Thread: DOMS

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

I was hoping for a more "natural" remedy, but I'll take your advice for now!
I did manage to get in a chest/tricep workout yesterday, but my cardio was limited to an hour walk. Thanks for the reply.

Other than massage I do not see anything else natural that can help.
I do aspirin after the work out and get very little DOMS.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Other than massage I do not see anything else natural that can help.
I do aspirin after the work out and get very little DOMS.

Thanks, I'll try Aspirin. Aleve doesn't seem to work for me, although it should be comparable to Aspirin.

I've often recommended some sort of NSAID before a workout if a client knows they'll be pushing that hard. Usually though, I try to "build up" any client to that point before I show no mercy. For me as a Trainer, it's easy to take an "untrained" individual (not implying you're untrained) but if you really want to test a Trainer, put a highly conditioned athlete with that same Trainer and see what happens. If a trainer is good, he or she can challenge even a highly trained person. To take the "typical" Al Bundy type, who hasn't done much physical work since high school sports, and work that person until DOMS sets in isn't a fair fight...any decent Trainer would win that one every time. All things being equal, once it sets in, DOMS is usually worse two days later as you've likely experienced by now.

DOMS is a result of microtears not lactic acid.

Don't forget to stretch.

correct...the more current research has shown us that the microtearing of the cell walls is the culprit...the lactic acid build up, once thought to be the reason, only indicates that the muscle has contracted to the point of not being able to "flush it out" quickly enough due to the continued contraction OF said muscle...that's why I strongly encourage clients to not quite fully extend at the top of the movement where relaxation can occur, say like at the start/finish of the squat, the barbell curl or locking out at the top of the bench press...this can indeed become a long reply that I'll resist the urge to indulge...lol