Feeling sore after a workout doesn’t mean you’re building muscle or that your workout was effective — DOMS isn’t a good way to measure progress.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (2)
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Urinary N-terminal titin fragment concentration as a non-invasive biomarker of exercise-induced muscle damage in males and females
The study found that muscle soreness didn’t match up well with actual muscle damage markers, meaning being sore doesn’t necessarily mean your muscles are repairing or growing.
Neurochemical mechanism of muscular pain: Insight from the study on delayed onset muscle soreness
The study found that muscle soreness after exercise can happen even when muscles aren’t actually damaged, because of how nerves react. This means being sore doesn’t always mean your muscles are growing or getting stronger.
Contradicting (0)
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Gold Standard Evidence Needed
According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.