Getting toned without feeling sore?
shroodle88
Posts: 123 Member
Hi, I've been going to Curves for a couple of months now. My friends swear by it and one of them looks a bit more toned. I had to take a break and don't see results yet. What worries me is that in spite of vigorous workouts I have never ever been sore. Can you get toned without feeling it? Or am I wasting my time? Thanks guys!
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Replies
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Soreness is not indicative of workout effectiveness.
By "toned" I'm assuming you mean thinner arms/legs. Keep eating in a caloric deficit and that will come.0 -
Soreness is not particularly an indicator of how hard or well you are working. Getting sore is usually an indicator that you are doing something new that your body is not accustomed to. It usually only happens the first few times you do a particular exercise and then fades until you change up the routine.0
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Thanks guys, I am confused now. By toned, I mean more defined muscles, which I assume means less fat (so you can see them) and more muscle. I always thought sore muscles mean that you have tiny tears in your muscles, which rebuild with increased muscle fibre/volume, i.e. you grow stronger if you are sore?0
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less fat is more of a cardio and/or calorie deficit thing. definition comes from doing strength training0
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DOMS is related to muscle tears, but not necessarily an indicator of how good a workout is. Most of the advanced lifters I've met or lifted with will not hesitate to tell you that less is often more.0
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OP, toned is an "evil" word to use on MFP for the discussions of building muscle... LOL
Don;t worry about using the word, we all know what you mean...
If you have never exercised before, lifted weights, or even conducted body weight exercises, I would predict one would get some type of soreness from first time use of those muscles, I did.
If you regularly activate the muscles you are working out on a daily basis, them DOMS or muscle soreness after the work out is over is not necessarily indicative that you did not exercise hard enough.
If you never workout before, newbie gains will prevail in the very beginning for about 2 - 3 months and then taper off while in a calorie deficit. Would you get sore during this time period? depends on your program.. To build muscle mass, you need to be in a calorie surplus, unless you are one of those attempting recomp which is gaining muscle and loosing fat at the same time, but this a long process and one needs to have maintenance calories (with a slight deficit) dialed in and the type of exercising (lifting and/ a method of cardio if choose to do cardio as well) program tuned in for this type of process to work for them.. This is a slow (very slow) process.
Can you give any insight to what you do at Curves?0 -
Just echoing the others that soreness is not an indicator of a good workout.
I rarely feel sore unless I've done a new routine or went past what I normally do for some volume work.
And, I've made some good progress not only with weight loss but also increasing in strength without feeling sore.0 -
In all honesty, I didn't know Curves still existed.0
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If someone is starting from being totally inactive and doesn't have a bit of DOMS, I would question if enough exercise was being done to do any good.0
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Thanks guys! Curves is alive & kicking in Australia :-) it's a women-only gym with a circuit program designed to train every muscle group. You work each hydraulic machine for 30 seconds (10-14 reps), then move on. You do the circuit twice with mat exercises in between for cardio, but I often do abs (and do get sore from that!) because I get enough cardio from cycling & running 2-4 times a week. You get a chip card which saves the intensity of your workout on each station, burnt cals, etc. The machines also indicate if you're working hard enough. It sounds like a pretty nifty and very safe system. I work as hard as I can. - Yet, the only thing I can ever feel the next day are my ab crunches.
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Packerjohn wrote: »If someone is starting from being totally inactive and doesn't have a bit of DOMS, I would question if enough exercise was being done to do any good.
This is your opinion but not fact. I am living proof that you can go from horribly inactive and make tons of progress in cardio and strength with almost no soreness in 16 months. Maybe it has to do with how the workouts are structured and how the intensity is progressed. Or just with someone's particular body response. But it certainly doesn't mean the exercise is ineffective.0 -
shroodle88 wrote: »Thanks guys! Curves is alive & kicking in Australia :-) it's a women-only gym with a circuit program designed to train every muscle group. You work each hydraulic machine for 30 seconds (10-14 reps), then move on. You do the circuit twice with mat exercises in between for cardio, but I often do abs (and do get sore from that!) because I get enough cardio from cycling & running 2-4 times a week. You get a chip card which saves the intensity of your workout on each station, burnt cals, etc. The machines also indicate if you're working hard enough. It sounds like a pretty nifty and very safe system. I work as hard as I can. - Yet, the only thing I can ever feel the next day are my ab crunches.
