Muscle Soreness Question

JengaJess
JengaJess Posts: 109 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Forgive me if this is a silly question, but I'm still relatively young and new to this. I'm really trying to understand health and fitness so I can continue to live my life in a healthy way.
ANYWAY... I used to equate being sore with meaning that I had a ridiculously great workout.
I've been a vegetarian for 7 years now and I never used to pay attention to my protein intake. Within the past two years, I used to make sure I was getting at least 75 grams each day. And I was always sore after my workouts.
For the past few weeks, I've upped my protein intake to at least 100 grams per day. I work my butt off at the gym. I leave drenched in sweat. I do cardio for a little bit and then do some calisthenic-type work outs and some weight training. I do both of those to the point of exhaustion, alongside a trainer whose correcting my form and all that jazz. I'm rarely sore. When I'm actually at the gym exercising, I know I'm getting a good work out. I can feel it. But there's still part of me that feels like maybe I'm not working hard enough because the next day because my body doesn't feel sore or lethargic.
What causes muscle soreness? Does it have anything to do with how vigorous your work out is? Could my lack of muscle soreness be due to my increased protein intake? Or eating adequate calories?

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    Nutrition is just one of many factors involved with whether someone gets sore. Soreness isn't a good indicator of a good workout, so don't worry too much about it. If you're doing properly-designed workouts at the right intensity, leave it at that.
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    The technical term for soreness after a workout is DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.
    When you are working out (say arm curls for strength training) if you are doing it correctly and at a significant effort, what you are really doing is creating tiny tears into your muscle tissues. The soreness is your body telling you that you have muscle damage and your body needs time to repair itself. This DOMS is very significant if your body is especially not used to to this activity. For example if you never strength trained or gave up on it for a long period of time where atrophy set in.

    So really, you don't build your muscles in the gym, but rather the time you are actually resting and not in the gym. In the gym, you are actually breaking your muscle down. So during your rest period (36-48 hours and in some workout splits even up to 3 days) your body is busy building back that muscle tissue and making it stronger and bigger. This is where protein comes into play. While your body is in that rest period, it will digest and break down that protein into amino acids and that along with fatty acids you also eat to rebuild the muscle tissue.

    I am not sure how big you are, so i cannot tell if 100g is a lot or not. If your body doesn't have enough protein going in, then it doesn't have the building blocks it needs to rebuild that muscle tissue which may be why you stayed sore longer when you ate only 75g of protein. The rule of thumb for body builders is to eat 1g of protein for every lb of lean muscle mass. (Your weight minus your fat weight). Some even will estimate and say eat a gram for every .8 of your actual weight. But that is the bare bones minimum. I am personally shotting to eat 200g of protein a day. Not there yet. Some plans I heard have their BBers eating over 300 g of protein a day.

    A good indication of a good workout is your trend. Over a week or 2 weeks time, are you noticing that you have to increase the resistance in order to feel the same exertion? Is 8 reps starting to get easier when at first, 6 reps at the same weight was hard?
    How do you look in the mirror? Are you noticing better definition? All examples of good indications that your workouts are doing you good.
  • RECowgill
    RECowgill Posts: 881 Member
    Oh leg DOMS, how I loathe thee, let me count the ways
    The time I am crippled can be measured in days
    After doing squats, deadlifts or isolation work
    I'm incapable of dancing, I certainly can't twerk

    The pain is mind numbing I can barely stand up
    I hobble around like a 3 legged pup
    I give newborn giraffes a run for their money
    I'd laugh but I'm crying this isn't even funny

    I do what I can to try and compensate
    I never skip leg day despite all the hate
    I stretch, I take protein, BCAAs and hot baths
    Foam roll and calculate all the nutritional maths

    I wish this was easy, wish I knew how
    To make DOMS go away so I'm not a deformed cow
    But this is part of the game of suffering them pains
    Lifting and eating and making dem gainz

    :drinker:
  • nightshutter
    nightshutter Posts: 54
    Oh leg DOMS, how I loathe thee, let me count the ways
    The time I am crippled can be measured in days
    After doing squats, deadlifts or isolation work
    I'm incapable of dancing, I certainly can't twerk

    The pain is mind numbing I can barely stand up
    I hobble around like a 3 legged pup
    I give newborn giraffes a run for their money
    I'd laugh but I'm crying this isn't even funny

    I do what I can to try and compensate
    I never skip leg day despite all the hate
    I stretch, I take protein, BCAAs and hot baths
    Foam roll and calculate all the nutritional maths

    I wish this was easy, wish I knew how
    To make DOMS go away so I'm not a deformed cow
    But this is part of the game of suffering them pains
    Lifting and eating and making dem gainz

    :drinker:


    I really lol. I had a leg day on monday. its wednesday and I hate going up stairs to my office. :sad:
  • OverDoIt
    OverDoIt Posts: 332 Member
    A lack of DOMS can mean many things. However, let's start by saying that DOMS do not indicate a good or bad training session. How long have you been doing the same split, and routine ? Increasing load and frequency, and most importantly changing split and routine will challenge any sticking points you may have. I really have witnessed young men and women doing the same exact split, routine, and movements for hours and years on end. I noticed that they all stopped progressing. When your body gets used to a routine or split, your muscles will become complacent. Ask your trainer to increase workload and intensity, and shorten the ammount of time between sets (10-15 seconds). I currrently am training with a trainer who is very big on rest/pause high intensity, high workload, short rest duration training. I did not get sore until I started doing this. I appreciate soreness as it lets me know I have stimulated the intended target. Go heavy as hell, rest for nothing, and defeat your enemies (the iron). I hope you find your way on the Iron Path. I wish you the best sister, do not ever give up !!
  • JengaJess
    JengaJess Posts: 109 Member
    Wow thanks everyone. A lot of really great and helpful info here. I had never heard DOMS before, let alone knew what it stood for.
    I'm relatively knew to weight training. I messed around with 10 lbs dumbbells for awhile but nothing ever very serious.
    And I'm sure 100 grams of protein isn't a lot. But it seems like a lot to me haha. I'm 5'9"- 5'10" and about 173lbs. I've never truly calculated my body fat percentage but I'd say it's probably between 25%- 30%.
    I'm thinking about increasing the weight I use for any arm activity. I think I under estimated my strength when I first started. I've increased the weight since I've started, but maybe it's time for another increase. It's been much longer than 2 weeks since my last change in weight/ repetition. So that's what I'll start next week.
    I've noticed some change in my body, but it also hasn't been too long since I've been making major changes. I'm definitely stronger and more capable.

    Thanks again everyone!
  • RECowgill
    RECowgill Posts: 881 Member
    Yeah you should be taking closer to 130g of protein a day while lifting and possibly more on lifting days (150-160). That's just what I would do if I were you. Of course you have to play with these things. Find out what the right amount is for you and to help with your recovery and muscle building. 100g is probably adequate but only barely so, and it sounds like you might be discovering this. Congrats on doing the lifts and actively seeking to improve this issue for yourself.

Categories