DOMS as indication of good workout?

[ELCANADA]

Almost a noob question, but do you guys use delayed onset muscles soreness a good indicator of how effective a workout was?

I have used it as a sort of personal gauge of how much ass I kicked in the gym for years now. When I start to plateau or just not getting gains I find I am not getting sore either. As soon as I change up my reps, weight, routine I break through my plateau (and get sore again).

As of late I cant get a few of my muscle groups sore even after going all out in the gym. I tried a few new routines, higher reps and still nothing. Great pumps, burns and muscle fatigue but no DOMS

Does soreness = good work-out and gains?

[tiramisu]

No but it feels good.

[faller]

Can't argue with the feel good. But no i don't use DOMS as an indicator.

[#8]

Ive often wondered this myself. Good question new guy. I only really ever get severe DOMS in my legs.

I think if you have bad DOMS take the food eating up several notches for the next week at least.

[Iwant2Grow]

i have wondered about this before

I was told by a bro that DOMS was a symptom of poor nutrition and that it was a indicator i should eat more

No idea if this true but, my diet has been alot better this year and i haven't had any cases of it

[baza]

Slap your bro in the face for me.

[_Ragnar_]

All I can say is that I never get DOMS when I have a crappy workout.

[Iwant2Grow]

Slap your bro in the face for me.

lolS WILL DO

[natenator]

Muscle soreness is not an indicator of hypertrophy.

I can be sore from doing 30 rep sets and not sore from doing 6 rep sets with heavy ass weight but I know the 6 rep sets offer more progressive overload than a 30 rep set.

[Shortdave]

I was told by a bro that DOMS was a symptom of poor nutrition and that it was a indicator i should eat more


I wouldn't say poor nutrition, but I do agree that you should eat more.

[baza]

Muscle soreness is not an indicator of hypertrophy.

I can be sore from doing 30 rep sets and not sore from doing 6 rep sets with heavy ass weight but I know the 6 rep sets offer more progressive overload than a 30 rep set.

Exactly. I was going heavy for months and very rarely get sore.
Last couple weeks due to injury and change, I've been doing high reps, lower weight, lower rest, and am sore for days after.

[Kaly11]

isn't DOMS just an accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles? (not converting ATP into acetylCoA, instead lactic acid). I guess this would vary for each individual but one way i try to release this out of the muscles i targeted that day is to ride the bike for 5-10 mins to possibly get it flowing through the blood stream to prevent a huge accumulation in one particular muscle group.

[JifeLacket]

No lactic acid clears the muscle very fast and would certainly not linger around the next day.

It is true that an active recovery is better than nothing. So the next day if you have lets say super sore legs, spin out on the bike 15 mins 2x per day... Sore biceps, do some high rep really light weight... same deal, get the blood flowing!

Hot tub works too ;)

[Drummer]

Soreness usually follows hitting a muscle after a while away from it, or perhaps from a different angle, but it alone does not mean growth. Journaling and seeing watching the reps and weight go up is a good way of judging gains along with visual feedback (love those mirrors!). A game on ping pong can make you sore - but not huge lol! Also funny how people think the "pump" is necessary to make gains... lol i can get a pump squeezing a tennis ball.

~D~

[Drummer]

http://www.canadabodybuilding.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8330

check out number 2

~D~

[ELCANADA]

Thanks for the info. I just got back from the gym and was talking to a fellow gym rat/med student and he confirmed the above. Though DOMS is a nice indicator of good workout, absence of it does not equal bad workout. Basically if you work to failure, come out with a nice pump and burn the hell out of your muscles you can expect muscle hypertrophy.

He said if you really want the DOMS felling back take a week to 10 days off...let your central nervous system rest and allow thing to get back to baseline. I dont see myself taking that much time off so screw it.

I think we can all agree that its a pretty sweet feeling to roll out of bed sore in the morn..... bodybuilding really is masochistic

[GYMBRAT]

I hate being sore in the morning! damn DOMS!

[ELCANADA]

Nothing worse than DOMS after leg day....sore quads,hams,hip flexer...then your expected to preform.:sex

[faller]

take a week to 10 days off...let your central nervous system rest and allow thing to get back to baseline.


Thats actually good advise.

[CanadianIron]

DOMS has always been a huge indicator for me. I generally get it when I change up my routine a bit and i find my strength is up when I come back to that muscle group a few days later.

When I have a balls deep, insane workout I always have sweet pain the next day... when I closely follow my routine and dont have good spotters to really push the bar, i dont have as much DOMS.

[Bowlcut]

DOMS is something power or strength athletes should try to avoid because it ****s with dynamic effort work.

[CanadianIron]

Good thing this isnt canadapower/strengthbuilding.com then!

[Drummer]

^^^lol