Training with Muscular Soreness

by Harry Taylor

Feeling soreness the day after training or even the day after that goes hand in hand with weight lifting or indeed any sustained intensive exercise. We shouldn’t chase DOMS however (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness), to feel like we did enough in the gym. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that we can consistently become stronger, build muscle and improve technical proficiency without needing crutches to lower ourselves onto the toilet the next morning, or needing to go to a salon to have our hair washed for us! 

That being said, a good metric for measuring progressive overload (gradually increasing our session workload and/or intensity) is feeling some soreness the next day. This point should come with a caveat however, in that if a new movement is introduced into a workout, that can be enough to trigger muscle fiber breakdown and therefore soreness. The actual workout doesn’t necessarily have to fit the bill of being harder or heavier than before.

So if we accept muscular soreness as a price that we’re willing to pay to do what we love, how can we live with it in harmony and even use it to our advantage?

Programming: A good training program will consider and have built into it a training ‘split’ that allocates exercises, movement patterns and approaches into specific sessions throughout the week. It isn’t  dangerous or indeed ineffective to work the same muscle or movement over consecutive days, in fact working a muscle or muscle groups 3/4 times a week has been shown to yield great results. But in order to optimize and get the most out of each training session, some consideration should be allocated to this department.

High volume, high intensity workouts and low volume, heavy lifting sessions should be interspersed by a day or so. However the fitter and stronger we get, the more we’re able to deal with these greater workloads and ‘back to back’ training approaches. We should also listen to our bodies when they’re trying to tell us something. Training harder isn’t always smarter. Rest days are as important as training days.

Nutrition: Finding our total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) calorie number can take some experimentation. Especially if we’re looking to build muscle and/or reduce body fat. It can often involve a bit of trial and error. But finding this number will massively assist us in recovering from intense exercise. All macronutrients are important (carbs/protein/fat), but consuming adequate protein is essential. Reaching your daily protein requirement may not necessarily reduce muscle soreness from sessions, but it will allow those tissues to repair and grow, giving us the ability to perform higher workloads in the gym.

Supplementation: Whilst not imperative to include into your daily nutrition, there are supplements out there that do have science to support them, and when used correctly, can be a great aid to our performance,  recovery and progression within the gym. It’s worth noting that the 3 supplements outlined here are overwhelmingly safe for the general population, we’d still advise you to do some research before using them.

Beta-alanine is an amino acid that is produced in the liver and also found in fish, poultry, and meat. When dosed at 4–6g/day for 2–4 weeks, this supplement has been shown to improve exercise performance, particularly for high-intensity exercise lasting 1–4 minutes, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or short sprints. It has also been shown to reduce neuromuscular fatigue, particularly in older adults.

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound found in skeletal muscle that is synthesized in the body from amino acids and can be obtained from red meat and seafood. In the body, it helps produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which provides energy for muscles. Creatine is a popular workout supplement marketed to increase athletic performance, especially for weight training. Research suggests that creatine supplementation increases muscle availability of creatine, which in turn can enhance exercise capacity and training adaptations in adolescents, younger adults, and older adults.

BCAAs are key components of muscle protein synthesis, and research has shown that leucine in particular drives protein synthesis and suppresses protein breakdown. Although short-term mechanistic data suggests that leucine plays an important role in muscle protein synthesis, longer-term trials do not support BCAAs as useful workout supplements.

*If you’re consuming adequate protein in your diet then BCAA’s aren’t necessary. If however you feel that you aren’t getting enough protein then using this supplement is worthwhile.

Blood Flow: Whether it’s a deep tissue massage by a therapist or a foam roller at home, getting blood into the muscle fibers and reducing some potential tendon and joint stiffness can help to keep you moving smoothly. The jury is still out on whether this actually speeds up the healing process, but it hasn’t been shown to be detrimental. Pre workout, getting the foam roller out is an effective way to begin the warm up process and have us feeling more mentally focused for exercise.

Keep moving: Following on the theme from above, making sure you move throughout the day is another way to induce blood flow,  increase tissue temperature and increase joint lubrication. If you are sore from yesterday's workout, and you sit at a desk most of the day then you really need to ensure that you get up every couple of hours, go for a brief stroll, do some dynamic stretches or use a resistance band to open up your shoulders and hips.

Hydrate and drink electrolytes: We’re all pretty aware of the necessity of drinking enough fluids, especially when we exercise, but what many people don't realise is that electrolytes also help direct the flow of water in and out of our cells, helping to support rehydration and muscle repair. Drink throughout the day and especially during and after workouts.

It’s nice to feel a little sore! It’s also inevitable, so how we deal with it day to day is paramount. At Pherform you can expect the highest standard of programming, ensuring your training is as effective and enjoyable as possible. Plus all of the coaches are on hand to offer advice on the above tips and tricks!