Day 25- What makes a workout good?

What makes a workout a good workout? Most people might gauge a workout by how sore their muscles are the next day; concluding that if they aren't sore they didn't work out hard enough. This is not the case; no soreness does not equate to a poor workout.

So why then do we get sore sometimes after a workout?
Soreness (sometimes called delayed onset muscles soreness or DOMS) is normal, especially when you are first starting to work out, if you have changed around your exercise routine, tried new activities, or increased your weights during your workout.

Soreness was originally believed to be caused by a build up of lactic acid in the muscles, but it is now know that lactic acid is removed from the muscles 30-60 minutes after a workout, which wouldn't explain why we feel sore 1-3 days after. Lactic acid is produced by the body due to the high demand from the muscles for oxygen, lactic acid is the reason we feel a "burn" during a workout. The understanding now is that muscle cells convert glucose or glycogen to lactic acid. The lactic acid is taken up and used as a fuel by mitochondria, the energy factories in muscle cells.

If it isn't lactic acid that makes us feel sore, what is it?
Although research is still being done to find out more, most now show that the cause of muscle soreness is due to micro-tears in your muscle fibers. As mentioned above, new exercises, heavier weights, or any activity that your body is not accustomed to can cause damage to the muscle fiber; causing them to become inflamed and you to feel sore.

When you work out hard, but aren't sore afterward are you still getting a good workout?
Yes! Your body has now just adapted to this activity, weight, or routine. Not feeling sore the days after a workout doesn't mean your workout was ineffective or unproductive; as far as effectiveness, muscle soreness doesn't always mean much.

If soreness isn't always the way to measure effectiveness, how can you know if your workout was productive?

• Weight- make sure that when weightlifting you are using a weight heavy enough that you can only complete the desired amount of reps. Using weight that is too light and doesn't fatigue your muscle isn't going to give you as good of an outcome.
  
• Mix up your routine- Don't bore your muscles and your mind by doing the same routines every week. Mixing up your routine will help to avoid hitting a plateau and will prevent boredom when exercising.
  
• Work all your muscle groups- you don't have to work all your muscle groups in one workout, but during the week mix up the muscles that you target.
  
• Work up a sweat- sweat is a sign that you are revving up your body's metabolism and pushing your body.
• Challenge yourself- Instead of doing the same exercises, challenge yourself and get creative. Doing bicep curls? Stand on one foot to force yourself to balance and use your core.
• Feel good and energized- If after your workout you spirits are lifted, and you feel energized then you had a good workout.

Bottom line muscles get sore; at least at the beginning, but eventually the soreness begins to dissipate. Once you become more accustomed to working out you may rarely feel your muscles getting sore. This isn't a sign that what you are doing is not effective it just means that your body has adjusted and can respond better to the activities that you throw at it. So if you are just starting to get into working out, stay in there! You will soon experience this love, hate relationship that we call DOMS, and eventually one day maybe overcome it (at least to a degree).

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP