is it okay to NOT feel sore after lifting?

jackieatx

I am a newbie to lifting, I had been doing light weights at home but I felt it was time to join a gym. So I did some leg presses, chest presses, etc. It felt great but I'm not sore. Is this a bad thing? Shouldn't I be tearing muscle for new growth? Wouldn't that make me sore? Please enlighten me

nichole325

Are you lifting heavy? You should be lifting enough to where it is pretty hard to do more than 3 reps.

GemmaRowlands

I think you can tell when your muscles have been worked. I don't think you necessarily need to feel physical pain in order to make an improvement, but I also think it stands to reason that the more you push yourself, the faster the process is going to be.

DopeItUp

It's normal for soreness to become very short lived and/or absent after consistently training the same exercises for long periods of time. As a newbie though, I would think you'd be sore for at least several days after just starting a new regime. Next time you go, try upping the weights slowly.

Also as a side note, you didn't mention when you started lifting. If it was just today then that makes more sense. Usually you get DOMS and you'll be sore the next day or more after working out. Not immediately after.

kgprice11

Honestly if you have been lifting lightly for awhile and then just went to the gym and lifted heavy as you said, you should feel a "burn". never do you want to tear a muscle, that is very painful and will stop you from working out for awhile as well as completely set you back. I would track in a book or what not of the weight you are lifting and if it feels "light' then you increase your reps or you increase the weight but keep the same reps.

shelbynicole32

I have been having the same problem even though I dont think that I could handle more weight,
so instead of adding more weight I intensified my lifting and did new things to get that soreness that made me feel accomplished.

Angie_1MR

Just because you're not sore, it doesn't mean you didn't do any damage. There are body parts I can ALWAYS make sore, but some body parts I can rarely make sore. I always feel better when I wake up the next morning sore, but regardless, I know if I lift heavy I've done damage!

kgprice11

Are you lifting heavy? You should be lifting enough to where it is pretty hard to do more than 3 reps.

Sorry but you are totally wrong here, the amount of reps and weight depends on what you are trying to get out of that session.

LesterBlackstone

Are you lifting heavy? You should be lifting enough to where it is pretty hard to do more than 3 reps.

This is not only incorrect, but irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

People who are new to lifting should never be using weights anywhere near their 3RM.

jackieatx

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

skingszoo

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

Up those weights and lower the reps if you are wanting muscle growth/strength. Also you can lift (well I can) alot more with the machines then you can with free weights. Dont be scared to up them. If you cant do it then you can always lower back down.

phinphanbill26

If you're not sore, then you just went through the motions. Increase the weights and "work" next time. Lifting should make you breathe heavy and sweat.

neverstray

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

Your last 3 for each exercise should be so hard and burn so much that you want to die. If it's not like that, that's why you're not sore. You may need more weight. Doing anywhere from 10 to 15 reps is fine, but your last 3 should hurt bad.

jackieatx

I was doing lunges and squats at home every three or so days with sissy two pound weights.

I will start tracking, thank you!

builtforlife

Get a weight that you cant lift any more than 12 times and lift with that. Do like 4 sets. Get sore.

FlyeredUp

Just because you're not sore, it doesn't mean you didn't do any damage. There are body parts I can ALWAYS make sore, but some body parts I can rarely make sore. I always feel better when I wake up the next morning sore, but regardless, I know if I lift heavy I've done damage!

This, no need to add anything.

koyongi

As mentioned above, soreness is not necessarily a requirement, or even desirable, to make progress. If you're just starting off and you're going pretty light, you may or may not get sore. If you don't, that's fine, and if you do, it will likely lessen as you progress. Measure your progress based on your goals, not on soreness.

tjlarkin

It may take a day or two to feel the pain.

JNick77

Your initial week or two of lifting will leave some soreness but after a while that soreness should go away and be replaced by some fatigue or a feeling of some tightness or even feeling swollen depending on what you've been doing.

