Why am I sore after exercise?

This may be a question you ask yourself the day after exercising – whether you went to the gym, for a run or played a sport. Let’s take a look at what is going on!

Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness, in short, referred to as “DOMS”, is muscle soreness that occurs after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. DOMS peaks between 24 to 48 hours following the activity. It is very common to get DOMS after recommencing resistance training after a break, increasing the weight of your usual exercises, going for an intense run, having a hard game of sport, or even just gardening out of the blue!

DOMS is predominantly caused by eccentric muscle activity – this is the phase of the exercise where your muscle is lengthening while contracting. Exercise-induced muscle damage occurs to the weaker, less resilient muscle fibres during this contraction. Sounds scary, but it isn’t something that should be avoided – it is an important part to building stronger and more resilient muscles.

Is DOMS bad? Am I damaging my muscles when I exercise? Is it permanent?

In short, DOMS is not bad; it just means we exercised harder, longer or performed a novel exercise. The muscle soreness will resolve after 48 hours, and the next time you perform the same session/game/activity, you will not experience the same level of muscle soreness.