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Muscle Soreness: Common Myths, How Much is Too Much and More
Do you have muscle soreness after exercise? How much muscle soreness is acceptable, and how much is too much? Should you deliberately seek out muscle soreness? Should you exercise if your muscles are sore?
All these questions, and others will be answered in this article. But first, let’s bust a few myths about soreness.
MYTH #1: MUSCLE SORENESS IS CAUSED BY TOO MUCH LACTIC ACID IN THE MUSCLE
It used to be thought that muscle soreness is caused by lactic acid in the muscles. After all, towards the end of a set that had 8–20 reps, your muscles are burning. So you would think that the long-term effect (as in, days) of that burning would be muscle soreness. But it’s not true.
The lactic acid that is produced by your muscles is cleared from your blood and muscles within 1 hour of the workout. But you don’t feel sore until the next day.
So then, if it’s not lactic acid that causes the soreness, then what is it? It’s currently believed that it’s actually the mini muscle damage (called “microtrauma”) to the muscle and the surrounding connective tissue that happens during primarily strength training.
