Combating DOMS

We’ve all felt the effects of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) before. Delayed because it usually takes a day for the soreness to eventuate. Often you get out of bed the day after a session feeling ok but get gradually worse throughout the day. Just starting out or are returning after a long layoff it is common to experience DOMS after the first couple of training sessions. Even experienced exercisers can experience DOMS after a change of program or intensity. It seems unfair, just as you’re excited about a new exercise regime the soreness strikes. It’s not too surprising though, our body has to have some way of slowing us down and protecting itself from more serious injury.

The good news is DOMS is only temporary and we can reduce the severity so it doesn’t wreak too much havoc on our training or daily lives. The number one thing we can do to reduce DOMS is to be cautious during our first session with new exercises or intensities. I know the desire is there to push yourself hard but your body will thank you later if you ease into it. Still once you have DOMS how can you reduce the severity?

The first thing to understand is that our bodies need fuel to recover. It gets this fuel from the food we eat or from the stores we already have. This is why post training nutrition is important and why there is such a huge market for nutritional products that help us refuel out bodies post training. Just fuelling the body isn’t enough. We need to get the fuel into the sore muscles. There is a number of different ways to do this. Anything that promotes blood flow to the sore areas is good.

The first thing to try is some light exercise emphasising the affected areas. Again I stress this must be light exercise. It’s no good trying to push too hard as you’ll only make the soreness worse. Climbing stairs or walking uphill works well for the legs and similarly light pushing and pulling work well for the upper body.

Light massage either by yourself through the use of foam rollers or balls (tennis ball work well) or from someone else for the hard to reach places gets the blood flowing to the right areas. Performing a gentle warm up and the stretching the affected areas can be helpful in restoring the muscles to their proper length. You can also try contrast showers. Sprint coach Charlie Francis recommends cold for 1 minute, the hot for 3 minutes, repeated 3 times. There should be a noticeable difference between the hot and cold temperatures and you should feel refreshed afterwards.

Try these methods and see which work best for you. Don’t let DOMS derail your training right when your enthusiasm is highest.