Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

BEYOND BRAWN
ing soreness from injury due to abusive exercise form, from having started a
cycle too heavily, or from having stretched too far.
16.104 Muscle soreness can be very misleading. Some muscle groups show soreness
much more readily than others. at your shoulders, for example, may
never get very sore does not mean that they are not getting trained. And that
another muscle may get sore very easily does not necessarily mean that it is
going to grow faster than a muscle that is rarely if ever sore.
16.105 e misinterpretation of muscle soreness has produced exercise distortions
that have become part of the folklore of bodybuilding, and which are at the
root of much pain and injury. Some of the resulting exercises have been
harmful for many people, e.g., a hack machine and Smith machine squats,
and many exercises with exaggerated grips, stances and ranges of motion.
16.106 Tendons attach muscles to bones via a sheath over the end of each muscle.
e muscle under the sheath does not have as many blood vessels as the
muscle away from the sheath. e areas where there are fewer blood vessels
cannot clear waste products as well as areas that are well supplied with
blood vessels. is is why the end of the muscle is more likely to be sore than
the rest of the muscle. But this has nothing to do with more growth stimulation
for the end of the muscle. e desire for soreness in the ends of the
muscles, e.g., lower quads and lower biceps, has encouraged exercise variations
that produce exaggerated stress on the involved joints and connective
tissue, leading to injury.
16.107 At the beginning of a cycle in general, and in particular when you are using a
new exercise or one that you have not done for a while, take it easy. Pick up
the intensity over a few weeks, never make any big jumps in training intensity,
and then you will avoid getting any debilitating soreness.
16.108 When you are very sore you may be more prone to injury. Give yourself
extra rest before you train the sore area hard again. You can do a scheduled
workout that trains other areas of your body, unless you are wiped out systemically—in
which case you need to recover more before you weight train
again. On rest days, to help speed the easing of extreme soreness, do some
additional low-intensity cardiorespiratory work, together with a carefully
done stretching routine. Massage may also help to hasten recovery from
soreness, as may a hot bath.
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