The hidden problem with muscle soreness

No one likes to be in pain. Our brain is hardwired to avoid it.?But muscle soreness seems to have evolved in our modern-day brain as something that is a normal part of exercising, especially at the start.??

We have accepted that soreness is just part of the start. We have even come to embrace it as "good", as a sign you ‘did something’ and exercise is ‘working.??

Pause and consider your mindset and experiences with muscle soreness.?Is it normal? Good?

There are some studies that have led to a theory that soreness may lead to better hypertrophy of muscles for athletes.?That last word is key… for athletes. Their "why" is to win. Athletes exercise to perform better against an opponent.??Soreness will be part of that type of exercise. Whether it is helpful or not. It's just part of pushing your body to the limit.

When exercise is for being healthy, there is no such thing as a good sore. That mindset leads to detrimental health benefits, especially at the start!

If soreness was part of the start in the past, even if you felt good that you exercised, your body told your brain to avoid starting again.?This is how the struggle with the start begins.

It’s called Reward-Based Learning.?It’s designed to keep you safe.?However, it gets hijacked by these myths and misconceptions about how the body works.??

Soreness is inflammation.?It's simply your body's way of saying it can't do what you are asking yet.

When you are sore, you are less likely to move, so it promotes physical inactivity,?lowering your overall benefit from exercising.??

The bigger concern is what it does to motivation over time.??

Your brain collects data from your body every time you think about, see someone exercising, or do exercise.

The data lets your brain know whether to repeat or avoid it.

The more times exercising is equated with soreness and fatigue, the more data your brain has to avoid exercise.??This is the underlying reason why our brain comes up with so many excuses not to exercise. You are not being lazy, you are being smart!

Clearly, the is no ‘good sore’ when you look at these downstream detriments, especially at the start.

Let's change the narrative around starting exercise and soreness. Use mindfulness to stay aware of this sign from the body that you did too much too soon. It's telling you that the Progression Principle of exercise training has been defied. Soreness is a warning that progress is not being enhanced, it's being hindered.??

A key element of mindfulness is curiosity. This way of learning from your body will gradually change the data your brain has accumulated about this thing you call 'exercise'. Instead of avoiding exercise, your brain sees soreness as a chance to learn how to thrive.

When you experience soreness, ask yourself, ?What did I do that was too much too soon? How can I use that to adjust so the next time I exercise??

Soreness will happen, but it does not need to be part of the start. Mindful awareness is the key element. Curiosity upgrades the way we think about soreness and exercise. The kindness element of mindfulness allows you to respond in a way that will reduce the struggle with starting to exercise.

Hmmm, I wonder what might happen to motivation if we know we will feel good, not sore, at the start??

Learn more about how to Start Well so you Stay Well @ExercisingWell

Sources

McArdle WD Katch FI Katch VL. Exercise Physiology : Nutrition Energy and Human Performance. Eighth ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer; 2015.

Schoenfeld, Brad J. MSc, CSCS, CSPS1; Contreras, Bret MA, CSCS2. Is Postexercise Muscle Soreness a Valid Indicator of Muscular Adaptations?. Strength and Conditioning Journal 35(5):p 16-21, October 2013.

Ludwig, V. U., Brown, K. W., & Brewer, J. A. (2020). Self-Regulation Without Force: Can Awareness Leverage Reward to Drive Behavior Change? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(6), 1382–1399.

Silvio Maltagliati, Philippe Sarrazin, Layan Fessler, Ma?l Lebreton, Boris Cheval, Why people should run after positive affective experiences instead of health benefits, Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2022

Blanchard TC, Hayden BY, Bromberg-Martin ES. Orbitofrontal cortex uses distinct codes for different choice attributes in decisions motivated by curiosity. Neuron. 2015 Feb 4;85(3):602-14. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.12.050. Epub 2015 Jan 22.