# Stepped up workout schedule, muscle soreness DEcreases
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 1, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348 "2016-10-01T11:42:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/1 "2016-10-01T11:42:54Z")
(May not have a factual answer)
I have been doing weight training for years on a schedule of three times a week, doing all major muscle groups each time, about 12 different exercises. I would rotate emphasis, so that each time I would be picking 4-5 of those to do 3 sets each. Often, the parts that got the extra sets would have delayed-onset muscle soreness the next day or so.
Now I am doing split sets, working out 2-3 days in a row before I take a day off. Each workout does multiple sets of the part for that day’s focus.
So for example, under the old schedule over the course of a week I would do two workouts with one set each of leg exercises, then one more workout with three sets of leg exercises. Now I am doing three sets of leg exercises 2-3 times per week.
But I don’t get sore anymore. At all.
It seems counterintuitive that a more intense workout routine would result in less soreness. Is there a known explanation for this?
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/2 "2016-10-01T19:49:50Z")
In my experience, muscles only get sore from _unaccustomed_ activity. I bicycle a lot, as in 30 miles/day 5 or 6 days a week and include steep hills in almost every ride. My muscles never get sore.[sup]1[/sup] Well, they get a little bit sore if I do an exceptionally long ride (say 45 or 50 miles), because that’s unaccustomed activity.
So I would say that increasing the frequency of your workouts means that the activity is no longer unaccustomed to those muscles.
[sup]1[/sup] When I describe my workouts to other people, the most common response is something about sore muscles. But that’s what they’d get from doing it and they’re assuming it applies to me too.
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### Author:  [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/3 "2016-10-01T21:07:59Z")
I agree with dtilque. I go to the gym 5-6 days per week, and I only get sore muscles anymore if I do something I don’t do regularly.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/4 "2016-10-01T21:47:50Z")
Another vote for the explanation. It is the standard official line about DOMS: risks include unaccustomed/novel activity and more “eccentric” activity.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/5 "2016-10-02T01:00:28Z")
I can run distances up to 75 miles and not get sore anymore.
But I do a 3 mile Spartan race that requires use of my upper body and I can’t lift my arms for a week.
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/6 "2016-10-03T01:28:18Z")
Makes sense, thanks for the responses. Generally it is said that to stimulate muscle hypertrophy you have to vary the exercise. If my muscles are getting so accustomed to these exercises, then I wonder if I have to mix things up a bit more. For each muscle group I rotate through three different exercises on three consecutive workouts, so for example I might do three workouts for leg and core, three workouts for upper body and arms, for a total of six workouts going through the whole cycle in maybe 8-9 days.
> [@obfusciatrist](#):
>
> I can run distances up to 75 miles and not get sore anymore.
:eek: I can’t run distances up to 75 miles and still have a pulse.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stepped-up-workout-schedule-muscle-soreness-decreases/767348/7 "2016-10-03T05:22:12Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> Makes sense, thanks for the responses. Generally it is said that to stimulate muscle hypertrophy you have to vary the exercise. If my muscles are getting so accustomed to these exercises, then I wonder if I have to mix things up a bit more. For each muscle group I rotate through three different exercises on three consecutive workouts, so for example I might do three workouts for leg and core, three workouts for upper body and arms, for a total of six workouts going through the whole cycle in maybe 8-9 days.
>
> :eek: I can’t run distances up to 75 miles and still have a pulse.
Well it is widely accepted that constantly working out the same exact way is less effective than some “periodization”, or varying of the sort of work out in various ways. But using DOMS as a marker for that is at least [somewhat](https://www.nsca.com/uploadedfiles/nsca/resources/pdf/certification/quizzes/quiz_pack_articles/october_2013_35.5.pdf) controversial. (EIMD = Exercise induced muscle damage)
> [@](#):
>
> So although
> common strategies to minimize DOMS,
> such as increasing training frequency,
> adhering to the same exercise selection,
> performing concentric-only exercises,
> and performing solely exercises that stress
> short muscle lengths, can help maintain
> short-term athletic performance, they
> may ultimately compromise hypertrophic
> adaptations by blunting EIMD.
> On the other hand, caution must be
> used in drawing qualitative conclusions
> given the poor correlation
> between DOMS and the time course
> and extent of EIMD. Some muscles
> appear to be more prone to DOMS
> than others, and there seems to be
> a genetic component that causes certain
> individuals to experience persistent
> soreness, whereas others rarely
> get sore at all. In addition, high levels
> of soreness should be regarded as detrimental
> because it is a sign that the
> lifter has exceeded the capacity for
> the muscle to efficiently repair itself.
> Moreover, excessive soreness can
> impede the ability to train optimally
> and decrease motivation to train. **Thus,
> the applicability of DOMS in assessing
> workout quality is inherently limited,
> and it therefore should not be used as
> a definitive gauge of results.**
(Bolding mine.)