Weight Lifting & Sore Hamstrings

You'll often feel tired, worn out and a little sore after a hard weightlifting session. While a little soreness is part and parcel of intense training and there is some truth in the "no pain, no gain" philosophy, it's important to differentiate between muscular soreness caused by working hard and pain from an injury. You may experience more soreness in larger muscle groups, such the hamstrings located on the back of the thigh.

  1. DOMS

    • Delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, is felt a day or two after a weightlifting workout. If you've exercised your hamstrings and develop delayed soreness, it is a result of microscopic tears in the muscle fibers brought on by the stresses of exercise, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. DOMS is not the same kind of soreness you might experience during your session, but a delayed result of lactic acid production triggered by your workout.

    Hamstring Exercises

    • Your hamstrings are actually three smaller muscles -- the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris -- that work together to bend your knee and flex your hip. Common hamstring exercises you might perform are leg curls on a machine, lying hip extensions, or deadlift variations such as stiff-legged or conventional deadlifts. Your DOMS will often be worse when you've performed more eccentric, or downward phase movements. If you've performed deadlifts with a slow negative for instance, you'll probably be more sore than if you'd lifted quickly. DOMS is also worse when you introduce a new exercise or change your routine, according to the ACSM.

    Hamstring Injuries

    • Soreness can also be related to an injury. The most common hamstring injury is a strain or tear to one of your hamstring muscles; this can happen during weightlifting. You may feel extreme tightness localized on the back of the thigh and have trouble stretching your hamstrings. Often, you'll feel the muscle pull when you stretch and pain will be immediate.

    Considerations

    • If you feel your hamstring pain is related to a weight-lifting injury, consult your doctor or physiotherapist immediately. If, however, the pain is caused by muscle soreness from lifting weights, rest for a few days until it subsides. Your body adapts to new stresses quickly, so you shouldn't feel this soreness again until you increase the intensity, writes Dr Cedric Bryant on the American Council on Exercise website. If you are a beginning weightlifter, avoid training to the point of muscular failure, as you'll experience soreness anyway without pushing too hard. Sports massages and stretching can also relieve soreness. Carry on training your upper body while you allow your hamstrings to recover.