Is it normal to have little or no DOMS?

[Mark Cheney]

When I first started CF, I was sore for days after some of the workouts (e.g. 400 m lunge walk). Admittedly, I had not been working out as faithfully pre-CF as I usually did. Nine weeks later, I have little or no soreness the day after the WOD. Have other CF'ers experienced this?

I can tell there is some fatigue, particularly if the same muscle groups are used the next day. I used to gauge the effectiveness of a workout by how sore I was the day after. Of course, my times are getting better, so I know CF works.

No, I'm not complaining and yes, I'm going as hard as I can. I'm just curious about a possible explanation.

[Derek Maffett]

Being sore does not indicate a good workout. PR's indicate a good workout. Soreness is just an annoying little thing that gets in the way of high frequency training. It does get less as you train more, though.

Value that - most people aren't so fortunate and get really, really sore.

[Steven Low]

As Derek said you want to look for progress not soreness. If you're sore and making good progress or PRs that's great. If you stop making PRs and aren't sore.. then you need to do something about it.

Too much soreness can hinder frequency of working out which is not a good thing.

[Guy Crossland]

An interesting observation.Also it is curious that you had the soreness after the lunge workout.There was one workout which was the 400m walking lunge with a barbell and press thrown in that had me crawling around for days...anyway I digress.
Marathon runners do exhibit quite pronounced doms after their runs yet 400m runners often do not even though the shorter run produces large amounts of metabolites.Crossfit workouts are rarely "marathon type" events.I think the longest is Murph .However you will feel tired after Murph but not the huge soreness people associate with a " good workout".
The lack of doms is almost a sigh of nature/physiology saying " yes ,this is good I do not want 26 mile runs or 2-3 hours of bicep curls and bench press"

Of course I could just be talking crap and in reality Crossfit is to easy....don't think so though!

[Chip Moore]

I've read (in Starting Strength, among other places) that soreness is mainly caused by the eccentric contraction in muscles rather than the concentric contraction (i.e. the "negative" part of the exercise). For this reason, a set of back squats will probably cause more soreness than a set of power cleans because there is little negative on the clean. If your workouts don't have a heavy eccentric component, you may have less soreness than otherwise.

[Mark Cheney]

Right on. Another PR in the 5K today, so things are headed in the right direction.

Chip, nice point on concentric versus eccentric contractions.

I vaguely recall reading somewhere on the site that lactic acid has less effect the longer athletes follow CF. Would that explain the reduced soreness as well?

[Steven Low]

Guh.

Soreness is due to a few factors namely:

1. Eccentrics
2. Increased/excessive volume
3. Change of exercises (new exercises including switching programs)
4. One other thing that I'm forgetting ATM.

Lactic acid has *NOTHING* to do with DOMS.

[Kurt A Gross]

You're lucky, some of the really high volume WODs leave me crippled for days. I push on, but it hurts. It's better now than when I started over a year ago. It's helped my mountainbiking also, especially when I have to push it when I feel like I don't have any strength left in the legs.

[Thomas Bailly]

Yes,adequate recovery and not going to failure. Yet still training hard and gaining. Don't listen to the bodybuilders.

[Jared Ashley]

Originally Posted by Mark Cheney

When I first started CF, I was sore for days after some of the workouts (e.g. 400 m lunge walk). Admittedly, I had not been working out as faithfully pre-CF as I usually did. Nine weeks later, I have little or no soreness the day after the WOD. Have other CF'ers experienced this?

Yes, I have experienced the same. Previous workouts would leave me sore for 2 days in that body part. CF, not so much. It's great! (except for the lunge workout, which wiped me out for FOUR days!)