DOMS. Do you have it?

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS.

DOMS is generally defined as the 2nd to 4th day muscle soreness caused by an extreme workout. My experience with DOMS has been more intense than the normal 1st day soreness. With any exercise routine, there is usually a bit of soreness the day-of or day-after as the muscles recover from the tearing caused by the physical strain. However, DOMS is different; at least that is what I have experienced over the last year due to the dramatic change in my routine since my shoulder injury.

Before I begin, I would like to go over a debate I have had with extreme lifters. Some guys tell me that the 2nd to 4th day soreness is actually "atrophy" or muscle wasting away. I never fully agreed with these guys, but had nothing to base my "gut feelings". Hence, I began my search for the reason of my 2nd to 4th day muscle soreness usually followed by an intense workout. Atrophy is not the answer, DOMS is the reason.

In the beginning, it was only with my legs that I would experience this intense short term soreness for several days after a workout. Many times after my "leg day" workout, I would have difficulty walking, sometimes preferring to crawl. This is the reason why I only do legs on Friday or Saturday. I started to ask around if others experienced the same thing and all agreed that legs are killer recovery cycle. The conclusion is that leg and butt muscles are so much larger than other groups, the soreness is much more intense. However, I noticed that I worked my legs differently than other muscle groups.

Prior to my shoulder injury in late 2010, I was content with working with heavy weights and low reps. The only difference I noticed is that I was more intense in my workout with my legs. Intensity for me is how much I squint my eyes and grit my teeth during the lift; for my legs, this was normal, but not the other groups. My routine worked well for me and physical changes were evident, yet I plateaued and decided to change my workout.

I dropped the weight by 10% to 20% on all my routines, but increased the reps to a max of 25 per set and no less than 15. If I could not do 15 reps, I decreased the weight more; if I could achieve more than 25 reps, I increased the weight. However, I leave the weight at a high enough level to where I was really straining to get the last reps out. We are talking about "eyes squeezed shut, teeth grinding, throat grunting, muscle aching" reps. No more "pansy" reps except for the free-weight bench-press for safety reasons (Google "USC football player injured benching") since I don't have a spotter. Being a responsible Trojan, I know better than to do something that could really hurt me. My high school age sons at times will spot me when they are available, but that's only on the weekends.

So the end result of my new routine is PAIN! We are talking about pain that Motrin or Aleve won't remove. The first week of my new routine was miserable, I had a terrible time trying to sleep at night. I visited my Chiropractor and he was able to take care of a horrendous torment in my left trap (trapezius) using electro-stimulation, but it took several weeks. I found that the pain would only go away for several hours after a workout.  Since I work each muscle group once a week, I would experience this pain for days on end. 

DOMS is the end result for those who really want to see dramatic results of their exercise. For me, I have to deal with it. No Pain, No Gain!  Since I have to work at a "real job" like most of us, we have to come up with ways to make our routine work for us. I can't spend all my time in the gym or at the Chiropractor.  What do you do?