Soreness Is Not What You Think

Morning!

If you’ve ever woken up after a run or workout and thought, “I can’t lift my legs… I must’ve done something right,” this one’s for you. That ache in your legs is so deeply baked into exercise culture, it practically has its own slogan: No pain, no gain. But what if we told you that pain isn’t always the proof of progress? That soreness can actually be a metric of overuse. This week, we’re diving into the science of soreness, including why it happens, what it really means, and what your body’s trying to tell you when just brushing your hair feels like a triathlon when you’re sore.

What is Soreness, Really?

For a long time, the explanation for soreness sounded pretty convincing: you exercise hard, your muscles don’t get enough oxygen, and as a result, they switch over to something called anaerobic metabolism (or the Cori Cycle). That switch leads to a buildup of lactic acid, which is believed to form crystals in your muscles. Those tiny “crystals,” they said, would jab at your muscle fibers every time you moved, causing pain. The fix? Supposedly more movement. People were encouraged to work out again to “flush” the lactic acid out of their muscles.

That theory made the rounds for years, and plenty of us bought in (admittedly, we did too).

But here’s the twist: lactic acid clears from your system within an hour after intense exercise. So if soreness kicks in the next day, it’s clearly not the acid’s fault.

When you push past your comfort zone, whether that’s running after months off, lifting heavier weights, trying a new Pilates routine, you create tiny micro-tears in your muscle fibers. Your body treats them as mini-emergencies and kicks off an inflammatory response to start repairing them. And that ladies and gentleman, is how your muscles grow. It’s also why the soreness tends to hit 12–24 hours after your workout, not right away. This whole process is called hypertrophy, when your muscles rebuild bigger and stronger than before.

Should You Chase Soreness?

If soreness is part of the muscle-building process, should we aim to be sore all the time? Short answer: absolutely not. Some soreness is fine, especially when starting a new routine or increasing intensity, but constant soreness is a red flag.

If you’re constantly pushing past your comfort zone, you’re not letting your muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons recover and strengthen properly which greatly increases the risk of getting hurt. Why? Because recovery is where the real improvement happens. If your body’s still inflamed from Monday’s leg day, for example, and you hit squats again Wednesday, you’re just piling on stress.

When you are always sore it also means that you have a lot of inflammation in your body at all times. This can cause insulin resistance, cellular damage, DNA damage and a whole bunch of other side effects. So, you're not just slowing down your fitness goals, you might be setting your health back.

How to Train (and Recover) Smarter

This whole discussion about soreness might have you thinking that it is something that you want to avoid at all costs. That is also not the case, so let’s go over how you should train your body to adapt and get stronger and healthier over time. 

Generally speaking for any type of exercise whether it be biking, swimming, pilates, yoga, running, weightlifting, boxing you name it you want to practice progressive overload. This is the practice of slowly and gradually adapting your body to higher intensity of training. Think walking before running, or doing bodyweight squats before grabbing the dumbbells. Push your limits, but not so far that you dread moving the next day.

And every once in a while? Go for it. Challenge yourself. Feel the burn. Then rest, recover, and let your body come back stronger.

Stay Nourished, For Real

Your body is rebuilding after every workout. That takes a solid supply of both macronutrients and minerals (micronutrients). Let’s break them down.

• High Quality Protein: The easiest way to get what you need is by focusing on complete proteins. These are foods that offer all the essential amino acids your body can’t make on its own. Animal sources like eggs, fish, poultry, and dairy naturally fit the bill. If you follow a plant-based diet, you’ll need to be more strategic with your pairings to ensure you're covering all your amino acid bases. (Need help with that? We’ve got a guide.)

• Magnesium: This one’s a biggie. It calms your muscles, reduces post-workout inflammation, and helps you sleep better, which is when most of your muscle repair actually happens. Unfortunately, most people don’t get enough of it from food alone, especially when stress, caffeine, and exercise are draining your reserves.

• Silica: This mineral supports the elasticity of your joints, tendons, and ligaments. Your muscles may be the stars of the show, but connective tissue is doing just as much heavy lifting behind the scenes. Here’s our edition on Joints, featuring silica, in case you’re interested.

• Vitamin D: Or Hormone D, if you’ve read our edition on this fascinating nutrient. It’s not just for bones, vitamin D regulates calcium and helps with recovery. 

If you’re pushing yourself physically, you need to support your recovery with the same intention. That’s where mineral replenishment comes in. OmniBlue’s OceanElements help your body bounce back by providing magnesium, silica, and the 70+ trace minerals your body needs to rebuild and recharge. 

Final Thoughts

You now know soreness isn’t the gold standard of a good workout, it’s just part of the process when you’re stretching your limits. Real progress comes from knowing when to push, when to rest, and how to fuel your body in between. And hey, if you're walking funny for a day or two? Just tell people you're growing. Because you are.

Until next week!

- Adrian (Chief Dietitian) | The 8% Author