Table of Contents
What are
When we talk about DOMS we are talking about post workout muscle aches that is, signals that reach the body after a session or a series of training sessions. The term derives from the English Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness which stands for “delayed onset muscle soreness”. This type of pain usually occurs 24 to 48 hours after exertion, but if serious cases arise, we can even warn them for 4 or 5 days. They can occur both after an aerobic workout and after an anaerobic workout, but they usually appear when going to stress work on strength and on muscle hypertrophy.
A practical example? Excessive reps of weight lifting or loads that are too important in relation to weight and strength. It is about small microscopic lesions borne by the connective and muscular tissue and which are given by the eccentric and isometric contraction. The acto-myosinic bridges of the muscle cells (on which the contractile capacity of the muscle depends) are injured and free from the forms of inflammation that the receptors of the nervous system translate as pain. Often they mistake this pain as lactic acid, but in no way is he actually involved in this process and it is a false myth; lactic acid has a totally different trend in physiology and develops with both eccentric and concentric exercises, it comes to touch the maximum peak during exertion but it runs out until, at most, about an hour after the activity performed.
For some bodybuilders, the appearance of these pains means that the work done is bearing fruit, while for those who do not practice at a competitive or professional level – and perhaps resume training after a period of rest – they often represent warning signs. Without any doubt the level, the interpretation of these pains depends a lot on the motor experience, the type of training that takes place and how many times a week you train. The frequency and degree of pain are indicators of the type of work done in training and the general response of the corpor.
Are they positive?
Let’s see when the DOMS indicate something positive and whether or not it is convenient to train in their presence.
Positive or negative significance of DOMS
L’wrong attitude that one usually has with respect to DOMS corresponds to only one: to desire them. Agonists or people who go to gyms sometimes look for it feeling of pain given by the alterations of the permeability of the sarcolemma, by the lowering of the pH (which creates an acidic environment), by the lysis of myofibrils and by the triggering of inflammation. In fact, the DOMS they have no positive value and do not mean training effectiveness; on the contrary, with regular training they tend to disappear.
There is a general rule that must always be respected: delayed onset muscle pain can result from intense and effective training, but you should in no way fall into the mental trap of continually searching for them.
Do you train with the Doms?
You train despite the DOMS, it would be fair to say. The lower the level of training a person is, the more the pains occur in a delayed form. Also an mild workout in the following days it allows you to “dispose of them” with less time, in fact, much more quickly than when you decide to rest absolutely. Swimming loosens them up a lot, as does the walk or melting movements on the ground free body.
Remedies
Nutrition plays a vital role in recovery, as does sleep. Try to do not weigh yourself down or overdo it, choosing foods that create inflammation within the body, which often happens in those who resume training and think of “Reward yourself” with sweets or alcohol or heavy foods. Burning calories does not provide a justification for consuming other and substandard ones (industrial food, food full of sugars or the like). It would also be very important do not neglect sleep, which recharges our batteries and allows us to gradually increase the level of effort workout after workout.
Also an excellent one meditation practice to keep the mind active and enter into a real connection even with the nature of the pain, without being discouraged. In addition to the nutritional status and sleep, it is also very important to consider the level of supercompensation (recovery times) or theinterval between session and session and the intervals between exercise and exercise in a single session.
DOMS don’t mean real muscle damage but they also remind us that the time to devote to heating and at stretching prevents and avoids them. All treatments that help blood circulation in the muscles are welcome: excellent low intensity activity, massage carried out by experts in the sector or with electrostimulation. Water is also an excellent remedy for DOMS: at the end of the shower, you can make alternating jets of cold water, in order to promote circulation. Also excellent for skin and tissues to do even small self-massages with nourishing oil for the cells. If the pains are contained, we often resort to further exercise to “dilute them”; it is the so-called “exercise-induced analgesia”, the classic swim or walking at a low pace (not a strength training then) that goes to “loosen” the muscles.
Do DOMS Mean Muscle Growth or Training Effectiveness?
In fact, these microlacerations allow the muscle tissue to grow in its volume and pain, not only one area is involved but the whole muscle, or rather the whole muscle group. This condition brings the joints adjacent to the muscle to a certain stiffness and this gives the feeling that there is a lack of strength in the affected areas. This feeling actually remains illusory as a fact the muscle is getting stronger, strengthening. If you always maintain awareness of the loads with which we are training, contact with the body, attention to diet and recovery then you can grow at the muscle level also thanks to DOMS. This doesn’t mean we have to induce or want them, but don’t demonize them and learn to read them. It must be remembered that there is no real link in the scientific literature between training effectiveness and DOMS.
A soft static elongation combined with work with loads righteous prevents DOMS, relieves them, and in some cases makes them pass quickly. Certainly to have a good and gradual muscle growth you must look for a healthy balance between volume and intensity, a balance between accumulation and intensification. The regeneration of muscle tissue following the damage created by exercise is a long and delicate process and the initial inflammatory response leads to other physiological processes that culminate in cell swelling. Certainly, compared to the metabolic stress pathway given by supplementary exercises with many sets and repetitions in a short period of time and to the mechanical tension associated with the progressive increase in loads, DOMS easily presents itself with the introduction of new exercises for the body. which involve increasing loads from time to time or alternatively require a reduction in execution times.
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