By: Adrian Van Vleck
Soreness Is Like Thanos—Simply Inevitable
There’s almost no way around it when someone is starting off. Fitness will leave people sore.
Sometimes a bit of soreness is nice—it makes us feel accomplished, rubbing our sore muscles and thinking we did something worthwhile and got a good workout.
The issue, though, is that too much soreness can absolutely derail people’s lives (and at worst, can be a medical problem).
Some people are so sore (routinely) that they install one of these bad boys in their bathroom:
Let’s talk about it—soreness (not the toilet), what it means, and how we can limit it from getting so bad that we need handrails to use the bathroom.
What Is DOMS?
The soreness we’re talking about is different from joint soreness or pain. This type of muscle soreness is called DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.
Some people get DOMS the day after a workout, or after a delay of a few days (hence delayed).
What’s kind of crazy is that we still don’t fully understand the mechanism behind DOMS. We know the factors that lead to it, but not exactly what DOMS is, or what’s actually happening to a muscle that causes the soreness.
What We Do Know About Soreness (From a Training Standpoint)
Soreness tends to come from:
- Doing movements we’re not used to
- Moving in directions we aren’t used to
- Using a rep range we aren’t used to
- Training in a range of motion we aren’t used to
TL;DR from Examine.com:
“Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is muscle soreness that occurs 12–24 hours after performing an unfamiliar exercise or exercising with increased intensity or duration. It does not cause pain during exercise.”
A big takeaway:
Soreness doesn’t mean progress. It doesn’t necessarily mean you had a hard or effective workout—it just means you did something your body isn’t used to.
Once soreness sets in, it can take days to go away (depending on how bad it is). And because it can really affect our life and training, we want to make sure it’s manageable.
How to Minimize Soreness
While we don’t fully understand exactly what soreness is, we do know how to limit it.
If you’re starting off, we have no idea how your body will respond to your first workout. Because of that, it’s helpful to start with a super-duper easy workout—just to see how you feel.
Then scale up from there.
Another key concept: frequency and volume.
The harder a muscle is trained, the more recovery it needs.
One killer workout might require over five days of recovery.
But splitting that workout into three sessions can keep intensity high and soreness low.
Instead of doing 6–9 sets of leg exercises in one day, split those sets across 2–3 workouts spread throughout the week (e.g., every other day).
This is why full-body workouts are great when starting out.
Get a few sets per muscle group—not enough to leave you wrecked.
Then, if you’re not sore, work out again a few days later, slightly increasing intensity. Repeat that process.
This creates a ramp-up of 3 full-body workouts over a week (or two)—a super effective way to minimize soreness.
Even just 3 sets of an exercise in a workout can be a lot for beginners.
Important reminder:
Beginners don’t need many sets to see improvement. Just 1–2 work sets are enough to deliver 80–100% of the benefit. Doing more is often overkill and just increases the risk of extreme soreness. (I often cringe when I hear of a beginner doing a full “leg day.”)
Takeaways
- Ease your way into it over 7–14 days (taking a month is OK too)
- Train muscles at least twice a week, gradually increasing difficulty
- 3x per week works well for beginners
- Remember: 70–80% of training benefit comes from the first few sets
- Don’t do more volume than needed when starting out
Nutrition & Supplements
This stuff is secondary to the training advice above, but still important.
Hydration?
Surprisingly, studies show no real difference in soreness between hydrated and dehydrated people. One study even said:
“This finding is an enigma and is counter to what was anticipated.”
So, 🤷♂️ — water may not help with soreness, but it’s still great for other reasons.
Protein?
We’re not 100% sure how much it affects soreness, but it’s critical for training. Even if it only helps soreness a little, it aids in recovery, muscle building, and more.
Post-workout supplements / BCAAs?
BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) are important for muscle repair, but whey protein and animal protein already contain them. Buying standalone BCAA supplements is less cost-effective than just using whey.
Also, most supplements show mixed results for DOMS relief. Since soreness is temporary, it may not be worth the cost.
What Helps If You’re Already Sore?
Unfortunately, most solutions are after-the-fact.
Try:
- Contrast showers/baths: Alternate cold (60–120 seconds) and hot (60–120 seconds) water several times
- Massage, foam rolling, compression therapy: Can be mildly helpful
- Active recovery: this is walking, stretching, light activity. Getting the blood flowing can help with soreness and healing in general.
TL;DR
- Ease into training
- Train muscles frequently (at least 2x/week)
- Keep volume low at first
- If you’re sore: rest, get enough protein, and try massage, foam rolling, and contrast showers, and continue light activity.
If this blog was helpful and you are looking for more guidance for workouts, nutrition, form, and help reaching your goals, then check out our free course called “Fitness Nerd Players Guide” which is designed to help level up beginners fitness programs.
You can get it for free here
Links
Examine.com soreness https://examine.com/outcomes/muscle-soreness/
Hydration on DOMS https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1421497/