My triceps are ground beef

After Saturday’s Crazy 8 circuit during combat fitness, my triceps burned. I imagined them looking like  ground beef. Those muscles were shredded. It had to be the 35 dips. My understanding is that dips can be particularly brutal because of the negative repetitions. The negative repetition is the lowering of the weight. If you’re doing bench press the negative rep is when you bring the weight down to your chest. When doing dips, the negative rep is when you lower your body. The slower the negative rep, the harder you’re making the muscle work.

The triceps are the muscles between the elbow and shoulder.

After a year of combat fitness, feeling as sore as I did on Sunday on Monday is rare. What I was experiencing was Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS. While the pros say that having sore muscles after a workout isn't neccesary for increased muscle growth, and repeated muscle soreness means you’re doing too much or doing it wrong,  others - like WebMD - say that it can be good encouragement.  I wear that soreness as a badge of honor. The occasional DOMS I experience now I consider a gold star on my homework.

This morning, the soreness in my triceps is gone. Last night’s combat fitness class flushed away the pain.