More Ammo For Your Workout
by Ammo, Fitness Professional

Have you ever had an intense workout and about a day later, you woke up feeling like someone beat you throughout the night with a wooden bat? Or about 12 hours after a leg workout you felt like stealing a walker from a senior citizen? Sounds like a case of delayed onset muscle soreness, or “DOMS” in short. Now don’t panic; you didn’t do anything “dum” if you’re experiencing DOMS. It comes with the wonderful world of exercise, so you don’t have to hire a hit man for your trainer or make plans to detonate the local gym.


This soreness is a result from pushing your muscles beyond what’s its used to. Novices or beginners can attest to that. It’s not the burn that you would feel during a set; that would be lactic acid. Neither is it the acute or sharp pain one gets with a muscle strain or sprain. It’s the “day after the workout” pain, that’s caused by micro tears in the muscle from exercising. (Hence the word “delayed”) This muscle discomfort is temporary, which eventually leads to stronger muscles and the ability to perform the same task better the next time around. For you nuts out there like me who want to increase the level of soreness after a workout, you can concentrate on eccentric contractions or negative repetitions. This is the phase of the exercise when you can slowly lower the weight or slowly lengthen the muscle. This causes more micro trauma to the muscle fibers than lifting the weight. Doesn’t everyone want more micro trauma? Micro trauma for everyone! (Never mind me) This is no reason to be sadistic and punish yourself while working out in leather. Results from exercising come from rest. Give your muscles ...    Continue

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