Have you ever experienced significant muscle pain or stiffness after a workout and wondered why?
Known as delayed onset muscle stiffness, or DOMS, this feeling is completely normal. It usually sets in 24 to 72 hours after an exercise session and is most common when you are embarking on a new exercise regime, or if you introduce new types of activity to your workouts. Even if you exercise regularly, you may experience DOMS if your workout is more intense than usual, or if it involves different muscles.
As you keep working out and using those muscles your body will adapt, and you may no longer experience DOMS. This is also completely normal, and it doesn’t mean that you’re not working out hard enough, or that you are not achieving anything in your exercise sessions. It simply means your muscles are getting stronger.
Interestingly, there is still much debate about what causes delayed onset muscle soreness. It was once thought that DOMS was caused by a build-up of lactic acid in your muscles, but this theory has now been debunked.
Another more current theory is that high-intensity exercise can cause tiny, microscopic tears in the fibres of your muscles. In response to this damage your body increases inflammation, which then leads to the delayed soreness in your muscles.