Almost all gym-goers must have come across t-shirts exclaiming ‘No Pain, No Gain.’ Even posters feature the proverb in bold and bulky letters to ingrain the thought deep into your brain. You read the proverb, eat it as a motto, and start pumping those muscles harder than you can.
When the muscles get sore, the pain is compensated by the belief that it was a good workout. Well, your mind might be on the wrong track since it is a myth and we will be busting it today.
Workout and Muscle Soreness
Working out for the first time or after a while, in the gym, results in sore muscles a day or two later. This muscle soreness has a full name – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS. DOMS is what kicks in when, scientifically, there is damage to the membrane covering the muscle, damage to the protein structure of the muscle, or damage to the connective tissue.
This damage is what paves the way for muscle building. However, this damage needs to be to a certain degree. DOMS-induced degree of pain and the period of onset and prevalence ranges from person to person.
Many studies have also shown that the nature of DOMS also depends on myriad other factors such as genes, age, etc. Therefore, the prevalence of DOMS is subjective and hence cannot be a viable measure for the effectiveness of exercise.
As per experts, DOMS’ effects subside when the body gets used to the exercising regime. Using a method called progressive overload, where you keep increasing the intensity and the duration of your exercise, you can curb DOMS to the minimum.
This progressive overload is the natural and actual catalyst in muscle building. It is advised that rather than considering DOMS as your measure of how effective your workouts are, keep increasing the amount of weight you lift or the number of reps you perform. Doing this will reflect on your muscles and display incremental growth.
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