hey guys, i apologize for this question as i am pretty embarassed to ask… seems like a newb question. but the last couple of months i have been following a new split routine, and have been experiencing doms like never before. ive been lifting a few years, and have never been so sore in my life. its not unusual for me to be sore for 4-5 days lately. i dont know if its because im pushing myself harder than ever, maybe nutrition? (shouldnt be, ive really critiqued it and am even double dosing Surge with Surge Workout Fuel) anyway, i guess i am wanting reassurance that its normal and maybe some of you guys experience this too. thanks in advance.
Do you mean that you get sore in the same muscle for 4-5 days? I don’t think that’s normal. What do you do for your warm up?
[quote]mikey01 wrote:
Do you mean that you get sore in the same muscle for 4-5 days? I don’t think that’s normal. What do you do for your warm up?[/quote]
Erm sometimes after leg day i have soreness in my legs for that long.
That’s normal when you get past the beginners phase. Beginners can fully recover within a couple days but as they advance it becomes neccessary to allow more time for recovery.
It depends on how you’re training, are you doing high reps or low reps, are you pushing to muscle failure, how much volume are you doing? If you do medium to high reps, work until failure and have moderate to high volume it’s not unusual to be sore for 6-7 days. The harder you beat up your muscles, the more time they will need to recover. Eat lots of food, sleep 8-9 hours a night, stretch, foam roll and give your body the time to recuperate itself.
[quote]skimmy_jimmy wrote:
its not unusual for me to be sore for 4-5 days lately. [/quote]
Unless you are doing massive amounts of volume this is not usually the case with most people.
Check your recovery. Sounds like something is missing. Are your lifts suffering?
Something that has helped with my soreness is doing some “extreme stretching” after I work a muscle group for the day. It has reduced sore muscles by a couple of days in my case. Make sure you are simply resting enough too 
I’d take a good look at your nutrition first, make sure you’re well hydrated following your workouts, then make sure you’re getting plenty of greens.
What is your diet like? I know you said you’re using Surge, but what is your general carb intake like?
If you want general advice on getting rid of DOMS quicker, try contrast showers straight after your workout and then compression gear like Skins for 6-12 hours after that. I have to minimise DOMS so that I can train for rugby as well and I find that both make a big difference, but those are just quick fixes, you should really take a look at the causes of why you’re aching for so long. Four to five days seems a lot, but it depends how long you’ve been doing this new program - I think everyone aches for longer when doing something completely new.
actually my numbers are going up every week, much more than they did in the past. ive put on a good amount of size… my thighs have grown an inch, my upper arms 1/2 an inch all within about 1 1/2 months. for warm ups, i just do bodyweight exercises pertaining to the body parts i am working, or a set or two of high rep light weights. also quite a bit of stretching.
my diet, i really dont get much green unfortunately, thats my biggest weakness right there. i use superfood and drink a lot of v8 frusion lol. other than that, i am following the carb cycling codex as much as i can to the T.
as for my training, what i am doing is a body part split that looks like this
Monday - Shoulders and Triceps
A1 Shoulder press (12,10,8,6)
A2 Skull Crusher (12,10,8.6)
B1 DB Lean Away Lateral Raise (12,10,8.6)
B2 Rope Tricep Extensions (12,10,8.6)
C1 Shrugs (superset of wide grip then close grip) (12,10,8.6)
C2 Decline DB Tri Extension (12,10,8.6)
Tuesday - Back
A Deadlifts (12,10,8.6)
B Pullups (12,10,8.6)
C Barbell Rows (12,10,8.6)
D Pull Downs (12,10,8.6)
E Back Extension (3x12-15)
Thursday - Chest and Biceps
A1 Flat Barbell Bench (12,10,8.6)
A2 Preacher Curl (12,10,8.6)
B1 Incline DB Bench (12,10,8.6)
B2 Incline DB Curl (12,10,8.6)
C1 Incline Fly (12,10,8.6)
C2 Hammer Curl (12,10,8.6)
D1 Cable Cross Over (12,10,8.6)
D2 Random other bicep lift (12,10,8.6)
Friday - Legs
A Front Squat (12,10,8.6)
B Leg Press (12,10,8.6)
C1 Leg Extension (12,10,8.6)
C2 Leg Curl (12,10,8.6)
D1 Seated Calf Raise (12, 10, 10)
D2 Standing Calf Raise (15, 12, 10)
Ill tell ya, the first thing that popped into my head is that something is wrong me with me pathologically, but i am a huge hypochondriac.
