The interesting thing is why does the body sometimes experience DOMS after an exertion? What exactly is happening in the muscles?
If I can walk down stairs and get really sore calves then is that the same kind of DOMS I experience from heavy lifting, especially after a layoff?
Once we know all about the mechanism we can determine the value for hypertrophy.
I am talking about natural bodybuilding here. I rather doubt the pros have much clue about what is responsible for their growth. It could
be many things or a group of things combining to give the huge size.
I was telling an older woman about my theory and she replied that she didn't want to get sore. That was the end of our discussion.
If we go back to our primitive animal ancestors then what purpose did the DOMS have? Is it just something that happens when we do
some unusual exertion? We all know that soon enough the soreness stops and it becomes increasingly more difficult to train hard enough
to experience DOMS. I can tell you that in our gym we have always introduced people to resistance training gradually....so they don't get
DOMS. In the literature on DOMS we find they are looking for ways to reduce the effect not generate it.
About 17 years ago I was training arms to get them bigger. I got to a point where they wouldn't grow any more. About 17 inches.
Then one day I did the lying triceps movement where you support your upper arms on pads. The next day my triceps were quite sore.
A light went on in my brain. Ah, ha! Maybe this is the key to hypertrophy that I have been searching for? So I kept training arms and calves
for 30 days while still sore. Both body parts were growing rapidly. I was so keen I couldn't wait for my next workout. I was getting stronger by the week as
well which pleased me. I trained every 3rd day. Over the month I was growing 1/10" per workout which is impressive. Then I had to end
the experiment. I was putting my elbows on the pads like Larry Scott and everyone else did. Nope, I damaged the sheath that goes over
the elbows. Now I know you never put your elbows on a surface under tension. Keep elbows clear of all pads just like we do with the knees
when we do lying leg curls. My Achilles tendons experienced some damage. I was doing multiple sets with up to 700 pounds for 60
bouncing reps. I discovered that ballistic movements can be dangerous. I put on over an inch on my calves doing that. So I would modify
what I was doing but still try to generate DOMS.
I doubt anyone would want to try this for all body parts during a week. Nope, just target a couple of body parts.
DOMS is a feedback mechanism that you feel should be incorporated into an idealized training system. It's a vaguely defined concept like
"failure". Specifically, DOMS is associated with
eccentric loading and we assume it indicates that there's sufficient stimulus in the prior workout.
I gather the idea is; optimal mechanical loading is dependent on certain (difficult to measure) sensory feedback mechanisms like intensity and failure, and DOMS is one of them too. These concepts are
cognitive as much as mechanical. If you can eliminate the cognitive aspects (subjective) then the data becomes more reliable.
If DOMS indicates sufficient stimulus then clearly you need to identify the feedback mechanism that indicates excess stimulus.
Physical injury doesn't cut it.
