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Ever felt that muscle soreness that shows up one or two days after a tough workout? That annoying feeling we all know as DOMS is more common than you think, and even though almost everyone’s been through it, do we really know why it happens?
In this article, we’re going to break down everything you need to know about DOMS: what causes it, who’s more likely to get it, and most importantly, how we can ease and prevent it with some supplements and strategies that can help your body recover faster, so soreness doesn’t hold back your progress.
Index
What exactly is DOMS and when does it show up?
DOMS, technically known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), is a muscle pain that appears between 24 and 48 hours after doing physical effort your body isn’t used to. It’s marked by pain, stiffness, tenderness to touch, and a drop in strength in the affected muscles.
The main cause of DOMS is microtears in muscle fibers caused by intense or new exercise. This triggers a natural inflammatory response from the body to repair those tiny injuries, which leads to the typical soreness.
Key factors that cause DOMS are:
- Unusual exercise: doing a new physical activity or getting back to training after a break.
- Eccentric contractions: movements where the muscle lengthens under tension (like lowering a weight or running downhill). This type of contraction is most linked to DOMS.
- Intensity jump: suddenly increasing the duration or intensity of your usual workout.
And it affects:
- Beginners or less fit people: more prone to DOMS, especially when starting a routine or doing exercises that require intense muscle contraction.
- Athletes or trained individuals: even the pros can get DOMS when upping intensity or changing exercise type, due to muscle microtears from overexertion.
- Anyone doing intense training: muscle soreness means you’ve worked hard and your body is adapting.
Prevention and workout prep
While DOMS signals you’ve challenged your muscles, proper prep and some smart strategies can help reduce how intense and long it lasts. The trick isn’t to avoid effort, but to do it smartly. Here’s how you can prevent DOMS and get your body ready for training.
Preventing DOMS is all about consistency and good habits before, during, and after exercise.
- Gradual progression principle: the golden rule. Your body needs time to adapt to new stimuli. Don’t jump from no activity to high-intensity training. Increase volume (sets/reps), intensity (weight), or frequency gradually, ideally no more than 10% per week.
- Proper warm-up: never skip warming up. Cold, stiff muscles are way more likely to get microtears. A good warm-up is your first line of defense (we’ll detail it below).
- Correct technique: make sure you perform exercises with proper form. Bad form not only raises injury risk but also puts unnecessary and inefficient strain on muscles, which can worsen DOMS.
- Cool-down: after training, spend 5–10 minutes gradually lowering intensity. Do light cardio (walking, cycling) followed by gentle static stretches on worked muscles. This helps improve flexibility and reduce post-workout stiffness.
- Hydration and nutrition: a well-hydrated body works better. Drink water before, during, and after exercise. Also, get enough protein to help repair muscle fibers and carbs to refill energy stores.
- Active rest and sleep: in the days after a tough workout, rest doesn’t have to be total. Light activity like walking or gentle swimming (active recovery) can boost blood flow and ease soreness. Quality sleep is just as crucial for your body to carry out repair processes.
Effective HSN supplementation for DOMS
At HSN, we’ve got the best supplements to help you tackle DOMS discomfort naturally and practically:
1 Tart Cherry (Sour Cherry)
Thanks to its high anthocyanin content, powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, it fights oxidative stress and inflammation caused by intense exercise, helping you recover faster.
Tart Cherry 500mg (CherryPURE®)
✅ Reduces muscle pain and post-exercise inflammation.
✅ Speeds up muscle strength recovery.
✅ Fights cell damage caused by free radicals.
2 Omega-3 (EPA and DHA)
Acts as a powerful natural anti-inflammatory agent, helping modulate the body’s inflammatory response after exercise-induced muscle damage, leading to less pain and stiffness.
✅ Modulates the body’s inflammatory response.
✅ Helps reduce delayed muscle soreness (DOMS).
✅ Supports overall joint and muscle health.
3 Creatine Monohydrate
Boosts quick energy (ATP) availability in muscles, improving performance and strength. It also helps reduce cell damage and inflammation post-workout, promoting better recovery.
Creatine Monohydrate (1000mg Creatine)
✅ Increases strength and performance in high-intensity workouts.
✅ Helps reduce muscle damage and inflammation.
