Does Muscle Soreness = Great Workout?!!!

The short answer is no!

But we know you’re here for more than that, so let’s get into it!

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is where you feel your muscles are sore and achy a few days after a workout.

It’s a very common phenomenon and can often suggest a good workout.

If, for example, you trained your chest and shoulders and then a few days later, you feel your chest and shoulders are sore, it gives you positive feedback that you did a good job, your training technique and form hit the intended muscle groups.

This can even help you develop your mind-muscle connection.

If you can feel the trained muscles more, you can feel how to contract them more effectively, you will be able to engage those muscles more effectively during your workouts to deliver better results.

On the other hand, if a few days later the only thing aching and sore after your chest and shoulder workout is your back, then this is immediate feedback that your training may have been off!

Perhaps you were over-arching your back, or your form was incorrect and as a result you over-strained a part of your body accidentally.

You can use this biofeedback to adjust your training and form at your next workout to hit your desired muscles more effectively.

So far so good!

So, what’s the downside?

There are various hypotheses but one of the most popular is that DOMS are due to micro-tears in your muscles at a cellular level and it is these tears which cause the soreness you feel.

You tear your muscles, they recover and then compensate by becoming stronger and possibly bigger.

Then rinse and repeat for ongoing results!

The problem is that some folks take it too far and they end up chasing DOMS, thinking no DOMS means no results!