Busting Myths for Fun Series – Muscle Soreness Is Essential to Muscle Growth

You may feel that the pain and tightness you feel after hitting the gym a day or two after a workout, also known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), is part and parcel of stimulating your body to progress. It’s often caused by small micro tears within the muscle fibers. If you are new to training, these micro tears can stimulate muscle growth, but more muscle damage doesn’t always mean more gains. If you use a scale of 1-10, pushing yourself to a level of 7 of soreness may well stimulate muscle growth.

So instead of using DOMS to notify you if you are progressing, track your workouts effectively. Track your reps, sets, weight lifted, and also form. As you see these progressively change, it’s a far better way of seeing if you’re progressing effectively.