A few years ago I returned to the gym after doing no exercise for the previous six months or so, had a particularly intense session, and, upon waking the next d

A few years ago I returned to the gym after doing no exercise for the previous six months or so, had a particularly intense session, and, upon waking the next day, couldn't open my arms past 45 degrees. The pain lasted about a week. I've been able to prevent this from happening again after any sort of hiatus by making sure to build from low to high intensity over two or three sessions. Something about doing a couple of low intensity workouts primes your body to respond better to any proceeding exercise in the coming weeks. I haven't had any crippling delayed-onset muscle soreness since using this trick.