Do they have free weights too?0 -
shroodle88 wrote: »Thanks guys! Curves is alive & kicking in Australia :-) it's a women-only gym with a circuit program designed to train every muscle group. You work each hydraulic machine for 30 seconds (10-14 reps), then move on. You do the circuit twice with mat exercises in between for cardio, but I often do abs (and do get sore from that!) because I get enough cardio from cycling & running 2-4 times a week. You get a chip card which saves the intensity of your workout on each station, burnt cals, etc. The machines also indicate if you're working hard enough. It sounds like a pretty nifty and very safe system. I work as hard as I can. - Yet, the only thing I can ever feel the next day are my ab crunches.
If you are already running and cycling you already have some level of fitness, perhaps that is why no DOMS.0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »If someone is starting from being totally inactive and doesn't have a bit of DOMS, I would question if enough exercise was being done to do any good.
This is your opinion but not fact. I am living proof that you can go from horribly inactive and make tons of progress in cardio and strength with almost no soreness in 16 months. Maybe it has to do with how the workouts are structured and how the intensity is progressed. Or just with someone's particular body response. But it certainly doesn't mean the exercise is ineffective.
True not a fact, but I have been exercising for a number of years as have many of my family and friends. Even after a number of years, they all report a good kind of trouble getting off the toilet the day after a good leg workout.
In the particular case of Curves, based on the comments of some relatives that tried it, it's not bad for a raw beginner but unless someone is very out of shape, they will quickly "outgrow" it.0 -
Thanks guys, very helpful!
Upon consideration - most of the women there are "raw beginners" and rather out of shape. I am not superwoman, but have a healthy BMI, I can run 5km, cycle 26km return to work without effort and lift my suitcase (just don't ask for push-ups).
I like the sense of community at Curves (they are really good at that!) and might stick with it for a bit longer, but will have a look around for other options, too.
Good luck with your journeys to all! :-)0 -
less fat is more of a cardio and/or calorie deficit thing. definition comes from doing strength training
Not exactly. Less fat is from a deficit, how you achieve that is personal. You dont need cardio to get less fat. Definition comes from low body fat but its definitely dependant on body composition.
Also, muscle soreness is very dependant on the person. I am doing German Volume Training (hypertrophy) lifting and am very sore when i do legs, back and/or chest. But am never sore with my biceps, triceps and shoulders.0 -
BecomingBane wrote: »Soreness is not particularly an indicator of how hard or well you are working. Getting sore is usually an indicator that you are doing something new that your body is not accustomed to. It usually only happens the first few times you do a particular exercise and then fades until you change up the routine.
A routine should always be changing if your intention is to improve. You'll eventually stop getting sore from squatting 100lbs, but you'll also stop getting anything out of it. A good workout doesn't require soreness, but DOMS does indicate that you used (or overloaded, a requirement of hypertrophy). You don't need soreness to build, but you will build if you have soreness. You can overload without excessive DOMS, but especially at first, it's hard to do an intense workout without it.
I've been doing SL5x5 for a while now and I was more sore at the outset, but I've had mild background soreness for months. The rapid pace of increasing intensity with SL means that my quads and glutes are usually sore from squatting with the iron going up an additional 5lbs three times a week.
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There is no such thing as getting toned. Toned is not a noun.
Soreness, not pain, is a sign that your muscles are working. Pain is a sign you are overdoing it or doing it incorrectly.0 -
47Jacqueline wrote: »There is no such thing as getting toned. Toned is not a noun.
Soreness, not pain, is a sign that your muscles are working. Pain is a sign you are overdoing it or doing it incorrectly.
tone
tōn/
verb
past tense: toned; past participle: toned
1.
give greater strength or firmness to (the body or a part of it).
"exercise tones up the muscles"0 -
beachhouse758 wrote: »47Jacqueline wrote: »There is no such thing as getting toned. Toned is not a noun.
Soreness, not pain, is a sign that your muscles are working. Pain is a sign you are overdoing it or doing it incorrectly.
tone
tōn/
verb
past tense: toned; past participle: toned
1.
give greater strength or firmness to (the body or a part of it).
"exercise tones up the muscles"
Well, he was right. It's not a noun.
But I think what he means is that this "tone" word is just thrown around to distract people from what they're actually doing: Losing body fat and gaining muscle.
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47Jacqueline wrote: »There is no such thing as getting toned. Toned is not a noun.
Soreness, not pain, is a sign that your muscles are working. Pain is a sign you are overdoing it or doing it incorrectly.
Toned is very easily a noun. When a silver coin is tarnished naturally, it is "toned".
