If you have been working out for quite sometime, you would probably know the feeling of post workout muscle soreness. Almost everyone, if not all, feels sore and pain in some parts of the body after a vigorous workout.

Most of the time, it sets in within 24 to 48 hours after the workout, but can be as long as a week. This long delay of the feeling of soreness is known as DOMS or “delayed onset muscle soreness” and is not unusual to bodybuilders.

Medical professionals and scientists are not really sure of the exact cause of muscle soreness, but their hypothesis makes good sense. They say that the soreness is due to the muscle tear that happens after a workout. Whenever a person works out, depending on the intensity, the muscles tear down but in a microscopic sense. After the torn muscles are fully recovered, new muscles will grow which are much bigger and stronger than before.

In this case, muscle soreness after a workout can actually be considered good pain as this signifies that the workout was successful. You can feel the most muscle soreness when you introduce a new activity or workout to your routine. If you are trying a new lift or follow a routine of a buddy that you have never done before, then you will feel more pain than usual. Thus, beginners actually get the sorest muscles.

Since muscle soreness is a sign of a good workout, it would mean that you are not making any progress if you do not feel any soreness after a workout. It means that you just did a maintenance workout.

But if your goal is to improve and make your muscles grow bigger and stronger, you should follow a progressive workout routine. You should make sure to increase your intensity every time you work out to build more muscles.

However, you should also remember that your muscle will be able to grow to its full potential when they are fully recovered after the tissues are torn down. It is good to make sure that your body is feeling better and all soreness has gone out before doing any workout again.

Together with enough rest, you should also make sure to have a good post workout diet. This diet would consist of foods high in calories, high in carbs, and moderate in protein.

Thus, it is not really bad to feel sore after a workout. In fact, this can even be taken as a sign of a good and successful workout and know that in no time, you’ll be seeing all the fruits of your hard labor.