Why new exercises make you sore

10 June 2024
Adarsh Gopal

Every time we program a new exercise or even a variation of an existing exercise, our clients will feel a little sore after the first session of doing the exercise.

And the line of query follows:

Why do I feel sore? I have done exercises for the same muscle group before? I have also done a similar exercise before.

If I feel sore, does that mean I was weak in that muscle group?

If I stop doing this specific exercise, will the muscles become ‘weak’?

Here is a gist of the conversation that follows:

If something makes you sore, it either means the muscle is not used to working in that very specific angle/direction/range or with that load. Muscles are incredibly specific and high maintenance creatures.

Their adaptations are highly tailored to the activity that you perform regularly.

When you do a new movement. Even if it involves muscles you use regularly. The muscles can be sore. This is because muscles might come under simple groupings: quadriceps, pecs, lats, biceps etc. But different parts of the muscle start (origin) and end in different places. For example, your chest muscles can start near the middle of your chest and run across to the top of your arm bone. There are sections of it that start at the collar bone and run across to the top of your arm.

This matters simply because every exercise can tap into different parts of each muscle. Dips and push ups are both push movements. But they force you to utilise slightly different parts of your chest. Same for the bench press. And this gets even more complicated when you consider the muscles that help you stabilise movements too.

Takeaway

You can be strong enough to do a movement. But might not be able to do a ‘lot’ of a certain move. And that is fine.
You cannot be strong or perform every movement with equal ease.
The proportions of your bones, muscles and soft tissue can make you better suited to perform certain exercises. And less adept at certain moves.
A pragmatic training plan cannot factor for every distinct pattern a muscle can contract in to produce force.
The idea of being strong enough at most things. But not optimal or strongest at all things. You can focus on a few moves to become better at them. And maintain some capacity in most others.

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