For how long is it normal for muscles to hurt after workout?

When you first start working out, especially if you do an activity that challenges you, you can be sore for several days. Many people find that they do not get sore on a regular basis once exercise becomes a regular part of their life.

Remember that the 5 minutes you spend stretching after a workout will save you the 2-5 days of pain and soreness that can follow. Never skimp on the stretching.

Yup, I stretch, and have been working out for many years. But any time I implement anything new, or extra anything, (with or without stretching) I go thru days of DOMS. Sometimes only a day, but if I try something extreme, like BeachBody or Jillian Michaels Shred? I can't walk/sit/pee/do up my shoes for at least 3 days...LOL! The best bet is to do other body parts until those sore muscles feel a bit better, and remember that a foam roller and advil can be your best friends....xo

jimmmer wrote: »

You probably over did it.

DOMS probably lasts 2 days at most when you change your routine, add a bunch of volume or seriously ramp up the intensity in a short period of time.

I disagree with this. DOMS is not only if you've just changed your activity level. Some people are prone to it, and others aren't. 2 days is typical for DOMS, but 3 or 4 isn't out of the norm. 5 is a bit much. I am prone to DOMS do I expect it.

I do agree that active recovery will help. I always run the day after a training session. It helps, but certainly doesn't eliminate the soreness.

dairaoga wrote: »

I did some knee push ups and sit ups five days ago, and almost all of my body hurt the day after that. It slowly disappeared and now only my stomach hurts. But isn't it too long for it to still hurt? My lower stomach still hurts really badly if I lift my legs or otherwise use the muscle of that area.
Is it normal? For how long is it normal for muscles to hurt after workout?

When I first started heavy lifting, my body hurt for upwards of a week. Now I'll just feel like my muscles are slightly tired the day after I increase weight.

I had it bad in soooo many muscles once, and it lasted 6-7 days, with maybe 4 of them being extreme. That was from overdoing it, definitely. But it wasn't a pulled muscle or anything. Just regular DOMS, but a really rough case of it.

Usually mine is from 1-3 days and at a level that I kind of enjoy, lol.

SingingSingleTracker wrote: »

gia07 wrote: »

DOMS for up to 24 - 72 hours can be normal. Pushing it to day 4 is not.

For OP, the doms has subsided except lower abs, could have strained it.

Not pushing it at all to still feel it on day 4. Depends on one's age, genetics, ability to recover, and the effort that tore the muscles in the first place.

You mean by "not pushing it at all" "pushing it to the extent that I can't recover for 4 days..."

I think people confuse what they're able to do mentally, with what they've physically built the work-capacity to recover from. Notwithstanding some people do suffer more than others due to the previously mentioned factors, but if you're suffering 5 days out, something's wrong with your volume/intensity. You'll make faster progress if you scale the vol/int to the amount that allows you to go again at a slighter greater vol/int 48-72hrs later (depending on training age of the trainee). Obviously the more advanced an athlete you need to periodise in a more nuanced fashion to allow for cns, muscular, etc recovery - but if you're half-arsing sessions you should be able to complete due to lingering DOMS, then your programming is off. That's just a fact.

SingingSingleTracker wrote: »

jimmmer wrote: »

SingingSingleTracker wrote: »

gia07 wrote: »

DOMS for up to 24 - 72 hours can be normal. Pushing it to day 4 is not.

For OP, the doms has subsided except lower abs, could have strained it.

Not pushing it at all to still feel it on day 4. Depends on one's age, genetics, ability to recover, and the effort that tore the muscles in the first place.

You mean by "not pushing it at all" "pushing it to the extent that I can't recover for 4 days..."

I think people confuse what they're able to do mentally, with what they've physically built the work-capacity to recover from. Notwithstanding some people do suffer more than others due to the previously mentioned factors, but if you're suffering 5 days out, something's wrong with your volume/intensity. You'll make faster progress if you scale the vol/int to the amount that allows you to go again at a slighter greater vol/int 48-72hrs later (depending on training age of the trainee). Obviously the more advanced an athlete you need to periodise in a more nuanced fashion to allow for cns, muscular, etc recovery - but if you're half-arsing sessions you should be able to complete due to lingering DOMS, then your programming is off. That's just a fact.

My "not pushing it at all" was in reference to gia07's comment "DOMS for up to 24 - 72 hours can be normal. Pushing it to day 4 is not."

A blanket statement that DOMS beyond 3 days for anyone is not normal - is erroneous.

Try doing a 4, 6, 12, or 24 hour endurance event. Even after correct periodized training, tapering for the "A" event, the pounding and getting beat up during the event as you perform just as you have trained to perform has quite a lengthy recovery period before the DOMS subsides.

So I just was cautioning that a blanket statement that 3 days or less covers all.

Talk to me 10-12 years from now when you are in your 50's about how your DOMS and recovery in every scenario is confined to a short and tidy time span of 3 days or less. ;-)

Doing a race, a meet, an event, a fight is to take your body to a place that is beyond your current training level. If you aren't in trouble for a week afterwards, then you really didn't go all out for it.

This is totally different from the usual sensible building of volume in training.

My contention is that a sensible session to session, or week to week, increase in training volume or intensity (not peaking/tapering/competing) shouldn't be stimulating massive DOMS that make it impractical for you to perform at your next training session. To try to suggest tapering and competing are what I was talking about is disingenuous, at best.

I noticed that doing cardio after lifting helped to lessen the severity of the associated pain afterwards.

When I was active duty my leg routine was intense and left my legs all twitchy and quivering every time. The pain 2 days later was pretty pronounced. It was the only workout I wasn't following up with a run. All my other muscle groups, I always lifted with the last set to failure and I didn't experience the same kind of pain afterwards. So, as much as I was loathe to at the time I decided to test it out and see if the running after lifting was helping. Shockingly, even on leg day, a post workout run helped. So I started doing a light easy 6 miles after my leg workouts and the pain I suffered through the following days wasn't gone but it was greatly reduced.