Sore

[powerburn]

What causes you to be sore after a workout. I never get sore after a workout. Like if im busy with school and only lift a body part one time a week, ill be sore afterwards. But normally i work each body part 2 times and am never sore afterwards. Just curious.

[painless2]

I'm gonna wait to see what others respond before giving the answer, lol.

[Doughboy]

Funny painless, I was thinking the same thing. I've heard so many opinions. I've heard the "no pain, no gain" catchphrase is bullshit. Then I've heard that when you are sore that means you need to work that muscle more. I really dont know, I want to hear what everyone else has to say too.

[PythonPower]

soreness is good. it means you accomplished what you set out to do, damage your muscle. yes literally, when you workout miniature tears happen through the muscle, thus the soreness and then the body goes into repair mode and tries to repair it with "extra" muscle fibers, hence bigger muscles.

if soreness is too much and is interfering too much, take 5 mg of glutamine after your workout and also make sure to get sufficient protein. without enough protein, you will burnout and see no results due to protein being the key component in muscle rebuilding process.

[powerburn]

im not overlty sore, thats not a problem. Like ill lets say back. If i do back once a week and ill be sore the day after my workout. But ill do the exact same identical workout twice a week, and i wont be sore. Im doing the same workout. Just one i do once a weeka dnt the other twice. Im just wondering. I try to work twice a week, like each body part, focusing on it.

[Killa_Z]

im confused?????? let me get this right

if you work out a muscle group once a week you will be sore the next day but if you work out a muscle group twice a week you wont be sore?

this does not make sense

[somedoode]

yea..im kinda confused on this also. But for me, I'm always sore after workouts.

[powerburn]

exacly if i do chest once a week, ill be sore the day after, if i do the exact same workout twice a week, i wont be sore the next day. uha.

[PythonPower]

my guess then would have to be, the lack of intensity because your body has not fully recovered from the previous beatings and will not allow it to get beaten upmore.

[bouncer]

Lactic acid that is still in the muscle is a major contributer to soreness. That's why a couple of light sets to get blood flowing to the sore area is a good idea. It helps remove the toxin.

I've heard of people using Alka Seltzer before to try and nutralize the lactic acid, but have never tried it.

[Adonis]

Lactic acid does not cause DOMS, DOMS is a side effect to the muscle breaking down the older muscle fiber tissue (the catabolic stage), and then rebuidling the muscle fibers by making them thicker (the anabolic stage). It is a complicated process happeneing within the muscle, and I wouldn't say that DOMS are caused by one factor, but many.

[bouncer]

Adonis, doesn't residual lactic acid cause muscle soreness as well as muscle breakdown? It's been a few years since I read on the subject.

[painless2]

Well said, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is generally worse the second day after a workout, and is associated with muscle repair, and mostly with swelling of the components that have been "damaged" or stressed during the workout. Lactic acid is gone completely after 1 hour in nearly all healthy people, and is re-absorbed or utlized as fuel. Ways to mitigate DOMS are:
Stretching post workout
Massage
Heat/cold
Not doing eccentric/negative specific motions
Hydration

[Adonis]

Yes!

Ya bouncer, lactic acid is used by the body as energy post trainig, this is knida newer research to com out

[bouncer]

Thanks for the update!

[exnatural123]

I aim to be a little sore after workout... But it's different ... Like if your skip a few workouts and then hit the gym... you will feel lots more of this sorness. I think it"s cause from the muscle not able to absorbe the lactic acids and others as well as a trained muscle..... this is why it hurt longer and is more intense... I only feel a little tenderness in the muscle the day after... If your using gear It is rare to feel sore every workout... So don't look for it...

[PythonPower]

i thought lactic acid was the part that causes the burning sensation right before failure

[mlmmaster]

And you must eat enough Protein..... Maybe Thats also a small part of the Sore.... I know I have it sometimes... but I like sore... Have it almost all the time a little bit... Just the same day and a little the nex day and then its over.....

[the_quiet_guy]

An Article I found on active.com:


It's not about the lactic acid: Why you're still sore after yesterday's ride

By Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.
Active.com
March 14, 2001

"My legs and shoulders feel so heavy I have a hard time lifting them. I'm going to take the day off."

Common words after a intense interval training session on the mountain bike or a hard session in the weight room.

Why? What makes muscles sore and stiff? How could your body let you down like this? You, who works out in the gym several hours per week and had plenty of miles in your legs, should not feel any pain. You, who up until this point, always believed your body could take any punishment and your muscle tone was excellent.

Whatever you did, you did too much, too soon. Now it's the day after and you have athletic hangover. You are experiencing muscle soreness.

Causes of your post-exercise soreness vary from overuse to minor strains to your individual muscle fibers. Despite what your high school coach may have told you, the culprit is not lactic acid. Lactic acid build-up has been blamed for prolonged muscle fatigue and discomfort; however, this concept is not widely accepted today.

Lactic acid is produced during intense levels of exercise when the oxygen demands of the muscle fibers increase beyond what the blood is capable of delivering. To produce the energy needed, the body begins another process, which works in the absence of oxygen. Lactic acid — a byproduct of this process — locks up your muscles, and because it is an acid it causes your muscles to experience that burning sensation.

But lactic acid is completely washed out of the muscles within 30 to 60 minutes after you finish riding. Since muscle soreness does not show up until 24 to 36 hours later, scientists have been exercising their brains to come up with another explanation.

Currently, the most popular theory is that when you overdue your cycling, skiing or weight work, you cause "microtrauma" to the muscle fibers — localized damage to the muscle fiber membranes and contractile elements.

Over the 24 hours, the damaged muscle becomes swollen and sore. Chemical irritants are released from the damaged muscles and can irritate pain receptors. In addition to the injured fibers, there is increased blood flow from increased activity to the muscle, causing a swelling of the muscle tissues, which causes enough pressure to stimulate pain receptors. Instead of having free-moving muscle fibers the next morning, you have fibers that are fatigued, have microscopic tears and are swollen.

Whatever the precise mechanism, current scientific research points toward muscle damage as the culprit of muscle soreness. The nerve supply to the muscles perceive this abnormal state and send messages of pain to your brain as soon as you move them the next morning.

By moving the sore muscles, you gradually begin to restore them to a normal state, but you will not be able to exercise to your full potential, because the damaged muscles have lost some strength.

Typical recommendations for short-term treatments include stretching, topical application of sports balms, creams, and submersion in a hot tub or time in a sauna. Some athletes also turn to aspirin and anti-inflammatory medication to reduce the pain and inflammation.

The cure for muscle soreness is relatively simple: If you gradually increase the strength and endurance of your muscles and you stretch and warm up properly before the activity you will be engaging in, they will not get as sore.

Remember that cycling uses certain muscles that are not used regularly in your daily life. It all comes down to something called specificity of training, where your muscles, tendons and ligaments adapt to a particular sport, activity or movement pattern over a period of time.

In addition, as we grow older, our muscles and surrounding tissues also have less elasticity, so we tend to feel soreness and tightness more quickly than we did in high school. An individual who stays in shape throughout the year — even athletes in their 30s and 40s — should be able to exercise with minimal muscular soreness.

After a very hard day on the bike or in the weight room, you may feel somewhat stiff, but with a little stretching and proper warm-up, this feeling should go away quickly.

Sore muscles are usually damaged muscles. As with any injury, sore muscles must be given time to heal. This may require a few easy days of cycling, or another light workout. After a few days you can begin to push harder again.

But don't go too hard or too fast, because you'll wind up back on the sidelines again. Remember, the best way to prevent or reduce muscle damage is prior physical conditioning