Working Out with Sore Muscles

Steven Low (aka eshlow), author of Overcoming Gravity, shares some tips on how to deal with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

As far as training with soreness, my “mantra” on the subject is:

• If you’re too sore to move you should at least exercise lightly to get blood flowing = faster healing. You should also be hydrating, self massaging, foam rolling, or whatever else you can do to alleviate it anyway.
• If you’re not too sore to workout.. go for it. But DO NOT overdo it.
• Otherwise, don’t worry about soreness. If you’re training ENOUGH it should start to go away as you become more conditioned.
• If you ALWAYS get sore then you’re not doing enough (such as 1-2x a week bodypart splits). In these cases, it’s probably hindering your workouts. Those who increase frequency to say 3x a week full body have the tendency to see their body adapt to the stressors and soreness starts to go away.

All in all, soreness is not something to worry about. Generally, it will be more of a hindrance to training than anything so if you plan to do a workout that is higher in volume than you usually do or has a lot of eccentric movements, plan on being sore. But don’t make it a priority. Stay in line with your goals and aiming for progress. Progress can and always will be made without soreness.