Sarauk2sf

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

Did you feel like you were getting to 'failure' at the end of each set?

JNick77

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

Where did you get that programming from? Why that weight?

nichole325

Are you lifting heavy? You should be lifting enough to where it is pretty hard to do more than 3 reps.

This is not only incorrect, but irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

People who are new to lifting should never be using weights anywhere near their 3RM.

I have no idea what a 3RM is and I could be using the wrong terminology which doesn't mean you have to say im irresponsible. I follow the program on bodybuilding.com and use free weights of 20lbs which is heavy for ME and I'm told to do 3 sets of 10-12 and by the last set I am struggling and definitely feel the burn. I see nothing irresponsible or dangerous about that...especially because I am alive and well and definitely seeing results. Thanks though

LesterBlackstone

Are you lifting heavy? You should be lifting enough to where it is pretty hard to do more than 3 reps.

This is not only incorrect, but irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

People who are new to lifting should never be using weights anywhere near their 3RM.

I have no idea what a 3RM is and I could be using the wrong terminology which doesn't mean you have to say im irresponsible. I follow the program on bodybuilding.com and use free weights of 20lbs which is heavy for ME and I'm told to do 3 sets of 10-12 and by the last set I am struggling and definitely feel the burn. I see nothing irresponsible or dangerous about that...especially because I am alive and well and definitely seeing results. Thanks though

3RM = Three rep max.

3 sets of 10-12 is a whole lot different than 3 reps.

JNick77

Are you lifting heavy? You should be lifting enough to where it is pretty hard to do more than 3 reps.

This is not only incorrect, but irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

People who are new to lifting should never be using weights anywhere near their 3RM.

I have no idea what a 3RM is and I could be using the wrong terminology which doesn't mean you have to say im irresponsible. I follow the program on bodybuilding.com and use free weights of 20lbs which is heavy for ME and I'm told to do 3 sets of 10-12 and by the last set I am struggling and definitely feel the burn. I see nothing irresponsible or dangerous about that...especially because I am alive and well and definitely seeing results. Thanks though

You mentioned that you should be lifting where it's hard to do more than 3-reps, that's near a 3-rep max (3RM). But you say you do sets of 10-12 reps?

I don't think that it's necessarily irresponsible because there are beginner programs that you have working in sets of 3 to 5 reps. Although not all exercises should be performed in such a manner.

jolarocknrolla

You could easily double the weight on the leg press. If you don't feel anything the next day go up 5 pounds in weight on all the other exercises. If that's too easy go up in weight again the next time and find out where your failure-point is.

jackieatx

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

Where did you get that programming from? Why that weight?

A bit, on the chest press and leg extensions for sure. And definitely on the punches I did with ten pound freeweights.

I just asked a guy who worked there to help me set up a quick program, he didn't specify the amount of weight though.

JNick77

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

Where did you get that programming from? Why that weight?

A bit, on the chest press and leg extensions for sure. And definitely on the punches I did with ten pound freeweights.

I just asked a guy who worked there to help me set up a quick program, he didn't specify the amount of weight though.

Unfortunately at the gyms even guys with "credentials" don't the difference between a bench press and a floor press. I'd recommend going and getting the "Starting Strength" book by Mark Rippletoe. He does a good job of explaining things and helps you setup a basic routine, great for beginners.

contingencyplan

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

You should, at the very least, be working with your bodyweight on the leg press (to start). Bear in mind your legs are used to lifting your body weight. Thinking you can do 20 lbs to give them any sort of workout at all is a joke.

jackieatx

I did 3 sets of 10 at 10lbs and then 2 sets of 10 at 25 on the chest press, 20 on leg press 3 of 10, and a few other much lighter ones of 5 or 10. I guess I feel like I should be sore after all that. I don't really know what weight is proper to do.

You should, at the very least, be working with your bodyweight on the leg press (to start). Bear in mind your legs are used to lifting your body weight. Thinking you can do 20 lbs to give them any sort of workout at all is a joke.

