Does having a sore muscle mean an effective workout?

Fitness   By Mon, Nov 20, 2017

For decades now, our desi gyms have advocated one philosophy: Muscle soreness means you are an exercise beast. Agreed that soreness means you have finally started moving your muscles, but does it also mean that pushing yourself over the cliff everyday to remain sore is necessary? The answer is no.

What is muscle soreness?
Muscle soreness occurs when you have worked on a muscle extensively or when you have moved a muscle after a long period of time. It is also defined as DOMS or delayed-onset muscle soreness. The pain of the same may seem super unbearable which may make you feel vegetative, but soreness is both a good and bad sign.

Turns out, when you stress your muscles, for example, doing 50 push-ups in one go or running after a long time, this movement causes micro-tears in your muscle. These micro-tears also cause inflammation in the muscles which makes the pain unbearable.

On the first day, due to muscle soreness, the blood flow to that particular muscle area slows down majorly along with the hormones that are produced during exercise (endorphins) and the proteins which are needed in its healing.

Consequently, on the second day, there is excess fluid in that muscle due to inflammation which causes too much stress in that area if you are trying to exercise or work on that muscle.

Therefore, if you keep stressing that area, it increases inflammation and muscle tear. Muscle soreness should not be a cause of worry, unless it continues beyond 24-48 hours. It could mean that you may have a more serious issue like rhabdomyolysis, a condition which means too much protein is released into your bloodstream.

Does it mean that you haven't worked out enough if you don't get a sore muscle?
No, this is because by now your body has become accustomed to your workout. But this does not mean that it is not increasing your muscle endurance or strength in any manner. The inflammation does persist but in a decreased quantity. 

Other than this, if you hydrate your body well, before, during and after your workout, it helps a great deal with muscle soreness.

But the fact remains the same that exercising until your body gets sore every day is not a great thing to do to yourself and should not be practiced at any cost. A prolonged inflammation in the muscle can severely affect you.