Are you supposed to feel sore after a workout to ensure a workout is well done?

johnnyr24

I mean I don't feel sore at all but the scale this week says I dropped 5 lbs so clearly I must have done something right. But I was under the impression that being sore ensures you did a good workout or that you lost weight faster or something. Can anyone confirm if this is true or if muscle soreness contributes to a better workout?

singingflutelady

no.. soreness is not necessary especially when you are no longer a beginner.

JoshLikesBeer

Soreness just means you worked your muscles much harder than they are used to working. If you keep working out regularly, you will stop getting sore from it. You can read more about the effect here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness

Hornsby

Just echoing what the two above me said. I rarely get sore any more. Maybe on max days or after a century ride, but other than that, nope. You are just getting fitter.

rjmudlax13

Nope. It is not necessary. Soreness (aka DOMS) is a factor of both the type (newness) and intensity of an exercise. Your body adapts to the type of exercise you are doing. So over time you do not get as sore or not sore at all, but you are still burning calories and gaining benefits. Some argue that you should change up your exercise routine to overcome adaptation therefore improving fitness, but this is debatable.

yoovie

No.

But you should get a general basic understanding of biology and its importance in fitness before jumping into a program. Ideally, you won't be very sore after workouts unless they were something above and beyond the normal or routine.

civilizedworm

Being sore is not always a great metric, but I tell you what, when I do experience DOMS after a workout a day or two later, I do feel better about myself that I did workout hard indeed.

yoovie

Also - making sure to cooldown and stretch can help avoid DOMS. The fact that there are lists of ways to avoid them, hints that they are not the desired outcome.

Too many people skip the warm up and cooldown.

Big fat mistake.

bodyfuelnutritionllc

Nope. Sometimes it just means you did exercise wrong. Sometimes it's a good thing.

FabianRodriguez94

Usually only feel sore after hitting more reps than usual or I add on volume.