No need to get your panties in a bunch, that's why I asked.

kylTKe

First of all, weight lifting is not hard. It's just confusing for many people.

These are your problems: You're doing full body workouts. You aren't going to failure. You're probably lifting too light. You're not doing enough sets. You may be resting too much.

Here's some advice about lifting: Don't go into the gym and randomly pick exercises. You should try to know what you're doing, and it should be part of your split. Many people do the following 3 day split (Chest & Triceps, Back & Biceps, Legs). For example:

Monday: Chest & Triceps
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Back & Biceps
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Legs

As you can see, you're mixing legs (leg press) and chest (chest press). Most people don't mix legs with anything, because leg exercises generally don't hit other muscle groups that well (except for lower back and core). If you mix chest and triceps, you will likely still be hitting chest with any tricep exercise and vice versa. Especially if you're doing compound movements, which means you're hitting more than one muscle group (chest press hits chest and arms). As opposed to isolation movements where you only hit one muscle group (curls only hit arms).

Here are some things you are (or may) be doing wrong, and how you can correct them.

1. Poor Form: Lift the weight in a controlled fashion, at a medium pace. Focus on the muscles being used, and stick to proper form. If you can't get another rep, don't sacrifice form; simply put the weight down.

2. Lifting too Light / Not Going to Failure: The beginner advice is to stay in the 8-12 rep range. If you can do more than 12 reps in a set you should slightly increase the weight. Every time you can do more than 12, increase it again. Eventually you won't be able to do 12, which is a good weight for you. Stick with that until you can do more than 12 again. Also, you should always go to failure, or close to it (with upper body exercises). Don't do a preset number of reps and then stop, keep going until you can't do another rep with proper form (or almost can't). Of course, if you do more than 12 you need to increase the weight.

3. Too much rest. Generally you should rest 60 seconds between upper body sets. Don't rest more than that (as a rule of thumb).

4. Doing Full Body Workouts: Beginners (and most people) should not do full body workouts. A common 3 day split is Chest & Triceps, Back & Biceps, and Legs. An example of a chest/triceps day is: (Bench Press (3 sets), Tricep pulldown (3 sets), Incline Bench Press (3 sets), Dips (3 sets)).

Using this advice, you should do about 12-15 sets of 3-5 different exercises, and then you're done. So a gym session should only last ~20 minutes (25-45 seconds per set with 1 minute of rest in between).

It may seem a little overwhelming. Many people just want to go to the gym randomly, pick some random exercises and do an arbitrary number of sets with an arbitrary number of reps. That doesn't work. You don't need a personal trainer or anything (be your own trainer), but just do what I do, which is spend 10 minutes finding 4-5 exercises for each of your splits and write them down on a sticky note. Bring the note with you to the gym. Do those exercises, no big deal. Do the same workouts for a while (maybe 3 months), adjusting the weight as needed. Here's a great website for finding exercises categorized by muscle group: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Just a final note: With legs you should do a higher rep range and not necessarily go to failure (although still get close). Higher means about 15-25 reps per set. And as someone (not so nicely) mentioned before, you should definitely be lifting heavier on the leg press. But you'll figure that out in no time. Weight lifting is more confusing than it is difficult, just try not to underestimate yourself. Good luck in your endeavors.

Sarauk2sf

4. Doing Full Body Workouts: Beginners (and most people) should not do full body workouts. Most people have splits of Chest & Triceps, Back & Biceps, and Legs. An example of a chest/triceps day is: (Bench Press (3 sets), Tricep pulldown (3 sets), Incline Bench Press (3 sets), Dips (3 sets)).

Taking out the rest of the post that is not relevent to my question.

Out of interest, why do you say that beginners (and most people) should not do full body workouts? I do a split workout for convenience with my schedule - but am not sure why that would be generally preferred over a full body workout.