Do you really do your exercises in alternating order like that? That’s strange.
I agree…your DOMS may have something to do with
a) The amount of volume you’re doing; on your Thursday, you’re doing a combination of 120 reps just for chest. If you’re using any sort of weight, no wonder you’re aching!
b)You’re doing high volume, then letting your muscles cool down after every set; you mentioned looking into a better warm up earlier, but I think what you could do is just warm up thoroughly and exhaust your chest before moving on to biceps. The cooling down and re-stretching of your muscles can’t be good for that DOMS.
What are your lifting/ BBing goals?
Thursday - Chest and Biceps
Flat Barbell Bench (12,10,8.6)
Preacher Curl (12,10,8.6)
Incline DB Bench (12,10,8.6)
Incline DB Curl (12,10,8.6)
Incline Fly (12,10,8.6)
Hammer Curl (12,10,8.6)
Cable Cross Over (12,10,8.6)
Random other bicep lift (12,10,8.6) < Seems like a lot of work
Thursday - Chest and Bis
Incline BB Bench (8,6,4)
Flat BB Bench (8,6,4)
Hammer Curls (8,6,4)
Incline DB Curls (8,6,4)
alternate your next workout by doing 2 different exercises for each muscle grp. If your pushing yourself hard enough, This should be plenty IMO.
sorry, i updated my scheme above… i forgot to put A1, A2, B, C… etc. i do A1, then straight to A2, then rest for 60-90 seconds, then repeat. if it is just the one lift without supersetting, i do the lift, rest a minute, then repeat.
and my goals are like most other bodybuilders. im just trying to put on as much mass as i can with little body fat and have my numbers keep progressively rising. as for my Chest day, i admit i probably am doing way too much. but my chest and biceps have been lagging quite a bit so thats why i am hitting them so hard.
From that I’d say it’s the volume that is giving you such bad DOMS, people might disagree with me though. So maybe cut your volume a little and make sure what you’re doing is quality, or just live with it and try some options to minimise it (contrast showers, compression gear) until you move on to a program with lower reps or a bit less volume.
[quote]AzCats wrote:
Thursday - Chest and Biceps
Flat Barbell Bench (12,10,8.6)
Preacher Curl (12,10,8.6)
Incline DB Bench (12,10,8.6)
Incline DB Curl (12,10,8.6)
Incline Fly (12,10,8.6)
Hammer Curl (12,10,8.6)
Cable Cross Over (12,10,8.6)
Random other bicep lift (12,10,8.6)
Seems like a lot of work^^
Thursday - Chest and Bis
Incline BB Bench (8,6,4)
Flat BB Bench (8,6,4)
Hammer Curls (8,6,4)
Incline DB Curls (8,6,4)
alternate your next workout by doing 2 different exercises for each muscle grp. If your pushing yourself hard enough, This should be plenty IMO.
[/quote]
ok sounds good, thanks for all of the helpful input guys, it’s really appreciated!
I’d recommend moving one of your hamstring exercises to your back day. I’m going to take a guess and say you probably come out of bed walking like a Saigon whore after that leg day. Volume is definitely what leads to bad DOMS for me and it looks like it’s your cause as well… Otherwise that split looks intense, stick with it and embrace the pain!
Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, along with everything else that’s been mentioned.
yeah sleep is not one of my strongest areas. i have a baby girl who loves waking up every few hours, and with the new call of duty coming out, it has sucked away my life im ashamed to say haha.
[quote]skimmy_jimmy wrote:
with the new call of duty coming out, it has sucked away my life im ashamed to say haha.[/quote]
Don’t be ashamed. It’s awesome. A perfect way to forget about your DOMS! Did you try anything to alleviate your aches at all?