Sore No More

What did you actually do to your legs to create sohave produced some extremely interesting results.
much discomfort and weakness? Did you set backSome research has suggested, for example, that a
your training, or are such occasional bouts of pain andmuscle group does not have to be exercised in the
feebleness a normal part of the training process? Wassame manner in the initial and subsequent bouts of
there anything about your soreness induction whichexertion in order for a protective effect to occur (a
would actually be good for you during subsequentclear violation of our hallowed specificity-of-training
training? Before we respond to these key questions,principle).For example, one study found that 100
let's take note of a fact which will help us with ourmaximal, eccentric contractions of the quadriceps
answers: You have probably also had an interesting,muscles furnished protection against quadriceps
follow-up experience with soreness.damage following a subsequent bout of downhill
That is, it's likely that you performed - at a later date -running.
a workout similar to the one which produced so muchThat word "eccentric" will appear repeatedly as we
leg distress initially, after a few weeks of other sortstalk about post-workout soreness, so let's deal with it
of training, for example. Somewhat surprisingly, thisfor a moment. Recall that eccentric muscle
second session produced no ill effects at all - not evencontractions are notorious for producing soreness and
a whisper of protest from the sinews and cables inthat an eccentric muscular contraction is one in which
your lower appendages. Why did the first effort leada muscle is exerting force and attempting to shorten -
to misfortune, while the second failed to perturb yourand yet ends up being elongated by other forces
legs at all?acting on the muscle. A good example of this is what
This scenario, in which a specific workout produceshappens to your quads as you run.
pain after its initial completion and then rubsThe poor fellows' contract when your foot hits the
milk-and-honey balm on your legs after its second andground, but the forces of impact make your knee flex
subsequent fulfillments, has been noticed by exerciseanyway, and the quads get temporarily stretched and
scientists and is often called the "repeated-boutlengthened - as they are trying to shorten and keep
effects". Amazingly enough, the "protection" fromthe knee joint under control. Put yourself on a
soreness and enfeeblement which occurs after thesignificant hill and run in a downward direction - and
first training session can last for several weeks - andthings get much worse for the quads. Since your foot
possibly for as long as six months in some cases.is falling farther with each step, the leg is accelerating
Why should we care about this? If we can understanddownward to greater extent than usual, and thus the
the underlying mechanism which produces protectionforces on the quads are considerably augmented. The
from significant soreness, it might be possible to train ineccentric-strain damage to the quads is more
ways which invoke this mechanism (without producingextensive, and post workout quadriceps pain is likely to
significant tissue damage) and thus protect ourselvesappear - if you have not done much prior downhill
from muscle strains and training-related tendonrunning. It is clear that eccentric strains produce a
damage. There might, in fact, be a general routine, asignificant amount of leg discomfort which is part of
combination of strength training and running, which,running training.
when carried out during an initial phase of training, couldHowever, there is also something about eccentric
provide many protective benefits over the course of astraining/training which ultimately provides a
training year.considerable amount of protection for muscles and
To date, investigations which have attempted totendons. In short, eccentric strains damage muscles -
unravel the mystery of the repeated-bout mechanismbut lead to adaptations which are highly protective.