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Mystery #4Tier 3muscles and recovery

Why are your muscles most sore the day AFTER a tough workout, not during it?

You survive a really tough workout feeling proud and fine. Then you wake up the next morning and, ouch, everything is stiff and sore. Strangely, the ache is often worse a whole day later, not while you were exercising. Why does the soreness wait until after you've rested?

A lone cyclist grinding up a long climb on a quiet country lane past stone cottages, the kind of unaccustomed effort that leaves legs aching the next day
Photo: Russel Wills · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

What do you think your muscles are doing in the hours after a hard workout?

There's no single magic word to type, have a go in your own words, then reveal the answer to see how close you got.

Make a guess to unlock the hints and the answer.