DOMS Explained: Why Your Muscles Feel Sore After Exercise
You finish a tough workout feeling tired but satisfied. The next morning, however, getting out of bed suddenly feels considerably harder than usual. Your legs are stiff, your muscles ache and even walking downstairs can become an unexpected challenge.
That familiar post-workout soreness is often known as DOMS — delayed onset muscle soreness.
DOMS is a normal response to exercise, particularly when you introduce unfamiliar movements, increase the intensity of your training or place your muscles under greater load than they are accustomed to.
But why does muscle soreness appear hours after exercise rather than immediately? Does feeling sore mean you have had a better workout? And, perhaps most importantly, what should you do when DOMS strikes?
What Is DOMS?
Delayed onset muscle soreness describes the muscle tenderness, stiffness and discomfort that can develop following strenuous or unfamiliar exercise.
Unlike the burning sensation you may experience during a demanding workout, DOMS does not normally appear immediately. It usually becomes noticeable several hours after exercise and may be most pronounced during the following couple of days.
Typical symptoms can include:
- muscle tenderness
- stiffness
- temporary reductions in range of movement
- a feeling of weakness or heaviness in the affected muscles
- discomfort when the muscles are stretched or contracted
DOMS can affect beginners and experienced athletes alike. Even someone who trains regularly can experience considerable soreness after introducing a new exercise, changing their training programme or returning to exercise following a break.
Why Are Your Muscles Sore After Exercise?
DOMS is particularly associated with exercise that places muscles under unfamiliar stress.
One of the biggest contributors is eccentric muscle action — when a muscle produces force while lengthening.
Examples include:
- lowering a weight during a biceps curl
- descending into a squat
- running downhill
- walking downstairs
- controlling the lowering phase of a strength exercise
These movements can place considerable mechanical stress on muscle tissue, particularly when your body is not accustomed to them.
The resulting microscopic disruption within the muscle and surrounding structures contributes to a series of physiological responses as the body begins repairing and adapting to the exercise.
The soreness you subsequently feel is part of that response.
Importantly, this does not mean that damaging your muscles should be the objective of training. Your body can adapt and become stronger without leaving you struggling to move for several days afterwards.
DOMS Is Not Caused by Lactic Acid
One of the most persistent exercise myths is that the muscle soreness experienced a day or two after training is caused by a build-up of lactic acid.
It isn't.
The burning sensation experienced during intense exercise and the delayed soreness experienced the following day are different phenomena.
The substances produced during intense exercise are processed relatively quickly after you stop exercising. They do not remain trapped in your muscles for several days waiting to cause soreness.
DOMS develops much later and is associated with the body's response to unfamiliar or demanding muscular work.
So if your legs ache two days after a difficult workout, blaming yesterday's "lactic acid" is unlikely to provide the explanation.
Why Does DOMS Appear the Next Day?
The clue is in the name: delayed onset muscle soreness.
The physiological processes responsible for DOMS develop gradually after exercise rather than occurring immediately.
You may therefore finish a training session feeling perfectly comfortable, only to notice stiffness later that evening or when you wake the following morning.
Soreness often becomes more noticeable over the next 24–48 hours and can sometimes peak around 48–72 hours after particularly demanding or unfamiliar exercise.
After that, symptoms will normally begin to subside as the muscles recover.
The exact timescale varies considerably depending on the individual, the exercise performed and how accustomed the body is to that particular type of training.
Why Do Muscle Soreness and Fatigue Sometimes Occur Together?
Muscle soreness and fatigue can both occur after a demanding workout, but they are not necessarily the same thing.
DOMS is primarily associated with the muscular response to unfamiliar or strenuous exercise. Feeling generally tired or fatigued can reflect the wider demands that training has placed on your body.
A particularly demanding session, increased training volume, inadequate sleep, insufficient nutrition or hydration, and not allowing enough recovery between workouts can all contribute to feelings of fatigue.
Occasional tiredness following hard training is not unusual. Persistent fatigue, however, particularly when accompanied by declining performance, disrupted sleep or a lack of motivation to train, may indicate that your overall training and recovery balance needs attention.
Does Muscle Soreness Mean You Had a Good Workout?
Not necessarily.
Muscle soreness can tell you that your body has experienced an unfamiliar or demanding stimulus, but it is not a reliable measure of how effective your workout was.
A productive training session does not need to leave you sore.
As your body adapts to a particular exercise, you will often experience less DOMS even though the training continues to provide a worthwhile stimulus.
This is sometimes described as the repeated bout effect. After experiencing a particular type of exercise, the muscles become better prepared to cope with similar exercise in the future.
That is one reason an exercise that leaves you extremely sore the first time may produce considerably less soreness a few weeks later.
Less soreness does not necessarily mean less progress.
Can You Prevent DOMS?
You probably cannot eliminate muscle soreness completely, particularly when trying something new, but sensible training progression can reduce its severity.
Increase Training Gradually
Sudden increases in volume, intensity or unfamiliar exercises are more likely to produce significant soreness.
Allowing your body time to adapt is usually preferable to dramatically increasing your workload in a single session.
Introduce New Exercises Progressively
A new exercise may challenge your muscles differently even if you are already fit.
Start conservatively and increase the workload as your body becomes accustomed to the movement.
Warm Up Properly
A progressive warm-up prepares your muscles and joints for the activity ahead.
While warming up cannot guarantee that you will avoid DOMS, it remains an important part of preparing your body for exercise.
Recover Between Training Sessions
Training provides the stimulus for adaptation, but your body still needs sufficient opportunity to recover.
