Semi-newb question: Is DOMS a useful indicator of adequate volume/load?

9 replies

• malk25_2·Sep 2, 5:39 AM

  Not a good metric because most soreness is actually tendons and joint stress from doing movements you are used to or fatiguing them more than they are adapted too. A better tool is tracking your reps and making sure they are increasing over time.

• mujartible·Sep 5, 5:08 AM

  No.

• bright_energy_7417_3·Sep 5, 6:20 AM

  Good question - as an older practitioner, I think no, not really. DOMS can be because of novel stimulus (like the first time you do seated leg lifts) as well as muscles reacting to being pushed hard, yes. I'd say it's a data point to note. Specifically, which muscles are still aching - prime movers and stabilisers I would note and check if I was staying in recovery range; ones that should have recovered fast, like core, hint my session load is too high. In context, my sessions progress gradually and I regard a load as acceptable if I can repeat it and recover in time for my next workout. This is, of course, different from joint and tendon pain which would have me back off something I've introduced (say hanging knee raises) and build a slower route to for conditioning. Equally, I'm well aware that a well-recovered workout will have no lingering soreness - I see that as a sign of good programming if I am maintaining or slightly improving on movement quality, volume, or complexity. In

• mx396_2·Sep 5, 7:16 AM

  I'm 61. So, a little old but not seriously, yet. My personal best fitness exploit was only six years ago: a 62 mile sea kayak paddle in one day. I've been hoping to try a 74 mile route, adding an extra island to the loop I followed in the San Juans last time, but a bad health problem for my wife cropped up since then, which makes training enough in the boat more problematic. I may be running out of time myself. I suspect that the difference between 55 and 65 years is pretty significant! I definitely find that my current routines rarely produce real DOMS, as long as I stay somewhat regular in my schedule. I mostly do a mix of body weight (dips, pushups, pullups) and free weight gym work (trap bar deadlifts, dumbbell rows, dumbbell overhead press or lateral raises, cable wood-chops).

• bright_energy_7417_4·Sep 5, 7:21 AM

  That really illustrates your question and makes DOMS feel more like an aberration. I'm rather enjoying being the younger guy (52) for a change! I'm usually exasperated by 30-somethings saying they're too old.

• atticus_taintwater_2·Sep 5, 9:36 AM

  It's in fashion to say no now, because pendulums overcorrect. It used to be, with the damage+super compensation model, soreness was the end goal even more than a proxy. That famous clip of Dorian Yates saying his leg workout wasn't successful if he was still able to get off the toilet the next few days. Then that overcorrected to soreness is meaningless even as a proxy. "Can you say that if you have a little soreness the next day, you did an at least somewhat useful workout" In practice, yeah. It shouldn't be your North star, log book is king. But if you are just a smidge sore it means you did something that wasn't easy but not too much of it.

• nickmaovich_3·Sep 6, 8:02 AM

  [I'm not sore, is this working?](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/faq/#wiki_i.27m_not_sore.2C_is_this_working.3F)

• spirited_revenue__13·Sep 7, 4:12 PM

  DOMS is a poor main indicator. Better signs are stable technique, hard sets near the intended effort, and performance improving over weeks without joints getting angry. Track comparable sets and week-to-week performance before changing volume. I'd track the progression in an app like GymSet. Add volume only if you are recovered but not progressing, not because you were not sore.

• mentaldisintegrat1_2·Sep 7, 4:15 PM

  It's a indicator you're body is doing something it's not used to but it has nothing to do with actual growth or strength.