As you begin this program, you will become very familiar with 'DOMS', delayed onset of muscle soreness. It happens when we use muscles we haven't used in a long time or we use them in a different way.

Doms is caused by some degree of muscle damage that becomes noticeable approximately 8 hours after exercise and can last 2-3 days in my experience. The exercising has caused microscopic tears in muscle cells, (perfectly natural as the result of working muscles).

The inflammation is your body’s healing response which results in some swelling, thus the pain.

This is part of the mechanism of muscle adaptation to training.

It is also why we exercise different muscle groups on alternate days. It gives what you worked yesterday a chance to adapt and heal. That is how muscles grow stronger. In addition as your body get used to the increased activity level, Doms should lessen.

There is a concept called ‘hard-easy’ that refers to following a hard workout with an easy one. That’s one way to re...