# Why no DOMS???



## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

Years ago, I'd get major DOMS that would last for days. If I trained chest for example, I'd struggle putting my seat belt on for 3 days, which was stll the case even after I'd been training for a couple of years. I got used to this and in a weird kind of way almost enjoyed it as it was an indication that I'd worked the muscle hard. Ill admit that my diet and sleep/stress situation was poor back then and I over trained like a coke head hamster on a wheel.

Fast forward 10 years and with my ears open and ego in check I'm now focusing as much on sleep, rest and nutrition as I am the actual training. However, other than the first day back in the gym, I'm not really getting any DOMS at all which is making me doubt my efforts in the gym. I blasted my back and bi's to multiple failure 36 hours ago, and apart from a slight tightness through my elbow, I'd not know I'd done anything.

Same with chest - murder it until I can just about drive home with trembling arms, but no real soreness after.

Is proper rest, sleep and nutrition really responsible, or am I just a pussy in the gym these days?


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## troponin (Apr 2, 2014)

I've found that DOMS tends to be a very bad indicator on the strength of your workout/muscle growth. I've never ever had any form of DOMS in my shoulders but they have recently ballooned up in size whereas I always get DOMS in my calves but they are small as ****.


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## Gary29 (Aug 21, 2011)

DOMS has nothing to do with muscle growth or the effectiveness of a training session.


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## Smoog (Dec 29, 2012)

I only get doms the more I increase volume (around 15-20). The majority of the time I stick to 6-8 reps or 8-10 reps where I don't get doms at all.


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## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

I used to use the passing of DOMS to alert me it was ok to train that muscle again, yet here and now I feel I could happily train my back again today which I know would be counter productive. I leave a 3 day gap between working the same muscle twice - so for example I'll train my back on Mon, Fri, Tues, Sat, Wed etc, etc and do that with my other body parts as well.


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## Ryaan (May 24, 2014)

Gary29 said:


> DOMS has nothing to do with muscle growth or the effectiveness of a training session.


completely right, some people report no doms after any of there sessions, and even if they do feel some soreness its from a body part that lacks in quality! its varies from person to person, what training principle they use and the intensity they work out! soreness doesn't equal muscle growth!


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## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

Ryaan said:


> completely right, some people report no doms after any of there sessions, and even if they do feel some soreness its from a body part that lacks in quality! its varies from person to person, what training principle they use and the intensity they work out! soreness doesn't equal muscle growth!


I'm just curious as to why I used to get them years ago, and now I don't get them at all.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

If you've increased training frequency at all that will likely reduce DOMS. There are many potential adaptations to different styles of training beyond just hypertrophy and maximal strength, and improved recovery/reduced DOMS is a fairly consistent adaptation to increasing training frequency. Often when training a body part once a week or less the DOMS can be pretty mental every week, but increase the frequency and, even if no work volume or intensity is lost, after a few weeks normally the DOMS will get considerably less or even disappear. This is because usually training once a week is too long between sessions to force the adaptation to improve recovery, but more frequently is.

Nutritive and health factors, especially antioxidant status, inflammatory status, immune system health, and protein intake, all also have some degree of clinical data behind them as being able to modify DOMS response... type of training too has an effect with training with longer slower negatives often resulting in more extreme DOMS compared to training the same loads with a faster negative and slower concentric. DOMS not yet fully understood, but there certainly are differences between individuals and the things that individuals do that can impact the degree of DOMS.


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## dann19900 (Dec 29, 2012)

http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/doms-the-good-the-bad-and-what-it-really-means-to-your-training

this is a decent simple read, pretty much what dtlv already said though


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## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

Thanks chaps.

As an experiment, I utterly destroyed my chest the other day - deliberately doing more than I should - extra drop sets, power sets etc on top of my usual routine - the sort of thing that 10 years ago would've kept me out of the gym for a week, but all I got was a very slight tenderness if I prodded my chest.

I guess the biggest difference is that last time round, I was massively over training and was very under nourished. 6 Days a week, too much volume, too much intensity and sh1t loads of cardio every day.

Now I'm training one day on, one day off, eating like a bear and all clean, mountains of protein, loads of sleep and only selective cardio of my boxing training and the odd 5k run. The difference is amazing.


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

dann19900 said:


> http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/doms-the-good-the-bad-and-what-it-really-means-to-your-training
> 
> this is a decent simple read, pretty much what dtlv already said though


Very interesting article, with links to some detailed references I'm going to read when I get chance. Thanks for sharing.


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## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

Careful what you wish for boys and girls - have I got DOMS now.... pulled one of my lower lats and now it hurts to cough, laugh, breath, open doors and generally move! :lol:

Bugger. :sad:


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