what if i am still sore?!
- Thread starter Jbone488
- Start date
We need a lot more information than that... What's your age, sex, weight, height, workout goals, workout schedule, and how long have you been going to the gym?
Firstly, I have to say that you're not working out correctly if you had a "triceps and sholders" day. The best types of workouts are full-body workouts done 3-4 times a week.
However, if you're just starting out, you will be more sore than usual. I remember that when I started going to the gym the first few times, my muscles were very sore for quite some time, but your body quickly adapts so that you can usually do a good full-body workout every other day and not be sore by the time you're ready to go to the next one.
Firstly, I have to say that you're not working out correctly if you had a "triceps and sholders" day. The best types of workouts are full-body workouts done 3-4 times a week.
However, if you're just starting out, you will be more sore than usual. I remember that when I started going to the gym the first few times, my muscles were very sore for quite some time, but your body quickly adapts so that you can usually do a good full-body workout every other day and not be sore by the time you're ready to go to the next one.
right then, age 19, 170 pounds, 5'10. WOrk out 6 days a week for the past 5 years. Triceps shoulders and chest are pushing excercise days. Monday i do pull workouts, tuesday legs, wednesday push, thursday cardio and abs, friday break, saturday total body sunday cardio and abs. And i have said this many times but i have been lifting on a very regimented and very focused workout schedule for 5 years now, how is it some of you do not get sore? Are you just not trying hard enough? Thats what it seems like, every trainer i talk to or serious gym member says that if they dont feel it the next day they didnt work out right. Now i am off topic.
That's nonsense.
This pain you're feeling obviously is from Delayed Muscle Onset Soreness - DOMS. However, it's not necessary to experience DOMS in order to have optimal muscle growth. So, in other words, the claim from these trainers and gym members that in order to build muscle you have to experience some post-workoput pain ( i.e ' pain for gain ' ) - well, that is simply a myth, pure and simple. It's the " Pain for Gain " maxim you hear about and it's just another one of those old gym myths that just won't seem to go away. But, a more appropriate phrase I heard is " No Pain of Effort, No Gain " and THAT I agree with. Effort means adequate intensity and overload to achieve muscle growth.
There's all kinds of pro & amateur weightlifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders who train very hard and at very high levels of intensity ( likely more than you or I do ) who pack on muscle in the absence of any recurring post-workout pain - they have no soreness at all. The " norm " for guys like these is that they don't suffer from DOMS at all. It's usually gym rats who are newbies to training, or have been away from training for awhile or ( and perhaps this is more relevant to your case ) have overtrained that most often succumb to DOMS IMO.
Bottom line though - muscle pain is not synonymous with muscle growth.
Hm..i never thought about the over training thing. But i am still confused here, even if i were to work out lets say my pull workout one day a week and do no other workouts the whole week, i still would be sore.I work hard and if i dont get sore i dont feel like i busted my balls. Also,is another reason lots of people on here say they don't get sore because they are stuck in the same lifting routines? I see some people on here who only do 5 workouts:squats deadlifts bench, rows and pushups. That seems to me like your body would get way to adjusted to the same routine instead of variation like i always implement into my workouts.
variation is always good. Do you mean you see us recommend deadlift, bench, rows.. etc.. all the time? if so, we are just outlining the basics of a workout. It can be those, or any of its varaities, like conventional dead, or romanian dead. BB bench, DB bench.. etc.
If your always really sore, it might be a sign your over doing it. I dont think i ever do the same exercise more than once a week, and i dont get sore.
If your always really sore, it might be a sign your over doing it. I dont think i ever do the same exercise more than once a week, and i dont get sore.
Well, as I said before, this whole notion of " pain for gain " when it comes to growing muscle is just an old myth. Whatever soreness you feel afterwards is no indication of how good - i.e busted my balls - your weight session was in any way. The simple truth is - soreness is not an indication of a successful workout and soreness should never be a goal of training - ever.
You can train hard - very hard - such that you do as much weight as you can lift for a given exercise in perfect form and " fail " at rep 6-8 within each set...and never get sore. You gain muscle as a result of hypertrophy - not pain or soreness. Hypertrophy is when you get an increase in muscle mass and your strength from placing progressive overloads on your muscles through weight training. Soreness is an entirely different issue and has to do with DOMS as I mentioned earlier.
If you've been training for 5 year and you're still getting sore ( on a regular basis ) and assuming you are training properly ( i.e form, rest, etc, ) it is bit of a mystery to me quite frankly
Variation is fine. But unless you hit some muscles that have never been hit before in training or you're overtaining in some way, variation shouldn't result in pain - especially after training for 5 years.
The DOMS that is felt the day after, or even not until 2 days after, is most likely a result of an inflammatory response. Prostaglandins are released in the tissue which hyper-sensitize the nerves. This is not the only reason but most research seems to agree that this is the most likely mechanism.
Microtrauma can occur with or without this type of soreness. At the same time, a certain degree of growth can also occur with or without microtrauma depending on how you define microtrauma. It isn't necessary to have major microtrauma. We only need to disrupt the membranes enough to get satellite cells activated and fusing with existing fibers. Without this step, the fiber may enlarge slightly, but it cannot grow significantly because of a fixed nuclear to sarcoplasmic ratio. Unless new nuclei are added from satellite cells, the volume of the fiber will not increase beyond rather small increments.
So my point is that although DOMS, microtrauma, and hypertrophy are all related, they are not entirely dependant on one another.
Microtrauma can occur with or without this type of soreness. At the same time, a certain degree of growth can also occur with or without microtrauma depending on how you define microtrauma. It isn't necessary to have major microtrauma. We only need to disrupt the membranes enough to get satellite cells activated and fusing with existing fibers. Without this step, the fiber may enlarge slightly, but it cannot grow significantly because of a fixed nuclear to sarcoplasmic ratio. Unless new nuclei are added from satellite cells, the volume of the fiber will not increase beyond rather small increments.
So my point is that although DOMS, microtrauma, and hypertrophy are all related, they are not entirely dependant on one another.