When you’re just starting out on a fitness journey, it’s not unusual to experience muscle aches for a couple days after your first few workouts. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) can also impact people who’ve taken a few weeks off or are pushing hard to reach an ambitious goal.

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compares the muscle soreness after-effects of low-volume High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and continuous exercise on untrained adult male subjects.

On separate occasions, 15 men completed 10 minute-long sets at 90% of maximum velocity with minute-long rest intervals at 30% of velocity and 20 minutes of continuous exercise at 60% of maximum velocity. All experienced mild DOMS 24-hours after their exercise session, with no differences between HIIT and continuous effort.