Do Sore Muscles Mean You Had a Good Workout? An Expert Weighs In

It usually feels good to be sore after a workout. It’s almost like a sign of hard work and strength. However, the question to ask is whether muscle soreness is a good sign? Simrun Chopra, a certified Deep Health Coach and the Founder of Nourish with Sim that uses evidence-based methods to help people achieve their health goals, says  “Mild to moderate muscle soreness also known as delayed-onset muscle soreness is generally harmless while severe muscle soreness can be damaging and dangerous. While starting to work out, your muscles feel strong and resilient. Over time, your muscles may begin to feel weaker and tired and lead to muscle fatigue. It is good to the extent that you now know unused muscles are being utilised. Some soreness every now and then is good only when the aim is to push you past your comfort zone or to stimulate new progress.” So muscle soreness isn’t necessarily a sign of good workout. Simrun further zeroes in on the reason that could cause you to feel sore and also tells you how to get rid of it. 

1. Continuously being sore after every workout shows that your body hasn’t recovered fully and this can be detrimental to your progress. There’s great risk in not allowing ample time for your muscles to rest. It is a sign that you are over training and not getting adequate nutrition to support this level of training intensity. The muscle needs to get rest and recover before it can work at its optimal capacity again.

2. Muscle soreness is a side effect of the stress that you put on your muscles when you exercise. “The pain you feel is completely normal and is due to inflammation within the muscle. It’s important to remember that working out stresses your body—and all stress accumulates. So, if your job and your relationships are all taking a toll on you, your workout is going to make your body cry. Always being sore and not letting your body recover can lead to injuries,” says Simrun. So if the pain you’re experiencing prevents you from carrying out daily activities or creates discomfort for 72 hours, the exercise was too much. You need to rest your muscles in order to let them develop. 

3. The good news is that normal soreness is a sign that you are getting stronger. “The idea behind it is that you're basically tearing something and creating a micro-trauma in the muscle. When you apply stress to a particular muscle, fibres in that muscle begin to break down. As they repair themselves, they become larger and stronger than they were before,” adds Simrun. Now, your muscles are better prepared for rigorous activity, be it exercise or otherwise.

4. Everyone is at risk for muscle soreness, even body builders and professional athletes. The best way to fight soreness is to exercise regularly. “Start with something very basic such as a low-intensity, low-impact exercises like going for a walk, an easy bike ride or swim, which may help speed up the recovery. The more you do, the better your body gets at adapting to your workouts, learning continuously to effectively distribute the workload across the muscle fibres in use,” advises Simrun.

5. However, all of us are affected by pain and soreness in different ways. We have to feel and then judge what is too much and then take further action accordingly. “Ensure that you warm up properly by stretching before and after a workout and hydrate properly. The more you move, the faster the soreness will disappear. A temporary solution is a heating pad or a warm water bath, but a longer-term solution is to ice the sore areas because it helps reduce swelling and inflammation,” says Simrun.

She also stresses on a good diet to get rid of the sore muscles. While no single food or nutrient will prevent muscle soreness, eating a well-balanced diet that is budget-friendly and comprises whole foods that contain important nutrients will help reduce the pain. “Nutrients such as Omega-3 Fatty Acids, antioxidants, carbohydrates and whey protein also help to ease the pain. Eating quality carbs, like wholegrain bread or cereals, protein as well as nutrients like magnesium also helps,” adds Simrun. 

Whether for weight loss, to get or stay fit, or possibly even for reasons to do with vanity and wanting to look good, all of this cannot be taken lightly. If done the right way, muscle soreness will never be something that becomes a chronic worry.