If you’re new to regular exercise, it’s common to wake up feeling sore. If you hear people talking about DOMS, this is what they are referring to – delayed onset muscle soreness.  

This soreness is a result of the micro-tears to your muscle fibres which happen when you do a difficult workout or use different muscles. It’s important to know you don’t need sore muscles to know you challenged yourself – you can also see your progress by tracking your reps, weight load or the number of reps within a timeframe. 

If you’re feeling sore, take an active recovery day with some yoga or low-intensity cardio such as walking or cycling, and reduce the intensity of your workouts to allow your body to fully recover.  

We know how good it can feel to just lie on the couch, but some active recovery can really help to get the blood flowing to your muscles and reduce stiffness!  

To support your recovery even more, focus on drinking plenty of water each day to rehydrate, and eating a healthy diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables to replenish your vitamins and minerals.