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shroodle88 wrote: »Thanks guys, I am confused now. By toned, I mean more defined muscles, which I assume means less fat (so you can see them) and more muscle. I always thought sore muscles mean that you have tiny tears in your muscles, which rebuild with increased muscle fibre/volume, i.e. you grow stronger if you are sore?
get on a structured lifting program like all pro beginner or strong lifts.
just going to curves is not going to make you more toned, you actually have to engage your muscles….0 -
shroodle88 wrote: »Thanks guys! Curves is alive & kicking in Australia :-) it's a women-only gym with a circuit program designed to train every muscle group. You work each hydraulic machine for 30 seconds (10-14 reps), then move on. You do the circuit twice with mat exercises in between for cardio, but I often do abs (and do get sore from that!) because I get enough cardio from cycling & running 2-4 times a week. You get a chip card which saves the intensity of your workout on each station, burnt cals, etc. The machines also indicate if you're working hard enough. It sounds like a pretty nifty and very safe system. I work as hard as I can. - Yet, the only thing I can ever feel the next day are my ab crunches.
ditch the machines and get on the free weights.0 -
shroodle88 wrote: »Thanks guys! Curves is alive & kicking in Australia :-) it's a women-only gym with a circuit program designed to train every muscle group. You work each hydraulic machine for 30 seconds (10-14 reps), then move on. You do the circuit twice with mat exercises in between for cardio, but I often do abs (and do get sore from that!) because I get enough cardio from cycling & running 2-4 times a week. You get a chip card which saves the intensity of your workout on each station, burnt cals, etc. The machines also indicate if you're working hard enough. It sounds like a pretty nifty and very safe system. I work as hard as I can. - Yet, the only thing I can ever feel the next day are my ab crunches.
I think I did a week trial at a Curves once...how do those hydraulic machines work - can you increase the intensity? I suspect that the intensity may not be enough for you.
Does your Curves have free weights? I think mine did not, which was one of the reasons I didn't join.0 -
TheopolisAmbroiseIII wrote: »BecomingBane wrote: »Soreness is not particularly an indicator of how hard or well you are working. Getting sore is usually an indicator that you are doing something new that your body is not accustomed to. It usually only happens the first few times you do a particular exercise and then fades until you change up the routine.
A routine should always be changing if your intention is to improve. You'll eventually stop getting sore from squatting 100lbs, but you'll also stop getting anything out of it. A good workout doesn't require soreness, but DOMS does indicate that you used (or overloaded, a requirement of hypertrophy). You don't need soreness to build, but you will build if you have soreness. You can overload without excessive DOMS, but especially at first, it's hard to do an intense workout without it.
I've been doing SL5x5 for a while now and I was more sore at the outset, but I've had mild background soreness for months. The rapid pace of increasing intensity with SL means that my quads and glutes are usually sore from squatting with the iron going up an additional 5lbs three times a week.
Not really... small increases to volume through an additional rep or reps, or sets can produce adaptations without excessive DOMS, or needing to change movement patterns.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
I think I did a week trial at a Curves once...how do those hydraulic machines work - can you increase the intensity? I suspect that the intensity may not be enough for you.
Does your Curves have free weights? I think mine did not, which was one of the reasons I didn't join.
No free weights. The machines offer more resistance the harder you push, so you cannot really outgrow them. I work as hard as I can. The program records your progress and ups the expected intensity every so often. However, I suspect it's the 30 seconds that are just too short to do more than ten reps at a time.
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47Jacqueline wrote: »
tone
tōn/
verb
past tense: toned; past participle: toned
1.
give greater strength or firmness to (the body or a part of it).
"exercise tones up the muscles"
Well, he was right. It's not a noun.
But I think what he means is that this "tone" word is just thrown around to distract people from what they're actually doing: Losing body fat and gaining muscle.
[/quote]
So, yes, toned is the past participle of to tone and is used as an adjective. Tone is the noun.
However, tone has a nice ring to it, no? (Few things are as satisfying as a bad pun) :-)0 -
shroodle88 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
I think I did a week trial at a Curves once...how do those hydraulic machines work - can you increase the intensity? I suspect that the intensity may not be enough for you.
Does your Curves have free weights? I think mine did not, which was one of the reasons I didn't join.
No free weights. The machines offer more resistance the harder you push, so you cannot really outgrow them. I work as hard as I can. The program records your progress and ups the expected intensity every so often. However, I suspect it's the 30 seconds that are just too short to do more than ten reps at a time.
Machines are not better than free weights just an FYI0 -
shroodle88 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
I think I did a week trial at a Curves once...how do those hydraulic machines work - can you increase the intensity? I suspect that the intensity may not be enough for you.
Does your Curves have free weights? I think mine did not, which was one of the reasons I didn't join.
No free weights. The machines offer more resistance the harder you push, so you cannot really outgrow them. I work as hard as I can. The program records your progress and ups the expected intensity every so often. However, I suspect it's the 30 seconds that are just too short to do more than ten reps at a time.
Machines are not better than free weights just an FYI
Correct as free weight work stabilizers muscles as well.0
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