Exploring the Myth: Does Muscle Soreness Equal a Successful Workout?

We all get sore from time to time when training, but does soreness actually indicate a good workout?

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Being sore after working out is totally normal and we have all likely experienced this before.

As a beginner lifter, you are more likely to be sore on and off after your workouts for some weeks, until your body adapts to the style and intensity of the training you are doing.

However, being sore after every single workout after you’ve passed the newbie lifter phase is not a sign of results!

So firstly, let’s look at a few terms related to muscle soreness…

Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS):

You may have heard the term “DOMS” before. This stands for “Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness”. DOMS usually occurs 24-48 hours after a workout and can last for a few days. Usually, day 1-3 is the worst and then it gradually gets better from there. You will not experience DOMS during a workout, and this is the reason it is referred to as “delayed”.

Experiencing DOMS is a beautiful experience that you will wish lasted forever… Now that is pure sarcasm! DOMS are definitely not fun, especially when you feel as though you are too sore to sit down and stand up for a few days! But this is very normal for us to experience from time to time, and more so for our newer gym buddies.

Acute Muscle Soreness (AMS):

Feeling sore during a workout is referred to as “Acute Muscle Soreness”. This is immediate soreness during a workout which can last for only a few minutes or up to 24 hours after working out.

So small amounts of soreness or discomfort in the muscles we have worked is a sign that the muscle has been stressed. Which is fine as long as we give the body some time to recover before the next workout. We do have to aim for progressive overload in order to become stronger. However, we do not want to be exercising in hopes to achieve extreme soreness.

I know what you may be thinking… “If I’m not sore, I must not have been working out hard enough”. This is definitely NOT the case! Chasing soreness after every workout can be a recipe for disaster!

If the muscles in the body are overworked, they may become extremely sore, tender to touch or move, and we may begin to see some signs of swelling. Now not to scare you but this can lead to permanent muscle damage in extreme cases! While it is rare, it is definitely not something we want to aim for!

Below are some occasions you can expect to be sore after a workout and are totally fine:

• You are brand new to the gym

• You have had a decent amount of time off training

• You recently changed your program

• You tried out a new exercise

• You increased your training load, volume and/or intensity

As we become more intermediate/advanced with lifting and exercise in general, we tend to find we are not as frequently sore after workouts. With the expectation of the above points.

Even as an intermediate/advanced lifter, being sore after changing up your current routine or adding in a new exercise is totally fine. Your body is just telling you that it is not used to this movement or load. Essentially, your body is adapting to this new activity. After a few sessions though, you should find the soreness is very minimal or again not present for too long after sessions.

It is important to change up your training every 8-12 weeks to give your muscles a new type of stimulus and prevent plateau and boredom. So this is likely to lead to DOMS and takes you back to the times when you began your training journey. It is a humbling time for our intermediate/advanced lifters, but this can lead to great progress.

Outside of the above circumstances, you do not want to be chasing muscle soreness as an indicator of a good workout. If you are feeling improvements in your technique, increased the weight or reps on certain exercises, or have improved your range of motion, then this is all a better sign of progressive overload and improvements in training.

To sum up, muscle soreness that goes away after a few days is not a bad thing, but don’t use it as the number one indicator of a good workout, and definitely don’t go chasing soreness all the time.