DOMS: How to Reduce Muscle Soreness and Recover Faster

What is DOMS?

If you’ve ever wobbled down the stairs after leg day, you’ve experienced DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It’s the stiffness and tenderness that usually starts 12 to 24 hours after exercise, peaks at 24 to 72 hours, and then fades over a few days.

DOMS is normal, especially after:

New workouts or movements
Increased weight, reps or volume
Eccentric-focused exercises (lowering phases in squats, bench presses or deadlifts)

According to Mizumura and Taguchi, even elite athletes experience DOMS when changing their training stimulus, they claim:

‘DOMS cause has been commonly believed to be micro-damage of the muscle and subsequent inflammation’.

Despite old myths, lactic acid isn’t the culprit. DOMS appears after lactate has cleared. Instead, soreness comes from:

DOMS happens because of a few key processes happening in your muscles. First, microscopic muscle damage occurs which are tiny tears in the fibers after heavy or unfamiliar training. This triggers your body’s inflammatory response, sending repair signals that can cause swelling and soreness. At the same time, nervous system sensitivity changes how your muscles feel, making them more tender and aware of movement. Together, these factors create the familiar post-workout stiffness that signals your muscles are repairing and adapting.

Exercise → tiny damage → body repairs → soreness during recovery

How to prevent and manage DOMS

While you can’t completely avoid soreness, you can manage it and speed recovery.

Active recovery

Gentle movement boosts blood flow and nutrient delivery to those sore areas, you could try walking or light jogging, cycling at an easy pace, mobility work and light lifting. This article has many more suggestions.

Active recovery is often more effective than total rest. According to Cheung et all in an article featured in Sports Medicine ‘Athletes who must train on a daily basis should be encouraged to reduce the intensity and duration of exercise for 1-2 days following intense DOMS-inducing exercise. Alternatively, exercises targeting less affected body parts should be encouraged in order to allow the most affected muscle groups to recover’.

Cold therapy and plunging

Cold water immersion has been known to reduce inflammation and ease pain. Studies show cold plunges may lessen DOMS compared to doing nothing. Plunging reduces swelling, lowers nerve sensitivity and eases perceived soreness. The general advice is to use plunging strategically with a protocol.

Heat therapy (traditional and/or infrared sauna)

Heat increases circulation, relaxes muscles and can reduce stiffness. Research suggests heat may also improve muscle repair markers.

Heat therapy can be used when muscles feel stiff or tight or if you want a relaxing post-workout recovery session.

Contrast Therapy – alternating between hot and cold

Combining heat and cold provides the best of both worlds:

Heat for circulation and relaxation and cold for inflammation and pain modulation

Studies indicate contrast therapy can be as effective as cold alone for reducing soreness. Many athletes swear by it because it feels good and aids nervous system recovery.

Using the sauna directly after a workout isn’t just about sweating it out, it may also support your body’s recovery at a hormonal level. Research dating back to classic studies in Finland shows that exposing your body to heat stress triggers temporary increases in growth hormone (GH), a hormone that plays a role in tissue repair and muscle adaptation.

J. Leppäluoto and colleagues found that just 15 minutes in a 72 °C Finnish sauna increased plasma GH levels in younger men about two to nearly three‑fold roughly 30 minutes after the session, highlighting how heat alone triggers endocrine responses linked to recovery.

Other work summarised by Kukkonen‑Harjula and Ellahham reported that multiple shorter sauna exposures at 80 to 100 °C can double to five‑fold elevate GH above baseline, with the effect persisting for a few hours after leaving the sauna. Their article supports the notion that the sauna mimics physiological and protective responses induced during exercise, so in a sense you can extend the effects of exercise by enjoying the sauna directly after workouts.

In longer protocols, repeated sauna use (two one‑hour sessions per day over several days) produced even larger GH surges in adult participants.

While these hormonal increases are transient rather than long‑lasting, pairing your training with heat exposure puts you into that recovery ‘window’ when your body is already primed for repair and adaptation making post‑workout sauna sessions a strategic tool in your recovery routine.

Recovery protocols

Here are some practical ways to apply contrast therapy and other strategies:

Beginner / general fitness

Goal: Reduce mild soreness and support first-time gym sessions

8 to 12 min sauna
1 to 2 min cold plunge
Repeat 2 to 3 rounds
Finish on cold if inflamed, heat if stiff
Frequency: 2 to 3 times per week after heavy training

CrossFit / resistance training

Goal: Faster recovery between intense sessions

10 to 15 min sauna
2 to 3 min cold plunge
Repeat 3 rounds
Rehydrate with electrolytes (we are now selling our favourite brands onsite at Rejoov)
Timing: post-training, evening session or the next day

Severe DOMS

Goal: Manage extreme soreness

Day 1: Gentle sauna + mobility
Day 2: Contrast therapy session with both the sauna and cold plunge
Day 3: Active recovery session

Other recovery essentials

Recovery isn’t just about heat and contrast therapy, the basics still matter. Sleep is where much of the magic happens, with hormones that support muscle repair peaking during deep sleep cycles. Nutrition fuels the process, protein provides the building blocks your muscles need to repair, while carbohydrates restore glycogen so you have energy for your next session. And of course, smart training is key which means gradually increasing load and intensity to help your muscles adapt without triggering extreme soreness, making it easier to stay consistent and keep progressing.

When DOMS is not normal

While soreness is normal, it’s important to listen to your body. Seek medical advice if you notice sharp or persistent pain, severe swelling or bruising, dark urine or weakness that goes beyond typical post-workout soreness. These signs could indicate an injury or a rare condition, and getting checked ensures you recover safely and keep training without risking long-term damage.

Key takeaways

DOMS is normal feedback, not failure.
Mild soreness is part of adaptation; extreme soreness signals a recovery mismatch.
Contrast therapy, sauna and cold plunges are powerful recovery tools, especially when combined with sleep, nutrition and active recovery.
Recovering smart allows you to train consistently and safely, building strength without unnecessary pain.

Ready to feel your best after every session?
Visit Rejoov for a guided contrast therapy session where you can discuss your goals and a protocol to match. Sauna and cold plunge recovery sessions are designed for beginners and athletes alike. Let’s take the ouch out of your workout recovery!