You’ve probably been guilty or even still are of using ‘muscle soreness’ or DOMS as an indicator of a good or effective workout. I’m here to tell you that muscle soreness after a workout is the least important factor and shouldn’t be used to rate your workouts and their effectiveness.

Firstly muscle soreness is caused by trauma or mechanical stress to the tissues. This typically occurs when we do exercise which is strenuous or that we aren’t accustomed to. DOMS – Delayed onset of Muscle soreness is when you experience muscle soreness anywhere from 24-48hours post-exercise and can sometimes linger for up to 3-4 days.

Muscle soreness is very common in untrained individuals and you will notice it a lot more when you start to get back into exercising. As your fitness improves however so will your strength and endurance making you more tolerable to strenuous exercise and higher workloads and intensities. Simply put the fitter and stronger you are, the less likely that muscle soreness will be evident. So if anything the fact that you aren’t experiencing soreness is a good thing and an indication your fitness is improving.