If you have ever worked out at Varsity House, you know what it means to live with some muscle soreness. Your body feels achy, stiff, and sometimes tender in many different areas that you hit within your workout. You may feel these symptoms the day of, day after, or for many of you it is the second day after and on. No matter which day it is you feel some of these aches and pains, you know it’s because it’s one of two things 1.) You got one hell of a workout or 2.) You’ve been away from the gym for far too long. This aftermath that you are feeling is an effect of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is the pain and/or stiffness you feel within your muscles several hours or days after completing unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. This soreness is common and should not be looked at as a threat to your health. It is caused by the eccentric (lengthening) exercise that you complete within your workouts that stretch your muscles. Your body is meant to recover quickly and work rapidly at rebuilding and repairing muscle tissue. As you lengthen these muscles with each repetition, you are damaging this muscle tissue and it needs to be repaired, thus leading to your muscle soreness.
For those of you who have been working out hard, you notice that it takes a few curveballs in your training sessions to feel sore later on. Most of the time, I still find a way to take your body to the next level in your workouts with tons of muscle shocking surprises. This type of soreness comes from all types of training: Heavy lifting, volume work, and endurance training that may require little to no weights at all. What I find within my pool of clients is that they are sorer after workouts with increased volume or some added static work. Time under tension has a great deal to do with your muscle soreness. The constant repetition of eccentric movements in exercise leads to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. So, the more repetitions you complete, the more time under tension, therefore the more sore most of you may feel. This is noticeable with static work as well as the tension is constantly present while you hold that position. Some might add that lactic acid build up has a lot to do with these types of movements as well but let’s save that for another day.
Many of you newcomers to the fitness world that train with me have the same mindset, “How do I lose weight fast and how much cardio do I need to do?” First of all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you want that magnificent body you dream of it is going to take some time to get there. Secondly, never do I suggest endless cardio to those who just start off at the gym. I continue to work all of my clients with bodyweight exercises in the beginning, not so much of cardio style, and then I begin my transitions. If you are out of shape and overweight, a simple pushup will elevate your heart rate and getting you burning up a good sweat. We tend to start incorporating some light cardio and some more weight work as the workouts progress.
My number one piece of advice to all these newcomers that are looking to burn fat is “Burn fat by building muscle”. Working hard at gaining muscle helps create that lean “toned up” look you are talking about, not the treadmill for 2 hours a day. You can get skinny from doing that but those who I have seen complete strict cardio workouts like that can hardly carry their laundry up the stairs. You need to strengthen your muscles with weight training to help your body handle the workload of cardio based exercises anyway. If you are 25 pounds overweight and want to go run some laps, it isn’t going to be too easy if you haven’t the strength in your legs to last more than one lap.
Now this style of training has been very beneficial for many of our members each year and I stand behind it. If you stay consistent with it you will definitely see results. Many of you who aren’t as motivated tend to slack off when you’re sore because you complain you can’t move. I promise you, the more moving you do, the better off you will be. I call it the “FLUSH OUT METHOD”. If you complete a hard lower body/leg work out one night and the next morning you can hardly get out of bed, do you really want to feel that way for the rest of the day when you can avoid some of that pain? Get up, go for a walk/run or just get moving around the house. If you have a day off make sure you keep active with a run or brisk walk. You need to flush out your system to help your muscles recover. I hope you all can take this idea and run with it. Be proactive! Help you body recover before you make excuses to not make it to the gym!
On a side note: Another thing that helps to ease DOMS is proper nutrition and timing with your meals and supplements. Having a post workout shake is essential for muscle repair and recovery. It isn’t a bad idea to include some glutamine in that shake as well for some recovery. BCAA’s are essential to recovery as well. If you have any questions about these supplements feel free to email me at nmercoun@varsityhousegym.com
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