Everything about muscle soreness after workouts

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2016-08-10

So, in this article, I will talk about muscle pain. More specifically, about muscle pain after workouts. We won’t be discussing infections, inflammations, etc. Instead, we will focus on muscle pain following physical exercises. So, are you ready for the PAIN? )) Let’s go!

Table of Contents

1. Causes of Pain
2. How to Prevent Muscle Pain?
3. How to Get Rid of Muscle Pain?
4. How to Train if Muscles Are Still Sore?
5. What Does It Mean If Muscles Stop Hurting?
6. Conclusions

Causes of Pain

So, why do muscles hurt after some workouts and not after others? And why do they hurt at all?

Let’s start with the basics

Muscle pain after a workout arises because micro-injuries occur in the muscle tissue. These are tiny tears in response to the load. Then these tears heal, and the muscles increase in size. This is a completely normal physiological process.

But why do some exercises lead to muscle soreness while others do not? Or, for example, why did my muscles hurt after one workout, but not after a similar workout a week later? The fact is that micro-injuries in the muscles occur only in response to a load that the muscles are not yet accustomed to. They have not adapted yet.

For instance, you may have always squatted 30 kg for 15 repetitions across 3 sets. Then suddenly you decided to push yourself and do 35 kg for 3 sets of 15. Or 30 kg, but in 4 sets of 15, or 3 sets of 20. In short, you increased the load. The muscles are not used to this increased load, which leads to micro-tears.

In summary, micro-tears and the resulting pain occur only under the influence of a load to which your muscles have not yet adapted. Such micro-injuries are the sole cause of pain after workouts.

This is why the longer you train, the harder it is to induce muscle soreness. As your muscles become more trained, they adapt better.

How to Prevent Muscle Pain?

If you're planning an intense workout and know that muscle soreness is possible, then:

1. Be sure to stretch at the beginning of your workout.
2. Stretch the working muscles between sets.
3. At the end of the workout, perform 1-2 sets for these muscles with a warm-up weight (very light) and a high number of repetitions (around 20).
4. Do some stretching immediately after your workout.

In this case, your muscles will hurt less. But that doesn’t mean the effect of the workout was reduced. It simply means that when you applied the load, your muscles were more elastic and “tore” less. Therefore, there will be less pain. But, you might think, if the muscles were less torn, then the results would be lower? Isn’t that so? Not really. The reality is that pain is not the only criterion for muscle growth. Muscles can grow without soreness. Watch the video at the end of this article.

How to Get Rid of Muscle Pain?

But what should you do if pain strikes you the next day? You can’t get rid of it entirely. If the load is stressful, pain will occur. However, you can do things to make the pain go away faster:

1. Massage
2. Warm baths
3. Heating ointments (Diprofen, Capsicam, Finalgon).
4. Stretch twice a day.

All these methods increase blood flow to the muscles, and the muscles recover faster as a result.

In general, how long can muscles hurt? My personal record is a week. Usually, the pain starts the next day and lasts for 2-3 days. In particularly severe cases, it can last up to 1 week. But that’s not good. If your muscles are sore for more than 4 days, you've overdone it with the load.

How to Train if Muscles Are Still Sore?

If your muscles hurt from the previous workout but you're training other muscle groups this time, there’s no problem at all. Train as you normally would. However, if you absolutely need to train that same muscle group again, you can do so, but with lighter weights. In this case, the workout should be more of a warm-up.

In general, muscle pain is not a reason to skip or postpone a workout.

What Does It Mean If Muscles Stop Hurting?

If they've stopped hurting, it means either they're no longer experiencing stress, or you are already sufficiently trained and your muscles can grow even without soreness. If you're satisfied with the size of your muscles, then you can relax. In that case, muscle soreness is not needed.

But if you want to make some muscles bigger and stronger, yet they never hurt anymore? This could signal that they are not growing due to insufficient loading. Or, as I mentioned earlier, you might just be very experienced. Well-trained athletes' muscles can grow without soreness. This has been verified on many individuals and shown in the video at the end of the article. But if you don’t have several years of training behind you, it's likely due to insufficient load.

I want to emphasize that the load should be significant in a single session. For instance, you can train the same muscle group a little bit every day. Then the total load over the week will be substantial, but the load in any one session will be small.

In summary, soreness is essential if you're not an experienced athlete and want to increase muscle volume. For weight loss or fat burning, pain is unimportant and plays no role.

Conclusions

1. Muscle pain arises due to an unusually large load placed on them.

2. When you feel pain, it means your muscles are damaged by micro-tears. They will heal in a few days, and you will become bigger (provided the other conditions are met).

3. To reduce muscle soreness, regularly perform stretching and massages.

4. Even if your muscles hurt, you still need to go to training.

5. If your training goal is fat loss, you can ignore the pain. It will not be beneficial to you.

6. With adequate training, muscles can grow without pain. It's hard to surprise them anymore, but practice shows that trained individuals can gain muscle even when their muscles are not sore.