A Beginner's Guide to DOMS

DOMS is a term well acquainted by people who have been a part of sports for a long time. This is also known as Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness and it means the impact one generally has post workout. Is this a positive indication that our workout has gone well or does it have a negative impact?

“Most runners run, not because they want to live longer but because they want to live their life to the fullest." - Haruki Murakami

There are several hurdles that might obstruct us from doing our training; however, there are several measures to reduce the negative impacts.

Symptoms of DOMS

Identifying delayed onset of muscle soreness is not that difficult. It could be categorized into several types of pain, especially in areas of thighs and calves. This happens due to overuse of muscles during running that causes tension between the muscles.

Is Muscle Fatigue and Loss of Muscle Strength Common

Along with soreness, several other indicators crop up in the period of 18-24 hours. There is a temporary loss of muscle strength. Your muscles are still in the recovery phase. It is just as common as muscle fatigue and can occur post the workout.

Is This the Only Significant Symbol of Good Exercise 

A lot of runners have this thought lingering in their mind, that if they don’t have muscle soreness, the exercise was not significant or effective enough. This is not true. The experience of muscle soreness depends on a lot of other factors such as “Was your warm-up session effective enough?” or “Are you a beginner or do you practice regularly?” People who are into the sport for a good time would not suffer from muscle soreness as often as beginners would.

Relief Measures

The muscles that experience wear and tear are generally cured in a day or two. However, a proper massage in calves, thighs and target areas like buttocks can speed up the process by promoting blood circulation.

Although phrases like “No pain – No gain” is seemingly popularized in our nation, proper warmup sessions, and core strength exercises can reduce maximum pain while running.

Running as a sport in India does not have a core community that can help new runners to expand their knowledge base and master it. Bhaago India platform helps runners of all levels come together and build a core community to provide a one-stop solution to all the challenges that runners face.