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Soreness by Jevon Ikner

December 6, 2009

Many of us, if not all of us in the Crossfit world have experienced "real" muscle soreness. You know the kind that leave you feeling like you've been beat with a bat or two . Or the kind that makes getting out of bed seem like a NASA mission. We all to some degree have experienced these symptoms , but understanding why and how to treat these pleasures are important.

The soreness we are speaking about here is known as DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) . DOMS is usually noticeable about 8 hrs after a workout but usually peaks somewhere between 24 and 48 hrs. DOMS can leave an athlete feeling a great deal of muscle tenderness and stiffness. To keep it simple these symptoms are caused by the body healing its self through an inflammatory response system triggered by damage to muscle fibers. Crossfit athletes are more likely to encounter DOMS because of crossfit's constantly varied attitude. Muscle fibers being exposed to new stress factors are more likely to become damaged and therefore needing to adapt.

Treating DOMS is tricky...one might think that popping an anti- inflammatory would do the trick. But this can actually be a very bad idea !! Popping anti-inflammatory can lead to a muted recovery process thus leaving an athlete not benefiting from the inflammatory response that builds more adequate muscle fibers.

So how do we treat DOMS? Proper rest and recovery of fatigued muscle groups should be practiced. DOMS is something that has to run its course...a solid program will keep an athlete functioning on a high performance level while experiencing great gains!!