Not sore - Is that good or bad?

minniemickey

Hi Everyone,

So Ive been strength training, 3 times a week. I remember the first time I worked out with my trainer (almost 1.5 yrs back) I was sore for almost 5days and it got better then came to just being not sore at all (sometimes when the workout intensity was not that great) and then Ive been doing 30day shred on and off and initially it made me sore. I attended a training session last month for 30mins and I ended up being sore for almost 5 days!! Now since start of this month Ive been working on getting my moves right for Stronglifts and have been slowly adding weight, started with 12lbs bar then went up to 24lbs. I find the weights for the workouts just right, meaning they aren't easy or extremely tough. I am not sore!! I remember the first time I squatted was when I decided to do. So whats the deal with being sore, is it good, bad, what should I interpret? Am I doing something wrong or not challenging myself enough?

Please pour in your thoughts.

Thanks!!

questionfear

Sore/not sore is not necessarily an indicator of whether your workout was intense enough: http://vitals.lifehacker.com/why-your-muscles-get-sore-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-1680937155

hill8570

Stronglifts is not a "work to failure" type of workout. You ramp working weight slowly enough, and keep the number of reps low enough, that you don't get sore (or at least not very often or very intensely).

royaldrea

questionfear wrote: »

Sore/not sore is not necessarily an indicator of whether your workout was intense enough: http://vitals.lifehacker.com/why-your-muscles-get-sore-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-1680937155

This was a really good article, thank you!

questionfear

royaldrea wrote: »

questionfear wrote: »

Sore/not sore is not necessarily an indicator of whether your workout was intense enough: http://vitals.lifehacker.com/why-your-muscles-get-sore-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-1680937155

This was a really good article, thank you!

No problem! Vitals is an awesome sub-blog of Lifehacker, they have all sorts of useful tidbits like that!

minniemickey

Thank you for the inputs!!

lexielainex

Like what other people said not being sore doesn't necessarily mean your workout wasn't intense. Soreness has a lot to do with the amount of eccentric exercise you do. If you want more information regarding that let me know! I can find some of the literature I study for school.

hill8570

aeblyden wrote: »

Like what other people said not being sore doesn't necessarily mean your workout wasn't intense. Soreness has a lot to do with the amount of eccentric exercise you do. If you want more information regarding that let me know! I can find some of the literature I study for school.

I used to work out with a guy who always wore a stuffed vampire bat around his neck. Very eccentric, but I don't recall him being any more sore than the average lifter.

lexielainex

@hill8570‌ Eccentric exercise and being eccentric are two completely different things.
There are three main types of muscle contractions. Eccentric, concentric, and isometric. Most exercises have an eccentric and concentric phases.

Sam_I_Am77

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is really not a good gauge on the effectiveness of exercise. If anything it tells you what you need to work on, what's lagging. That's why with strength training it good to establish long-term goals and short-term goals for getting there. If you're achieving your goals over time, then what you're doing is just fine; if not then maybe re-think it. Sounds like you're doing well though.