Why Do I Get Sore Muscles After A Workout?

Getting started on a new workout program can be challenging enough, but dealing with the soreness that follows makes it difficult to stay on track. After all, who feels like leaping out of bed when you are too sore to move, let alone raising your arms to get dressed?
It is natural to experience muscle soreness if you have NOT participated in some form of strenuous exercise in quite some time. Your muscles go through lots of physical stress when you work out. Combine that with not exercising for a while and it is a recipe for DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).
So what is DOMS?
Exercise physiologists refer to the discomfort you feel 24 – 48 hours after a workout regime as a result of physical activity that stresses the muscle tissue beyond what it is accustomed to. Mild muscle strain creates small microscopic damage (Micro – tears) to the muscle fibres as well as swelling. Such swelling increases the pressure on the surrounding structures and results in pain and stiffness. The amount of soreness depends on how hard and how long you exercised and what type of training you do. The soreness is generally at its worse at 48hours and usually starts to subside over a few days.
Can elite athletes get DOMS?
The good news is that no-one is immune to DOMS. Whether you are a professional football player, body builder or a week-end warrior, we all can experience DOMS. Elite athletes all get some form of discomfort as a result of increasing stresses on muscles to make them stronger and better perform the mission the next time.
Preventing DOMS.
There are a few things you can do to keep soreness to a minimum or delay soreness altogether. Ensure you warm up before your activity with 3 – 5 minutes of low impact activity such as walking, biking and include some stretches. Warm down completely afterward with an active recovery as per your warm up and include comprehensive stretches. (Hold all stretches for a minimum of 20 seconds)
Don’t be discouraged – it is OK to be sore.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is common after exercise and usually means you are getting stronger. Such symptoms are a normal response to unusual exertion and are part of an adaptation process that leads to getting stronger once your muscles recover.
Don't stop exercising because of muscle soreness.