damage, and it varies a lot between people and between muscles. Bodybuilders often grow muscles that rarely get sore, and endurance activities like long runs can leave you sore without building much muscle.
What is muscle soreness?
It’s a normal process. After exercise your muscles aren’t used to, especially movements where the muscle is lengthening under load, you can get what’s called delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS. It usually starts 8 to 24 hours after the session, peaks somewhere between 24 and 72 hours, and fades within about five days. It’s your body adapting to something new.
Why you get sore at the start, and less often later
In my experience, clients get sore at the beginning of their journey, or when they come back after a break. A lot of the time it’s simply because they aren’t used to moving their body through a full range of motion with resistance. I don’t usually hold new clients back with lighter sessions, and they are usually sore. That’s normal.
Then something changes. The more consistently you train, the less sore you get. Researchers call this the repeated bout effect. Your body adapts quickly, and the same exercise causes less soreness next time, even though you’re still building muscle. So if you’ve been consistent and you’re not sore any more, that’s fine. It doesn’t mean it’s not working. Time away from training is usually when you realise you’re still working the muscles you intended to, and you don’t need to be sore every session.
Can you train again while you’re sore?
I’ll train a sore muscle again. Here’s what the research says. A small study of 14 women had participants do maximal calf raises on three days in a row. Their performance dropped on days two and three, but the researchers found no extra soreness from training again, which they put down to the repeated bout effect. It’s a small study on one exercise, so I wouldn’t read too much into it. The Schoenfeld review also warns that very high soreness can hurt performance and recovery. So my rule of thumb is that if you’re mildly to moderately sore, train again and expect to feel a bit slower. If it’s severe, back off.
What helps afterwards?
Get out and get moving. Go for a walk, do some stretching, and if you’ve got access to an ice bath, hop in. On the ice bath, a Cochrane review of 17 small trials found some evidence that cold-water immersion reduces soreness compared to resting, though the quality of that evidence was low. I’m not promising any of it speeds up your recovery. Do what helps you feel good and keeps you moving.
When is it more than soreness?
Normal soreness is a dull ache in the muscle that gradually improves over a few days. Pain that’s sharp, in a joint, or that comes on suddenly during an exercise isn’t the same thing, so tell your trainer or GP. It’s also worth knowing about a rare but serious condition called rhabdomyolysis, where damaged muscle breaks down. Healthdirect lists severe muscle pain or swelling, weakness and dark red to brown urine as warning signs, and says to seek urgent medical help if you have them after intense exercise. In an emergency call 000, or call healthdirect on 1800 022 222. This isn’t medical advice. If you’re worried, see your doctor.
If you’re just starting out, or coming back to training, my post on returning to exercise after a break has more on what to expect.
Not sure whether what you’re feeling is normal?
Come and talk to me. I’ll help you work out how hard to train, and how to get back to it.
Related reading: post-workout nutrition for recovery.
Sources
- Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B. Is postexercise muscle soreness a valid indicator of muscular adaptations? Strength Cond J, 2013;35(5):16-21.
- Bleakley C et al. Cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2012.
- Hiruma E et al. Effects of massage and compression treatment on performance in three consecutive days. MedicalExpress, 2014;1(6):328-335.
- Healthdirect Australia. Rhabdomyolysis.