Are you feeling achey after starting a new exercise routine – or even just doing something different to usual?
It’s probably something called DOMS.
It usually comes on about 12-24 hours after your workout or activity.
It can be really quite painful and alarming if you’re not expecting it, but it usually starts to reduce on the second day and will gradually decrease over the following three days.
I think there might some individual variation to the chances of you experiencing muscle ache. I’ve worked with clients who get DOMS super easily, and clients who never seem to experience it.
Personally, if I skip even two workouts, I will ache a lot when I restart again!
It’s caused by tiny tears being made in your muscles when they’re doing something unexpected.
It’s totally normal for this to happen and not really a sign of damage. Sometimes a bit of DOMS is unavoidable, but it’s definitely not something we want to strive for as a sign of a good or effective workout.
Not least, painful muscle aches after workouts can become a barrier to creating a good routine.
If you’re aching most times you workout, you could see it as a sign that you’re doing a little too much and instead, reduce your workout to a level which doesn’t make you ache, and build up to what you’d like to do gradually over a few weeks.