I just went to the gym this morning, and now I’m beginning to feel the pain. Afterwards I felt my muscle being fatigued and weak but there was no soreness/pain. Now 12 hours later I’m begging to feel the pain and by tomorrow morning I will be in a world of pain. Why does this happen?
In: Biology
You know how when you twist your ankle, it doesn’t swell up and hurt immediately, but takes a few hours? It’s kinda like that.
You don’t exactly have an injury when you exercise, but there’s still damage throughout the muscle. It’s normal, expected damage, though. Your body takes time to send out signals that point out the damage, which call a bunch of cells that act as like a clean up crew to the area. This is called inflammation.
The pain and soreness is how we feel that process – its basically our body’s way of telling us that it’s busy recovering, the same way that immediate pain is a signal to stop and take care of yourself right now.
You gotta remember that pain is not an injury – it’s a message *about* an injury. While you’re exercising, your body is in ‘do stuff’ mode, so it doesn’t tell you to stop and rest. When recovery is happening, your body doesn’t want you to start exercising too soon, so it tells you to chill via soreness.
This is also why you tend to get DOMS specifically when you’re doing stuff your body is not used to doing – ie. When you switch up your exercise routine, or push yourself further than you’re used to. It’s not a sign of an effective workout, but a sign of a workout your body wasn’t expecting/prepared for.
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