What soreness means, and what it doesn’t

“I like when my muscles are sore because it means I got a good workout in.”

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, as I have heard it time and time again. And to some extent, it is true. 

We’ve all felt that soreness in our muscles after a hard workout or strenuous activity. But what is actually causing it and what does it mean?

Typically people will tell you that you are sore from “microdamage” to your muscles that occurs when you workout. But if that’s the case, why don’t you feel it right away instead of a day or two after your workout? 

Muscle soreness is actually caused by swelling within your muscles. This swelling is part of the natural and normal inflammatory response to your training and the reason it hurts is because your muscle cells are being stretched by the increased fluid and they don’t like that. 

So when does swelling occur? Typically it occurs from more training volume (meaning sets and repetitions), not from heavier weights. This means, if intensity is kept the same, you’re much more likely to get sore from doing 3 sets of 15 than you are from doing 3 sets of 3, despite the fact that the 3 sets of 3 is with a much heavier weight. And if you make big jumps in volume, like doing sets of 8 one week and sets of 15 the next, you are likely to feel soreness from this because the change from 8 to 15 is significant.

So now that you know what soreness actually is and what causes it, let’s talk about how sore you should feel and what to do when it happens. It’s fairly normal to feel a little sore from your workouts, especially if you are new to training. I usually feel some soreness from some of my workouts each week, but it’s generally nothing very significant and it doesn’t impact my ability to do any subsequent workouts or activities. If you are getting so sore from your workouts that you cannot do daily activities or bodyweight exercises without noticeable discomfort, that’s too much and you should cut back on your training. A hard workout won’t be beneficial if it makes you too sore to move much or workout again for the rest of the week. 

Because soreness is caused by increased fluid in the tissues, this means the way to reduce soreness is to use techniques that will reduce this fluid. The best ways to do this are gentle movement as your muscles can basically pump that fluid out, massage or compression (this should just be a little uncomfortable, not excruciating), and elevation. It is okay to train muscles that are a little bit sore as long as you are able to move comfortably. If your soreness worsens, then consider taking a break and cutting back your volume (fewer sets and/or reps) for your next workout. 

Remember, some soreness is okay and can be a sign that you really pushed yourself, but you don’t need to feel sore to get a good workout and you should not feel sore all the time. This will really limit your progress and could lead to burnout and injuries!