Recovery and DOMS

Strength training has its benefits and like everything does, come with negative side effects such as delayed onset muscle soreness. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a common effect of training and should be expected. It can be minimized with an effective warm up and cool down. Expecting muscle soreness and joint pain will make it easier. Everyone is encouraged to move through the pain and this will reduce the duration of DOMS (Avers & Brown, 2009).

The reporting of DOMS is usually subjective (based on/influenced by a persons opinions or feelings). Recent studies state that older adults often feel an increase in DOMS, stiffness and swelling due to the absence of an appropriate warmup and a lack of regular training (Marsh et al., 2014)

To minimize DOMS correct warm up and cool down should be undertaken swell as appropriate posture and weight during strengthening activities. Been prepared and understanding the normality of DOMS will also help. Keeping moving and not letting the muscle seize up will assist.