11 Jun Should muscles hurt after training?
A long-standing myth suggests that effective training is always accompanied by muscle soreness—as if a workout wasn’t effective if your muscles don’t hurt the next day.
DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) simply indicates that the muscles have been exposed to a new or unfamiliar stimulus. For example, returning to training after a long break or performing a new exercise can lead to this type of soreness.
As personal trainers, we aim to minimize excessive muscle soreness as much as possible. Our goal is to increase people’s overall activity levels, but if every workout leaves them sore for three days, motivation to move will decrease. That said, some soreness is unavoidable at the beginning, as training is a new stimulus for the body. Within a few weeks, this reaction should significantly decrease.
Strong muscle soreness usually indicates that the body has experienced micro-damage, and the resulting inflammatory recovery processes cause swelling, which puts pressure on pain receptors.
Persistent post-workout soreness can be a sign that training loads are too large. It is also worth reviewing nutrition, as strength training requires sufficient protein intake. Without enough protein, the body may not recover properly, which can also increase soreness.
Well-designed training keeps a person progressing without significant soreness. Progress is best indicated by increasing loads over time, not by how sore you feel.
Wishing you pain-free training!