How To Deal With DOMS

Saturday 1/25/14

Prehab:

Foam Roll T-spine 1-2
Snow Angels x20 with 2.5lb
Wall Squats xPVC x15

Warm-up:

Junk Yard Dog x5
2 rds (with PVC then BB)
7 Good Mornings
7 OHS
7 Snatch High Pulls (from Position 1)
7 Snatch Balances
3 Position Snatch (3 reps per position)

Strength:

20 minutes to establish a 1RM Snatch

Notes:  Feel free to scale this to a 1RM Clean and Jerk or just clean if you are having any technique or shoulder issues.  Ideally this will be a full squat.

Partner WOD

In teams of 2:

3 Rounds:

250 meter row (1 person)

50 Dumbbell snatches 50/35#

50 KB Swings (53/35)

50 Jumping Squats

250 meter row (other person)

-25 minute cap-

Notes: 1 person works at a time. Try to find a partner that can peform the same weight, but it is not necessary.  Each person will complete three 250 meter rows total. 

Cool Down:

Accumulate: (rest as needed)
2 Min L-sit hanging on bar
50 GHD hip extensions
Couch stretch 1min
Overhead Band distraction stretch x1

This was a question posted by a member today:

 “I go back and forth with what I should do when my legs are so stiff I can barely walk… do I lay on the couch until the stiffness goes away (usually makes it worse), do I roll out and stretch, do I head back to the gym and tough it out through more leg workouts or do I do my own routine rather then the scheduled class?? How do you deal???”

 I think we all have experienced this a time or two before. Whether it be our legs from 100+ wall balls, jumping lunges, Smolov cycle, etc. So it’s a great question, what is the best solution?

 To answer this, what exactly is this pain you are experiencing? In technical terms, it’s referred to as DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. If it’s severe enough, the symptoms peak around day 72 hours after you performed the strenuous workout that led to this pain/discomfort.  The mechanism of DOMS is not completely understood, but the pain is ultimately thought to be a result of multiple microtraumas to the muscles being exercised. Most commonly DOMS manifests after performing eccentric exercises (contracting your muscles while they lengthen, think of lowering yourself during a pull up or “negatives” while bench pressing).

 Soreness might conceivably serve as a warning to reduce muscle activity so as to prevent further injury. However, further activity temporarily alleviates the soreness, even though it may cause more pain initially. Continued use of the sore muscle also has no adverse effect on recovery from soreness and does not exacerbate muscle damage. It is therefore unlikely that soreness is in fact a warning sign not to use the affected muscle.

The soreness usually disappears within about 72 hours after appearing (day 6 post WOD). If treatment is desired, any measure that increases blood flow to the muscle, such as low-intensity activity, massage, hot baths, or a sauna visit may help somewhat. Immersion in cool or icy water, an occasionally recommended remedy, was found to be ineffective in alleviating DOMS in some studies but effective in others. Ultimately, Comes down to personal preference.

Counter intuitively, continued exercise might temporarily suppress the soreness. Exercise increases pain thresholds and pain tolerance, and it also increases lymphatic drainage and the increase in blood flow brings in nutrients and flushes out toxins. There many are claims in the literature that exercising sore muscles appears to be the best way to reduce or eliminate the soreness, but this has not yet been systematically investigated.

 So, in this situation, I would recommend hoping on the rower or bike for about 10 min at a very comfortable pace with very little resistance. The goal here is just to get blood flowing. From there, I would perform gentle stretching to whatever body parts are sore for 1-2 min per extremity. To reemphasize, this is gentle stretching, if you are too aggressive it may increase the soreness. From there, go home drink plenty of water, eat foods heavy in antioxidants, take your fish oil, and stay moving. Another great idea is to get in the water, ocean or pool. The water touching your skin will dull the sensation of pain while moving in the water will help with blood flow and circulation. Surfing is a great idea, just not this weekend with the projected 20ft+ waves coming in.