R&R: The Most Important Part of Your Training Program?

We have all experienced muscle soreness after a tough workout or maybe even after an unexpected layoff at one time or another. It is simply part of the deal to building a strong, healthy and well shaped body. Kind of cool when you think about it...we have to break it down to build it stronger. Man, the human body is just an incredible creation. In exercise science this soreness is more specifically described as Delayed Onset Muscular Soreness and is thought to be caused by the overloaded eccentric phase (lengthening) on tissue and has implications at both the cellular and subcellular levels. The symptoms associated with delayed-onset muscle soreness include an increase in plasma enzymes (e.g., creatine kinase), myoglobin and protein metabolites from injured muscles; structural damage to subcellular components of muscle fibers, as seen with light and electron microscopy; and temporary increase in muscle weakness (Armstrong, 1990).

Why does muscle soreness occur most frequently with the eccentric phase of contractions? There is evidence that when an active muscle is lengthened under a load torque that is greater than the force that muscle can produce, an altered detachment phase at the crossbridge cycling level (the active binding of subcellular actin and myosin ) is produced and the acto-myosin bond is broken mechanically (Morgan, 1990), along with the possible selective activation then of the larger motor units, Type II fibers (Nardone, 1989)

Basically, any physical activity especially strenuous exercise, has been proposed to activate both the metabolic and mechanical events mentioned above that may damage muscle and lead to soreness. The metabolic factors include high temperatures which can disrupt protein structures; insufficient cellular respiration that can reduce ATP levels; lowered pH and increase in lactic acid; free O2 radical production that may initiate muscle injury. Because eccentric contractions are associated with relatively high forces involved with high intensity training, the mechanical factor that is most commonly thought to elicit muscle soreness is high stress (Warren, Hayes, Lowe & Armstrong, 1993).

This all sounds cool to the exercise science geek, but what does it all mean? First, exercise that produces any soreness no matter what the stressor e.g. a heavy deadlift day; a mountain bike ride with some tough hill climbs; an intense boot camp class...all have one thing in common. They require adequate rest and recovery so that we can assume the positive results from that workout. Think of it this way: We use exercise as the required stressor so that our body can adapt to and respond with some kind of desired effect. For most of us that desired effect can be anything from better athletic performance to a stronger, healthier and more aesthetically pleasing body. All great goals, but if we prematurely jump back into a workout or take inadequate rest and recovery periods after a phase of intense training and before our body is 'healed' and ready to go again, we will most likely be dissappointed with our fitness results. And beyond that we most certainly open up the opportunity for the dreaded overuse and over reaching syndromes that put us on a Mandatory Layoff Status for who knows how long!

So, to understand the consequences of intense workouts we need to quickly go over the body's time course of the response following exercise. From 4 hr to 4 days after the exercise, there is an increase in phagocytic activity, which marks the presence of an inflammatory response. Because of this association in time, it has been suggested that delayed onset muscle soreness is a consequence of the inflammatory response (Stauber, 1989). However,the consequences of strenuous exercise, especially eccentric contractions, are not confined to a few days after exercise; MRI studies have indicated marked swelling of injured muscles for up to 10 days and increased signal intensity for upto 60 days after exercise (Fleckenstein& Shellock, 1991; Shellock, Fukunaga, Mink, & Edgerton, 1991b). The muscle fibers that seem to be most effected and damaged by intense exercise are the Type IIb fibers. These are the muscle fiber types that are preferential during any exercise that brings on Momentary Muscular Fatigue during a :30-:60 second period.

I know what you are thinking: "Should we consider taking 10 days off between workouts or even training phases?" No... not necessarily. It is important to note that the MRI studies mentioned above showed what would be considered a "normal" adaptative flux continuum that is assumed after strenuous muscular stress. This would include the stress and those relative qualities produced during and after exercise that would provide the essential neuromuscular signalling causing a protein synthesis event. What this means is that the exercise used would be sufficient enough to potentiate lean tissue synthesis. That is a good thing because, whether you are a man or woman you want more muscle. Why? Muscle is necessary for better performance and great for ramping up metabolism and fat loss!
That being said, as astute practitioners of sound and results driven, muscle building training (ha ha... now your talkin'), it is important that we understand how truely taxing exercise can be on our bodies and therefore show prudence for building in adequate rest and recovery periods in all phases of our training program. And for those of us who have supervised programs it is very likely that your trainer/coach is already very familiar with and qualified to design training programs using the concept of periodization cycles. These cycles include but, are not limited to: the acutecycle (workout to workout), the microcycle (upto 7 days) and the mesocycle (2 weeks to a few months). These phases or cycles make up an overall goal focused training blueprint that is designed to progress your training with proper loading and exercise modalities, as well as adjust in the necessary rest and recovery periods that will most likely guide you to your desired fitness goals.

Remember, if you adhere to the fundamental concepts of a well designed fitness program and remember how essential R&R is to achieving your overall fitness goals, you will better guarantee your road to fitness greatness...and then some!