Hiruma, E., Okamune, T., Sasaki, H., Umimura, M., & van Essen, A. (2001). Relationship between seven days of maximum endurance strength exercise and muscle damage. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33(5), Supplement abstract 439.

Female college students (N = 9) performed heel raises to exhaustion at a rate of one elevation per two seconds. Assessments were performed daily for seven days of exercise and seven more days of recovery.

Creatine kinase (CK) activity increased significantly from day 1 through 13, with the peak being on day 4. As daily exercise continued, CK values decreased slightly. Muscle tightness, muscle pain, resting muscle pain, and walking muscle pain increased up to day 5 and then declined to a pre-study level. Ankle dorsiflexion and calf circumference increased and remained elevated for the study period.

Implication. Initial perceptions of muscle damage (soreness) that occur with the onset of sustained training disappear as adaptation to the demands of the specific exercise occurs.

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