Study: Is muscle soreness necessary for muscle growth?

Geschatte leestijd: 6 minuten Researchers from the US and New Zealand recently published the outcome of their review of various studies on the relationship between muscle soreness and increase in muscle strength and mass (1). These are their findings.

No Pain, No Gain?

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS, is the muscle soreness that you can feel after intense training or unusual exertion (2). This muscle soreness is often felt after 6-8 hours, peaking two days after a workout (3), and is often experienced as an indication of an effective training focused on muscle strength and mass (4). The idea here is that a training focused on strength and muscle mass is only effective when it leads to damage in muscle fibers that, during recovery, promotes muscle growth (hypertrophy). A consequence of the same damage and the inflammation and swelling associated with it is DOMS. The logical reasoning is therefore that when DOMS is absent, apparently there is insufficient (intentional) damage inflicted, and thus insufficient results are achieved (5). The statement “No Pain, No Gain,” besides referring to the “necessary pain through effort” during training, is also believed by many to apply to muscle soreness after training.

DOMS = EIMD = Hypertrophy?

So, the general theory is that DOMS is a sign of damage from training, or as it is called in English, exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). This muscle damage can lead to structural changes in the muscle, making the muscle tissue stronger and larger to protect against repeated damage (6,7). This recovery process is called hypertrophy. The assumption often made is that DOMS is an indication of EIMD and thus also of hypertrophy. However, research from 2002 has shown that DOMS hardly seems to show a correlation, in terms of timing and extent, with other indicators of EIMD such as maximal strength, range of motion, muscle circumference (indicative of swelling associated with EIMD), and creatine kinase levels (8). The outcome of this research from Japan was therefore that DOMS was not a good indicator of EIMD and thus not of hypertrophy.

Muscle Soreness without Inflammation and Earlier than Swelling

If DOMS is a result of the inflammation and swelling associated with the damage associated with EIMD, then a logical requirement for that muscle soreness is that there must be inflammation and swelling. However, when researchers used MRI in 2002 to look at the timing of muscle swelling after exercise, it turned out that muscle soreness was often felt before swelling occurred (9). Muscle soreness cannot be a consequence of (and therefore not an indication of) swelling if it is felt before there is any swelling. Moreover, participants in studies in 2002 and 2012 experienced muscle soreness without any signs of inflammation (10,11,12,13).

Muscle Soreness Varies by Individual, Muscle Group, and Exercise

Another point raised in the review is that muscle soreness is experienced to different degrees by different people (14). Even in highly trained weightlifters, some almost always experience muscle soreness after a workout while others never do. In addition, bodybuilders indicate that they always experience muscle soreness in certain muscle groups while this is never the case in other muscle groups. Most readers will find this, like me, very recognizable. Last year, this was confirmed in a study (15). Since these are bodybuilders who, despite never experiencing muscle soreness in certain muscle groups, have developed a lot of muscle mass in those same muscle groups, it is unlikely that muscle soreness was an indication of hypertrophy for them, or rather, the absence of muscle soreness was not an indication of a lack of hypertrophy. The presence or absence of muscle soreness may be related to nerve adaptations (16). Moreover, it has been found that exercises where the highest load occurs when the muscle is at its shortest produce less muscle soreness than exercises where the highest load occurs when the muscle is lengthened (17). For example, if you do an exercise for the biceps where the load is especially heavy when the arm is (almost) extended, this causes more muscle soreness than exercises where the load is mainly heavy when the arm is bent.

Less Muscle Soreness Due to Habituation

What everyone will recognize is that exercises that are done frequently cause less and less muscle soreness. According to the researchers, this is related to the so-called “repeated bout effect,” where a muscle incurs less damage with repeated exercises (18). They therefore associate less damage due to habituation with less muscle soreness. Therefore, I don’t understand why the researchers then say:

“Therefore, training a muscle group on a frequent basis would reduce soreness, yet could still deliver impressive hypertrophic results.”

I agree with them that, despite habituation through repeating certain exercises, muscle growth can be achieved. However, as they themselves indicate, there seems to be a correlation here. Although there may be hypertrophy, the chances are that there would be more hypertrophy if one were not accustomed to the exercise. Variation in training is therefore always one of the most important characteristics in a fitness program used for longer than four weeks.

Ignoring the Influence of Nutrition

What is missing in the entire review is the influence of nutrition. Various studies have shown that good nutrition after training improves recovery and reduces muscle soreness (hence the popularity of, among others, protein shakes and amino acids) (19,20,21). If someone says, “I have sore muscles, so I trained well,” I also sometimes say, “Or ate poorly.”

Conclusion

The researchers who conducted the review conclude that muscle soreness can be an indication of a good workout, but the absence of muscle soreness does not necessarily mean that no results have been achieved. There is a correlation, but this correlation varies too much per person, type of exercise, and muscle group to draw firm conclusions.

References

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