No pain, no gain?

Gogo76

I have been lifting weights now for about 2 months. I am seeing results in body fat % and small increments of inches lost....my question is : Do you have to be sore the next day in order to get a good workout? Should I be in pain the day after lifting? Right now, I lift until failure most times not being able to complete my last set. But then the next day I don't feel it. Should I?

superwmn

My husband is SUPER into lifting and is NEVER sore. When he takes me through our twice-weekly workouts, I'm always sore.

Just depends on the person.

Charmagne

texasguy

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Gogo76

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Hmmm....I only do machines. Maybe I will start incorporating some free weights in my routines. Thanks!

Disciplined74

I'm only about a month into working with weights and I'm not sore.

I wonder if you are using too much weight on the stack? To tone you want a lower weight but more reps.

I think going to exhaustion is fine but just don't stack so much on.

I also wonder if you are lifting correctly? You may want to check with your gym, many will allow you to meet with a personal trainer for free one time. Check with him/her. They could give you some pointers and recommendations specific to your goals.

I'm feeling more tight and strong and not sore.

Be careful, be safe.

I wish you the best.

- Eva

Gogo76

I'm only about a month into working with weights and I'm not sore.

I wonder if you are using too much weight on the stack? To tone you want a lower weight but more reps.

I think going to exhaustion is fine but just don't stack so much on.

I also wonder if you are lifting correctly? You may want to check with your gym, many will allow you to meet with a personal trainer for free one time. Check with him/her. They could give you some pointers and recommendations specific to your goals.

I'm feeling more tight and strong and not sore.

Be careful, be safe.

I wish you the best.

- Eva

Pretty sure I am doing the lifting correctly, I did have a PT show me how to use each machine. I feel the same as you. I feel firmer, stronger, but not sore. Just wondering if I was supposed to be feeling sore?

eleanoreb

do you stretch a lot? if you don't stretch and still aren't sore..probably need more weight or different exercises, guess it depends ont he person also

TrainingWithTonya

Soreness is simply an indication of how fit your muscles are in comparison to the workout you are doing. Basically, if you have great muscular endurance, you won't get sore from endurance or reps to exhaustion workouts, but if you were to lift heavier for strength, you'd get sore. The same would be true if you have great muscular strength, heavy weights won't make you sore but lots of reps might. The better your muscular conditioning, the less you feel sore. I've been a trainer for over 14 years and switch up my workouts a lot so that some times I'm doing strength (heavy weight and no more then 6 reps per set) and other times I'm doing more endurance (light weight and lots of reps). I also do a lot of flexibility workouts (teach both pilates and yoga). I don't get sore from exercise anymore except the lactic acid buildup soreness that happens during the workout or I'll get DOMS in an injured area as I'm rehabbing and building that muscle back up to normal. So, like right now I'm getting sore for a couple of days in my quads and hamstrings because of rehabbing a knee injury and I'll be sore enough to stop while lifting for upper body but won't be sore the next day at all from that.

Basically, if you aren't getting sore, you can change your duration or weight, but still expect the 2nd day soreness to continue to get less and less as your muscles get use to more and more. You won't gain size so much when you don't get sore, but you won't lose the muscle you have because you are using it regularly.

Gogo76

Soreness is simply an indication of how fit your muscles are in comparison to the workout you are doing. Basically, if you have great muscular endurance, you won't get sore from endurance or reps to exhaustion workouts, but if you were to lift heavier for strength, you'd get sore. The same would be true if you have great muscular strength, heavy weights won't make you sore but lots of reps might. The better your muscular conditioning, the less you feel sore. I've been a trainer for over 14 years and switch up my workouts a lot so that some times I'm doing strength (heavy weight and no more then 6 reps per set) and other times I'm doing more endurance (light weight and lots of reps). I also do a lot of flexibility workouts (teach both pilates and yoga). I don't get sore from exercise anymore except the lactic acid buildup soreness that happens during the workout or I'll get DOMS in an injured area as I'm rehabbing and building that muscle back up to normal. So, like right now I'm getting sore for a couple of days in my quads and hamstrings because of rehabbing a knee injury and I'll be sore enough to stop while lifting for upper body but won't be sore the next day at all from that.

Basically, if you aren't getting sore, you can change your duration or weight, but still expect the 2nd day soreness to continue to get less and less as your muscles get use to more and more. You won't gain size so much when you don't get sore, but you won't lose the muscle you have because you are using it regularly.

Thanks so much for this information!! This is what I needed to hear! :flowerforyou:

binary_jester

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Hmmm....I only do machines. Maybe I will start incorporating some free weights in my routines. Thanks!

I dislike machines. Free weights engage many more muscles and i feel accomplish much more than machines and you will feel sore again.

aaddaammggoolleeaaffss

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Hmmm....I only do machines. Maybe I will start incorporating some free weights in my routines. Thanks!

I dislike machines. Free weights engage many more muscles and i feel accomplish much more than machines and you will feel sore again.

Agreed, I did the machines for a while but switched mainly to free weights as well because I feel like I am doing more with the free weights

I do still use the machines for legs though, and one machine I like for triceps

aaddaammggoolleeaaffss

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Hmmm....I only do machines. Maybe I will start incorporating some free weights in my routines. Thanks!

