Soreness FAQs

Questions related to being sore (or not!) after a workout, being injured, something hurts, etc.

I'm not sore
Q: I KILLED myself yesterday ... more than I've ever done in a single workout ... dripping with sweat through my entire 20 minute cool down. Today...I feel nothing. No soreness, no tired muscles. I feel like I could run a marathon. What gives? Did I just not do enough?
 * Soreness often has more to do with doing new movements that your body isn't used to. It isn't necessarily a comment on how hard your workout was. It's possible to get a killer workout, have great progress and not be that sore the next day.
 * You will probably feel the soreness tomorrow, I often have delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), especially from training hard.

Elbow hurts
Q: So lately, everytime I do push-ups (of any kind), my elbow makes this craking noise.


 * Internal rotation of the hands during push-ups has been associated with more stress on the elbow. Make sure that your hands are turned towards the outside, with your elbows at 45 degrees relative to your body. Your arms should //not// be forming a 'T'.
 * Try various hand width positions to see if one is more comfortable
 * As long as there is no pain associated with the noise, it should not be cause for alarm

One quad is sore, one is not
Q: My right quad still feels pumped from the squats and such from last night. Left leg seems fine. WTF?
 * Your right leg is probably your dominant leg. You may not realize it, but you're probably using it more when you do squats and that kind of thing. Next time you do them, try to feel it out and try to make sure that it's even. You can also try to do extra lunges on the left side to strengthen it and make them even.