Should you be sore after a workout?
Phase 2: Fatigue
Fatigue is the body’s response to the stimulus. One of the ways to measure whether we are getting enough intensity with our stimulus is to measure fatigue. The stimulus must have the right intensity to elicit the right amount of fatigue. In order to see adaptation, the stimulus must cause both short-term and longer-term fatigue. Short-term fatigue looks like: “I just ran for two minutes, and now my heart is racing, my legs are burning, and I’m sweating.” Longer- term fatigue might last 12–72 hours and occurs after, for example, a group fitness class or bike ride or back squat workout—whatever provides an intense stimulus for your body—and feels like muscle soreness and body fatigue.
Most of us are just moving through our program or our weekly routine without thinking much about this idea of stimulus and fatigue. We think that we will get a training effect just because we showed up and did the thing. The truth is that to see change, we have to know more and do more than just showing up. Some of you may have tried programs, trainers, and gyms that didn’t help you make the changes you desired. Most people don’t see a failed program as their fault, but rather the program’s fault. The coach didn’t give me what I needed or the program didn’t work for me. That may be true, but it’s also worth looking at yourself to see if you are actually doing the work that needs to be done. It comes back to awareness.
It’s estimated that 78 percent of people who train for a marathon don’t lose or gain weight during their training. The reason is because most people don’t understand exercise intensity on an individual basis or the importance of exercise intensity as it applies to the way the body adapts. As I stated above, the stimulus must have the right intensity to elicit short- and long-term fatigue. When we don’t know what real intensity is or how it feels, the adaptation cycle doesn’t work.
A few questions to ask yourself to see if you are getting the right intensity to cause the appropriate fatigue in your exercise:
1. Do you get out of breath when you train? The type of out of breath where you can’t talk and you have to put your hands on your knees to rest, not all the time, but sometimes. I know this can be scary for some people, but you can start slow. Take my mom, for example. She’s 86 years old, and she goes for daily walks. There is a hill in her neighborhood, and she tries to walk up it as fast as she can. When she gets to the top she’s out of breath, her heart is pounding, her hands are on her knees, and she has to rest. I get the same out of breath when sprinting on the soccer field. We both are getting the right dose of intensity for us individually. The activity is different, but it’s appropriate for each of us, and the stimulus elicits the same result: fatigue.
2.Do you feel sore the day or two after a tough training session? Again, this does not need to be after every session, but when you do something challenging, specifically with strength training, the soreness shows you that your body had the right dose of stimulus; it’s a form of longer-term fatigue. Note that being sore doesn’t always mean you have maximized your body’s response. For instance, you can get sore from doing 100 leg extensions in a barre class, but that sore will not elicit the same response that doing dumbbell lunges or back squats or other loaded strength activi- ties will. Heavy-loaded activities tax the central nervous system in a deeper way, causing more fatigue and a greater response. There is a sweet spot for soreness, and sometimes that soreness is delayed after exercise, but it shouldn’t last much more than 24–48 hours following chapter. Fatigue is strategic and should not be ongoing.
See you in the gym,
Aaron Leventhal CSCS, PN1