Leg Pain or Just DOMS?

Here’s the problem. Tuesday just gone (two days ago), I did a medium weight, fairly heavy volume lower body workout.

Well, I say that, actually I did half as after finishing the squat / deadlift shrug superset for 4 sets of 10 reps (60 seconds rest) I was in half a mind to either throw up, or pass out (possibly both).

After resting for about 10 minutes, I tried doing some single leg exercises, but even with no weight, I still felt like I was gonna lose my breakfast, so I called it a day.

So I hit the showers, downed my protein shake and stumbled off to work like a good little soldier.

Woke up the next morning expecting to have some muscle ache, but fuck me, I didn’t expect to lose the use of my left leg. My left quad is not only painful to the touch, but it keeps giving way under me (making walking down stairs an interesting experience).

I’ve had DOMS before, I’ve had it bad enough to make me waddle round like I’ve shit myself for a day, but I’ve never had anything like this before, especially just down one leg.

It’s entirely possible it is just DOMS but more severe than I’ve felt it before, but again, why just the one leg?

I’ve tried a hot bath, a impromptu massage (from a good female friend of mine) and stretching (even though the muscle doesn’t feel tight as such) but it’s still causing me grief.

Has anyone else suffered anything like this, or any idea what the f**k I’ve done to myself? I’ve got a heavy lower body workout tomorrow, and I’m thinking I may have to either drop the weight significantly, or give it a miss all together and rest it for the weekend.

DOMS can be that bad. You don’t describe enough about the location, extent, and quality of the pain.

I’ve had DOMS so bad my knees would buckle walking down the stairs. Muscles are weaker after you break them down through training, until they recover and adapt.

And I’ve had DOMS in calves so bad that I could not straighten my leg when I woke up. I had to crawl to the tub and soak and stretch in super hot water to get it to straighten, then hobble around the rest of the day.

There’s no fix for it but rest. Epsom salt bath can ease the ache, but you’ve just got to recover. Some say that massage aids recovery, but I can’t take the pain of massage with DOMS. I don’t think stretching helps at all. On the bright side, even if full recovery takes a week, you’ll notice big changes in strength once you do recover.

take the day off.