Sleep, nutrition, hydration and appropriate rest between demanding sessions all contribute to a balanced recovery routine.
What Helps When You Have DOMS?
There is no instant cure that makes DOMS disappear, but several simple strategies may make the recovery period more comfortable.
Keep Moving
When your muscles feel sore, complete inactivity can sometimes make them feel even stiffer.
Gentle walking, easy cycling or other light activity can increase movement without placing the muscles under another demanding training load.
The key word is gentle. Active recovery should help you move, not become another hard workout.
Give the Muscles Time to Recover
If a muscle group is significantly sore, immediately repeating another demanding workout for the same muscles may not be the best approach.
You can rest, perform an easier session or train a different area of the body while the affected muscles recover.
Eat and Hydrate Normally
Recovery requires adequate energy, protein, carbohydrates, fluids and other nutrients.
You do not need a special food or drink specifically to "cure" DOMS. Instead, concentrate on maintaining good everyday recovery nutrition and hydration habits.
Prioritise Sleep
Sleep provides an important opportunity for physical recovery.
A demanding training programme combined with consistently inadequate sleep can make it more difficult to recover effectively between sessions.
Massage and Foam Rolling May Help
Massage and foam rolling are commonly used when muscles feel stiff or sore.
They cannot magically repair a muscle overnight, but some people find that they temporarily reduce the perception of soreness or make movement feel more comfortable.
If you use a foam roller, more pressure is not necessarily better. Work gradually and avoid aggressively rolling an area simply because it feels sore.
Can Infrared-Responsive Clothing Support Recovery?
Recovery is rarely about one single intervention. Sleep, nutrition, hydration, movement and appropriate rest all play their part — but what you wear may also contribute.
ABSOLUTE360® Responsive™ sportswear uses infrared-responsive technology designed to interact with the body's naturally produced thermal energy. Research into infrared-responsive textiles has demonstrated benefits including increased local circulation and tissue oxygenation, supporting the body's natural processes during exercise and recovery.
It isn't a shortcut for good recovery habits, and no garment can replace adequate sleep, nutrition or rest. But athletes are often looking for small advantages that can add up over time. If the sportswear you are already wearing can also support your body's natural recovery processes, it makes sense to make clothing part of the wider recovery strategy.
Discover our Men's Responsive Collection and Women's Responsive Collection, or learn more about how our infrared-responsive technology works.
Does Stretching Get Rid of DOMS?
Stretching may feel pleasant when your muscles are stiff, but it should not be considered a cure for DOMS.
Gentle stretching can help you move through a comfortable range of motion, but aggressively stretching already sore muscles is unlikely to make them recover faster.
This is an important distinction.
Stretch because it helps you move and maintain mobility — not because you expect it to eliminate muscle soreness.
Should You Exercise When Your Muscles Are Sore?
It depends on how sore you are.
Mild muscle soreness does not necessarily mean you need to stop exercising completely. Gentle activity or training another muscle group may be perfectly reasonable.
However, significant soreness can temporarily affect strength, mobility and movement quality.
If your normal technique is compromised because you are stiff or uncomfortable, reducing the intensity or allowing additional recovery time may be the better option.
Your training programme provides structure, but you should still pay attention to how your body is responding.
DOMS or an Injury?
Normal muscle soreness and an injury are not the same thing.
DOMS tends to develop gradually after exercise and usually affects the muscles that were heavily involved in the activity.
An injury may be more likely if you experience:
- sudden or sharp pain
- pain that began during a particular movement
- significant swelling or bruising
- pain concentrated around a joint
- considerable loss of movement or function
- symptoms that continue to worsen rather than gradually improve
If you are unsure whether discomfort is normal post-exercise soreness or something more significant, avoid trying to train through the pain and seek appropriate professional advice.
Soreness Is a Response, Not a Target
There is a temptation to judge a workout by how sore you feel afterwards.
But making yourself sore should never be the goal.
DOMS simply tells you that your muscles have experienced a stimulus they were not completely accustomed to. As your body adapts, the same training may produce much less soreness.
That is usually a positive sign.
Good training is about applying an appropriate stimulus consistently, recovering from it and gradually progressing — not repeatedly trying to make walking downstairs difficult.
Final Thoughts
Delayed onset muscle soreness is one of the most familiar consequences of exercise, particularly after a new or unusually demanding workout.
It usually develops gradually after training and is particularly associated with unfamiliar movements and eccentric muscle actions. Despite the long-standing myth, it is not the result of lactic acid remaining in your muscles.
When DOMS appears, the best response is usually straightforward: keep gently active, eat and hydrate well, prioritise sleep and allow your muscles sufficient time to recover before placing them under another demanding load.
Most importantly, remember that soreness is not a measure of progress.
A successful training programme should help your body adapt over time — which often means that the exercises that once left you sore for days eventually become much easier to recover from.
The ABSOLUTE360® Recovery Series
Explore the complete ABSOLUTE360® Recovery Series for practical advice on rest, nutrition, muscle soreness, recovery techniques and building a better recovery routine.
- Why Recovery Is Just as Important as Training
- Active Recovery vs Complete Rest
- How Long Does Your Body Need to Recover?
- 10 Recovery Tips After Exercise
- Recovery Nutrition: What to Eat After Exercise
- How to Avoid Overtraining: Warning Signs to Watch For
- Stretching After Exercise: Does It Really Work?
- Foam Rolling Explained: Benefits, Myths and Best Practice
- DOMS Explained: Why Your Muscles Feel Sore After Exercise
- Recovery Tools: Which Ones Are Worth Using?
- Building the Perfect Recovery Routine
