The Battle Against DOMS

DOMS which is short for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is that pain many people experience a day or two after a hard or new workout. While the cause of if isn’t fully understood, the old theory that it is built up lactic acid has been disproven/rejected in favour of theories that it is

a product of inflammation caused by microscopic tears in the connective tissue elements that sensitize nociceptors and thereby heighten the sensations of pain.”

according to the paper by Schoenfeld and Contreras. In common terms, it suggests that DOMS occurs due to microscopic tears in the connective tissue. These tears then repair creating a stronger muscle – and over time you become stronger and with the right diet, gain more muscle mass.

Before I go any further into this post I want to point out that NOT feeling sore after a tough workout doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t going to get stronger or build muscle. Muscle damage (and then repair) is only one way of increasing muscle mass and is not always the most effective, and some people are more prone to experiencing DOMS than others. A friend of mine rarely is sore after lifting heavy weights but trust me she is working hard.

I’m not sure if having fibromyalgia makes me more prone to post workout soreness and inflammation, or if I am experiencing the normal amount, and really, it doesn’t matter. What matters is I have pretty muscle been in some state of DOMS for about 75% of the 10 years, haha.

I kid, I kid, but I do have my fair share (or a bit more) of muscle soreness that I know is from training (versus the soreness from fibromyalgia) making me no stronger to DOMS.

Recently, since some of my classes started wrapping up for the summer, I begin a proper strength training program (instead of the “a little this, a little that” I’d been doing previously. I’m almost finished week 3 and preparing for an increase in reps next week, so am expecting an increase in muscle soreness as a result.

For anyone interested, the training program I’m doing is the Automated Training Template from Eat to Perform where I am a lifetime member. It made sense since they monitor my meal plan and since they created the program it was a natural choice (since they’d know what I was doing when I entered my workouts in the notes). The links above are not affiliate links, but I fully encourage anyone serious about their training or nutrition to check them out.

Anyway, knowing that an increase in volume is happening next week, it seemed like the perfect time to get a bit more serious about dealing with DOMS so that it doesn’t interfere with my teaching (it’s no good having a fitness instructor who can’t do bodyweight squats in class because she’s too sore to bend her knees!).

My three-step plan for combating any additional DOMS is seen above. making sure I am super diligent about drinking my water every day. Lots of water = a better ability to heal. Using my electrolyte powder on days with a lot of exercise/heavy lifting (like on legs day), and days that are really warm and I’m sweating more than usual. And finally, using Pascoe Naturals Lymphdiaral Drainage Cream.

Lymphdiaral Cream is a homeopathic remedy used to relieve symptoms of swelling and inflammation, and while it is often used to treat injuries, I’m interested to see if it will combat the inflammation and minor swelling that often accompanies DOMS.

Since I’ve been consistently training for a few weeks now, I know what to expect following a workout. Usually, it’s 36-38 hours after that I start to really experience DOMS (as I sit here typing I’m now feeling the stiffness and soreness from my workout two nights ago) so it should be relatively easy to determine if using the Lymphdiaral Cream helps alleviate any of that discomfort.

During the month of July, I will be documenting my progress of both my training, as well as my battle against DOMS to see if I come out the other side a bit stronger – and less sore (fingers crossed).

Thank you to Pascoe Canada for partnering with me this month for this trial, and to see if I can find a little extra relief using the Lymphdiaral Cream.

PASCOE Canada  is the Canadian division of the international laboratory PASCOE, which is based in Giessen, Germany. PASCOE has always been a world leader in natural medicine, manufacturing quality homoeopathic and phytotherapeutic products for over a century. 

For more information on PASCOE Canada please check out their website here.

So stay tuned! I know you are on the edge of your seat, and while you are there you may as well do a few tricep dips while you wait – I’ll let you know in my next post if you should pick some up to help with the muscle soreness you’ll get as a result. 😉

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Pascoe Canada and Lymphdiaral Cream. All opinions expressed are my own.