Sore muscles anyone?
I haven’t felt muscle soreness like this in years…
I typically don’t experience a lot of soreness in my muscles and I’m really ok with that! Sure, I want to feel like I’ve “worked” a certain muscle group but by no means do I wanna be out of commission for 3 days because I’m too sore.
But two weeks ago, I experienced some serious DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and it wasn’t pretty ;)
I did a “random” training with my coach. Basically a workout that was different from my usual training program. And it had me sore for DAYS!
It set me back from my usual routine in training and had me thinking… what the heck happened here?!
The answer was quite simple… my current training program has me focusing on strength in my lifts. That basically means lifting HEAVY but not necessarily many reps.
My “random” training was lighter loads, but with a higher volume. So think of 3 sets of work targeting the same muscle group with different exercises than my body was used to doing (at this current time).
Weirdest thing was that during the training I was AOK. That same night tho…
No bueno!
It took a total of about 3 full days before my legs felt back to normal. And in spite of more protein, foam rolling, stretching and hydration, my muscles needed the time it took to fully repair those “damaged” tissues.
Had me thinking about muscle soreness and how it’s a love/hate thing for most of us in fitness.
But, how much of muscle soreness is actually “normal”… if at all?
Let’s deep dive into different types of soreness first….
Muscle Fatigue/Soreness
This is the type of soreness we experience when we train our muscles with a new stimulus so either a new exercise or a heavier load than usual or maybe even a few extra reps or sets that we’ve typically done before. If we trained our glutes on Monday and then on Tuesday “feel” the booty got some “love”, we attribute that to that perhaps novel stimulus from the day before. Though some people like this feeling, it is by no means an indication of a “more effective” training. In other words, if you’re NOT sore, no worries… as long as you worked hard and with enough intensity and effort during your workout session. By the same token though, NEVER being sore may be something to look into to see why that is, especially if you’re using adequate loads and changing exercises (as we do in WOW on a monthly basis).
Joint/Tendon/Connective Tissue Soreness or Pain:
We really want to minimize this type of soreness both during the workout and in the recovery period afterward. Feeling “pain” in a joint is not the same thing as feeling muscle discomfort. This might mean there’s a technique issue somewhere and a so-called “weaker” muscle is causing compensation in other muscles.
For example, you really shouldn’t feel pain in your shoulder joint when doing a side lateral raise, or pain in your knee when doing a squat. If you are, it is a possible indication of some sort of mechanical issue. This could be muscle movement patterning, a lack of mobility at the joints themselves, or both. In fact, it might mean a lack of stability, not necessarily strength. It could also be that for your biomechanics, that particular movement isn’t optimal for YOU.
Right now for me, I’ve noticed some mild discomfort in my right knee, not during a training session but afterwards. So I went to physio and discovered that my right Glute Medius (think “side glutes”/hip) lacks stability when compared to my left. Nothing major but enough to cause a lack of efficiency down the kinetic chain. This of course also leads to overcompensation of other muscles which of course “pick up the slack” to help out the weaker link. Our bodies are incredible really! Nonetheless, I have a few corrective exercises to help with my Glute Medius stability and the issue should, by definition, be resolved.
In essence, you want this type of fatigue and soreness to be as close to zero as possible. It is certainly not normal to be feeling this kind of soreness all the time. This is where we define it as “pain” vs “discomfort”. Discomfort in a muscle while training is perfectly OK, but pain in joint is not.
Overall Fatigue:
This is the fatigue that occurs after too many days of poor recovery. Chronic bad sleep, inadequate protein, continuous soreness in muscles and even a lack of motivation to train… these are the indicators of overall or systemic fatigue/soreness.
A lot of women who exercise too frequently without proper rest days might experience systemic fatigue when they have pushed it too far in the gym.
I’ve often had to coach clients who train at the gym with a program, take multiple fitness classes then do some hot yoga that they need more recovery. In essence, their 100% on a Monday will definitely be subpar by Friday if they have yet to take a break…. and yet they still want to push the intensity.
Yet fatigue like this while training sets us up for failure… failure to perform optimally which can ultimately cause injury.
When you experience overall fatigue like this, it might be time for a deload week (which is essentially the same program but with lighter loads) or take 2-3 days of full recovery.
It’s the simple concept of less is MORE when it comes to our muscles and performance and knowing the sweet spot for YOU and your amazing body.
Final Thoughts…
Soreness, “pain”, discomfort isn’t something that is necessarily bad or wrong. But we need to know what causes it and how we can manage potentially “sore muscles”/or joints.
As for me, I was glad that after 3 days of DOMS, my legs finally felt better! But I can assure you, those days weren’t fun and definitely not what I desired!
Likewise, I’m happy I didn’t wait too long to get my knee checked out… waiting too long, hoping for a “pain” to just go away on its own in my POV is a recipe for further injury and more pain.
Best to get things checked as soon as possible to avoid bigger problems down the road.
That’s also why following a structured program, like in WOW, is ideal because, yes, you’ll get new stimulus at the start of the month and maybe potentially sore muscles, but then, with progressive overload you will get stronger and better without excessive soreness!
Do you have sore muscles regularly?
How do you recover from your training?
Feeling “muscle love” is great but too much of a good thing ain’t good at all!
Coach Lisa 💪❤
