What Makes You Sore and What Does Not

Hello Everyone!

Please stop going for long jogs/runs thinking they will help you flush the lactic acid out of your muscles and therefore help reduce soreness. That is a myth. That is not science. That is actually a waste of time and detrimental to your body and its performance.

Photo Credit: http://hallshighspeeddevelopment.com/

Muscle soreness from working out happens not from the burning lactic acid that you feel, but from the tearing and breaking of muscle fibers that occurs when you expose your body to weights and lifts that overload the muscle fibers to the point of tearing and breaking. This is a good thing! Think of it like tearing and breaking apart soil before you plant a garden. Your garden needs you to break up the soil to plant and grow, and your muscles need you to tear and break up the fibers to plant and grow new, more, and often times bigger fibers. (How much they grow depends on your nutrition, genetics, gender, and consistency.)

Photo Credit: https://gymjunkies.com/learn-how-tearing-your-muscles-leads-to-fat-loss/

Photo Credit: http://www.preparemd.com/can-exercise-raise-ck-creatine-kinase/

Instead of going on long jogs that actually stress your joints, research shows that doing mobility, flexibility, and warm-up drills when sore can actually decrease the feeling of soreness and improve recovery. Because forcing more oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood into the torn areas helps quicken recovery and lower inflammation.

Athletes and Coaches, it is 2016, let's please use science to fuel our training, not "this is what we've always done" or "this is what I did 20 years ago." Let's be better and let's advance.

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Kephart