✅ Improves recovery between training sessions.
4 Turmeric
Its main active compound, curcumin, is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that helps neutralize free radicals and reduce systemic inflammation caused by intense exercise, easing muscle pain.
Turmeric Extract (50:1) 650mg + BioPerine®
✅ Fights post-workout muscle inflammation.
✅ Reduces oxidative stress and cell damage.
✅ Relieves pain linked to DOMS.
5 Magnesium
An essential mineral involved in over 300 cellular processes, key for muscle contraction, energy production, and electrolyte balance.
✅ Supports muscle contraction and relaxation.
✅ Improves energy production and oxygen use.
✅ Helps prevent muscle cramps and lowers injury risk.
6 HMB (Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate)
A metabolite of the essential amino acid leucine. Its main role is anti-catabolic, meaning it helps reduce muscle protein breakdown after intense exercise. By protecting muscle from damage, it speeds up repair and recovery.
✅ Reduces muscle protein breakdown (anti-catabolic effect).
✅ Speeds recovery and lessens post-workout muscle damage.
✅ Supports strength and muscle mass gains, especially for beginners.
7 Citrulline Malate
This compound boosts nitric oxide levels in the body, improving blood flow to muscles. Better circulation helps deliver nutrients and clear waste products (like ammonia), reducing fatigue and muscle soreness after training.
✅ Significantly reduces muscle soreness (DOMS).
✅ Improves blood flow and nutrient delivery to muscles.
✅ Decreases fatigue and boosts exercise performance.
8 Caffeine
Works as a central nervous system stimulant, blocking fatigue and pain perception, allowing you to train harder and longer. It may also speed up muscle glycogen resynthesis post-exercise.
✅ Boosts performance and delays fatigue onset.
✅ Lowers muscle pain perception during effort.
✅ Enhances focus and alertness.
Frequently asked questions
Is it okay to train if you have DOMS?
There’s no reason not to train with DOMS; the only limit is the discomfort you feel.
Ideally, rest on the day when pain is at its peak (usually the second day) and then ease back into your routine with lighter exercises until fully recovered, which usually takes 4–5 days. Even with soreness, your strength doesn’t drop or weaken.
Are the theories about lactic acid and muscle microtears true?
The lactic acid theory, which blamed pain on lactic acid buildup and crystallization in muscles, has been debunked since no crystals were found in biopsies and crystallization would require very low temperatures.
The accepted explanation today is muscle microtears: overexertion causes tiny tears in muscle fibers and mild inflammation, which causes the characteristic DOMS pain.
Do sugar water or similar home remedies really get rid of DOMS?
No, this is one of the most widespread myths and it’s totally false. The sugar water idea was based on the wrong lactic acid theory, thinking sugar helped dissolve supposed crystals. Since we now know DOMS is caused by microtears, sugar water has no healing effect on muscle fibers.
The best way to ease soreness is active rest (gentle movement), good hydration, proper protein-rich nutrition, and if pain is intense, applying cold or heat.
If I don’t have DOMS the next day, does it mean I didn’t train well or the workout wasn’t effective?
Not necessarily. Lack of DOMS isn’t a sign of a bad workout. As your body adapts to a type of exercise and workload, the inflammatory response and microtears decrease. A good workout is also measured by progress in strength, endurance, or technique.
You can have a very productive session and not feel DOMS if your body is used to that stimulus. DOMS is more a sign of novelty or increased intensity, not workout quality itself.
Why do I sometimes get really bad DOMS and other times barely notice it, even doing the same exercise?
DOMS intensity can vary for many reasons. The most common causes are:
- Introducing a new exercise: even if you train the same body part, a small change in angle or movement type can activate muscle fibers differently and in a new way.
- Focus on eccentric phase: if in a particular workout you emphasized the muscle-lengthening phase (like lowering a weight very slowly and controlled), DOMS is likely to be more intense.
- Recovery state: your rest, stress, hydration, and nutrition levels before training directly affect how your body responds and recovers. On days you’re more tired or poorly fueled, DOMS might be worse.
Related posts
- How to maintain muscle mass while injured?
- Effects of lactate on the body
- What are muscle cramps and how to avoid them?
- Benefits of lymphatic drainage
