DOMS: The Ultimate Love-Hate Relationship

So you’ve finally decided getting back into shape needs to be done. You do a little research, find a bootcamp or personal trainer that’s local and seems to fit the bill and off you go, on a mission that this training session will be the first of many and you’ll be looking and feeling amazing in no time.

The workout is tough but you’re loving it, being pushed to your physical (and possibly mental limit); by the end of the session you’re exhausted but on a high from all the adrenaline pumping round your body...

But the next day it all goes a bit wrong...

The alarm goes off, you throw back your duvet and go to get up and out of bed as normal but what on earth is your body doing?! Your muscles are screaming ‘STOP MOVING!!’ and you have to tentatively try and get up and ready for work. Stairs are suddenly a downhill climb you’ve never feared before, and as for sitting on the toilet...well...best to just hold it in rather than risk loss of control, crashing down onto the seat and, quite frankly having to fess up to being the one who broke the loo seat!

Needless to say two questions pop into your head: ‘What on earth has the trainer done to me?!’ and ‘Should I go to the next training session if this is how I’m feeling after the first one?!’

I’m now going to answer both of these questions for you...

1. You’re trainer has worked your body hard, got you out of your physical comfort zone and you are now experiencing DOMS!
2. YES! YES! YES!

What the hell are DOMS? Is there a Cure?!

DOMS are simply Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness.

When we exercise (strength or endurance training) small tears in our muscle fibres occur in order to re educate muscles to perform in a new way. We either want them to be fatter and stronger or leaner with high stamina (just look at the difference in physic between a long distance runner and a sprinter for example).

Therefore, my point being (and yes I do have one and am getting to it!) if you don’t experience DOMS then you won’t be progressing with your fitness or attempting to change your body shape in any way!

So the key is, embrace the DOMS! They should only last a couple of days and if you persist with training you’ll soon notice that the same muscle group, when worked in the same way on a regular basis, will no longer result in DOMS at all...and this is where variety of training is key. There’s nothing worse than the ‘plateau’ (when you’re training religiously in the same way, over a prolonged period of time and just not seeing/feeling any real difference).

The job of the personal trainer is to keep you motivated, mix things up and keep your body guessing and therefore achieving the results you want!  

Now for my own plug!

Needless to say the faster you recover from DOMS the better you feel about your next training session. If you want to speed up this recovery process, enhance your energy levels and also stay injury free then go and have quality Deep Tissue or Sports Massage (both very similar!)

Massage also promotes sleep which is the only time the body has to effectively heal and regenerate so it’s an all round winner (all bias aside!)

So stick with the training, start to look forward to the DOMS and be prepared to see the day when you get annoyed if you don’t have any!