Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and You.

AMRAP 10 min
10 front squat (115/75)
10 KB swing (24/16)
10 box jump (24/20)

John ...
John has incorporated CrossFit Endurance into his endurance programming and training – with success!

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and You.

As the delayed onset muscle soreness sets in, come work it out this morning with a short and challenging ten minute AMRAP.

Never heard of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

Read all about it here.

Many athletes stick to an every other day schedule when they CrossFit three or four days a week.  The most classic example of this is the Monday, Wednesday, Friday attendance plan.  While this appears to be a good system in the beginning it has its downfalls.

Delayed onset muscle soreness is the friendly stiffness, fatigue and, well, sometimes downright pain, you feel in your muscles after a workout.  DOMS is a normal response to physical exertion and is part of the recovery process that adapts, strengthens, and recovers the muscles from the work the body just performed.

DOMS begins roughly 8 hours after your workout and peaks somewhere between 24-72 hours after the exercise event.  This is why you feel those 400 meters of walking lunges much worse on the second day after you did the workout.

So what does this mean for you and your training?  It means that if you workout on an every other day schedule you are always working out in the 24-72 hour peak window of DOMS.  While you might hit the workout hard it means that you are always working at a slightly decreased capacity.

So what are the options?  Perhaps try to get two workouts in back to back.  For example, Monday/Tuesday/Friday could be a good option.  Play with it and see what works for you!