Sorness

[Core]

Usually about 18 to 24 hrs after working my muscles start to ache. But, sometimes they dont. When they dont ache I feel like I didnt get a good enough workout. Whats the deal with this? Should this be taken as a sign that I have not worked out to my full potential or is it because I didn't wait long enough in between workouts of the same muscle groups?

 

[gymtime]

Neither. It's wrong to feel like you didn't work hard enough just because you're not sore. Soreness comes from using muscles you don't normally use. As your body adjusts to your workout routine, you're not as likely to get sore. So don't sweat it bro.

 

[GenetiKing]

The reasons behind delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is still somewhat of a mystery, even to exercise scientists. However, you don't have to get sore to grow. Soreness isn't necessarily an indicator of muscular hypertrophy (growth).

Also, the presence of DOMS isn't indicative of an effective training session. Consider: You seriously overtrain back for three hours straight with 60 sets. Catabolism runs rampant, blood cortisol levels skyrocket, and you become extremely sore for the next four days. Are you going to grow from this session? Nope...too catabolic, but you will be sore.

 

[MrMuscle]

i got a question. back in school we were always taught to stretch after physical exercise..to prevent soreness and aching in the muscles. and im a master stretcher..i see it as an important thing. BUT im still sore as hell after every single workout..and ive been doing this for a while. so is this false? does stretching do anything when it comes to soreness? or what?

 

[gymtime]

Stretching has relatively little to do with how sore you get. I might be wrong on this, but post workout stretching will only delay the onset of the lactic acid that causes soreness. And it doesn't delay it all that long.

It's purpose is to limber up the muscles, reducing the risk of injury.

 

[MrMuscle]

hmm..sounds about right..what about the fact that training a musclegroup littelrally tears down the muscle.and it has to be rebuild...does that has anything to do with the soreness?

 

[Core]

So are we saying here that a lack of soreness doesn't mean that our muscles of addapted to our workout routine and that we should change it up to get better results?

 

[gymtime]

No. Read Genetic Kings post on this thread. He explains it better than I can.

 

[GenetiKing]

So are we saying here that a lack of soreness doesn't mean that our muscles of addapted to our workout routine and that we should change it up to get better results?

Not necessarily. I'm simply telling you not use DOMS as a guide to adjusting your routine. Let the mirror do that.

Although it hasn't been proven exactly what causes lie behind DOMS, it is a generally accepted principle that DOMS consistently follows a training stimulus that the body is not readily adaptable to. Also, it doesn't have to be an anaerobic (weight training) stimuls.

For instance, if you haven't done any lower body training or cardiovascular work in months and then you decide to jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes, you will be sore the next day even though the jogging would be an aerobic stimuls rather than anaerobic. Does this mean you're going to grow Tom Prince's hamstrings running on a treadmill? No.

In other words, soreness will almost always result from exercise you're unaccustomed to. The reasons behind DOMS range from increases in training volume, increases in intensity, less rest time between sets, or new exercise stimuli altogether. It typically has very little to do with hypertrophy (muscular growth) although it can go hand-in-hand.