Check out mytrainerbob on youtube, he has some pretty good free weight workouts. I put his stuff on my phone and watch it at the gym to make sure I am doing it right and am seeing awesome results so far

bpayne78

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Hmmm....I only do machines. Maybe I will start incorporating some free weights in my routines. Thanks!

I dislike machines. Free weights engage many more muscles and i feel accomplish much more than machines and you will feel sore again.

Agreed, I did the machines for a while but switched mainly to free weights as well because I feel like I am doing more with the free weights

I do still use the machines for legs though, and one machine I like for triceps

Free weights use more of the stabilizing muscles in addition to the larger muscles. The machines take out the need to stabilize and don't work as many muscles at a time as free weights do. Wouldn't you want more "bang for your buck"???? I have done both in the past and seemed to get better results using the free weights. Now I might agree with the machines for the triceps simply because I don't think I have good form when I try to do triceps.....the machine kinda "makes me" have good form (well better form anyway).

binary_jester

Your body has great muscle memory, so it could be your body is starting to get use to the excercises, were you feeling sore before and just not feeling it now? Are you doing the same excercises in the exact same order as before? if so try reversing your workout? Do the stuff you hate doing first and the stuff you love doing last, it could totally confuse your muscles and you could feel the soreness again. Another thought is switch up from free weight to dumbells to machines.

If you are doing combinatoions of all these things already then maybe focus on dumbells 1 day, then free weight the next day depending on what muschle you are working on each day. Then a combination of machines and pulley weights another day.

Hmmm....I only do machines. Maybe I will start incorporating some free weights in my routines. Thanks!

I dislike machines. Free weights engage many more muscles and i feel accomplish much more than machines and you will feel sore again.

Agreed, I did the machines for a while but switched mainly to free weights as well because I feel like I am doing more with the free weights

I do still use the machines for legs though, and one machine I like for triceps

Free weights use more of the stabilizing muscles in addition to the larger muscles. The machines take out the need to stabilize and don't work as many muscles at a time as free weights do. Wouldn't you want more "bang for your buck"???? I have done both in the past and seemed to get better results using the free weights. Now I might agree with the machines for the triceps simply because I don't think I have good form when I try to do triceps.....the machine kinda "makes me" have good form (well better form anyway).

Skull crushers are a good start. My problem is with the weight I need to use, it puts a huge strain on my elbows. I do tri pull-downs and tri overhead-extensions, but I don't consider those machines per se (I use 190 on the stack for pull-downs and 170 for the extensions).

TrainingWithTonya

Free weights use more of the stabilizing muscles in addition to the larger muscles. The machines take out the need to stabilize and don't work as many muscles at a time as free weights do. Wouldn't you want more "bang for your buck"???? I have done both in the past and seemed to get better results using the free weights. Now I might agree with the machines for the triceps simply because I don't think I have good form when I try to do triceps.....the machine kinda "makes me" have good form (well better form anyway).

I use a combination of both machines and free weights for this reason. Yes, you get more stabilizer work with the free weights, but sometimes you want to just build strength in one muscle and not be limited by the strength of the stabilizers. Like at the end of several sets of free weights (bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, etc.), the stabilizers may not be ready to keep going but the pecs aren't worked hard enough yet, so I'll hit the machines (chest press, pec dec, etc.) to finish them off.

binary_jester

Free weights use more of the stabilizing muscles in addition to the larger muscles. The machines take out the need to stabilize and don't work as many muscles at a time as free weights do. Wouldn't you want more "bang for your buck"???? I have done both in the past and seemed to get better results using the free weights. Now I might agree with the machines for the triceps simply because I don't think I have good form when I try to do triceps.....the machine kinda "makes me" have good form (well better form anyway).

I use a combination of both machines and free weights for this reason. Yes, you get more stabilizer work with the free weights, but sometimes you want to just build strength in one muscle and not be limited by the strength of the stabilizers. Like at the end of several sets of free weights (bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, etc.), the stabilizers may not be ready to keep going but the pecs aren't worked hard enough yet, so I'll hit the machines (chest press, pec dec, etc.) to finish them off.

One thing I have noticed...at the end of a hard pec workout, I can finish with declines and go at almost full strength.

TrainingWithTonya

Free weights use more of the stabilizing muscles in addition to the larger muscles. The machines take out the need to stabilize and don't work as many muscles at a time as free weights do. Wouldn't you want more "bang for your buck"???? I have done both in the past and seemed to get better results using the free weights. Now I might agree with the machines for the triceps simply because I don't think I have good form when I try to do triceps.....the machine kinda "makes me" have good form (well better form anyway).

I use a combination of both machines and free weights for this reason. Yes, you get more stabilizer work with the free weights, but sometimes you want to just build strength in one muscle and not be limited by the strength of the stabilizers. Like at the end of several sets of free weights (bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, etc.), the stabilizers may not be ready to keep going but the pecs aren't worked hard enough yet, so I'll hit the machines (chest press, pec dec, etc.) to finish them off.

One thing I have noticed...at the end of a hard pec workout, I can finish with declines and go at almost full strength.

Yep, because declines use more of the large pec muscles then the small delts, bi's and tri's. It's all in how you engage the muscle fibers.