Question about post-workout soreness

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ArizonaToast
ArizonaToast Posts: 231 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
This question is not... about relieving soreness nor checking for injuries.

My current goal is to use bodyweight exercises to build strength. I have been doing lots of squats, dumbbell rows, modified pushups, calf raises and planking for a couple of weeks. At first my body was super sore the following day while my muscles rebuilt.

I am experiencing less soreness now obviously because my body is adjusting to the exercises.

When I do not feel sore, I worry that I am not making my body progress.

Here is my question...if my goal is to gain strength, do I need to start making my exercises more difficult to achieve that same soreness?

If I am not sore...am I still getting stronger?

Thoughts and knowledge appreciated.

Replies

  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
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    (1) For the most part, the soreness comes from the first time or times you put a muscle through a particular movement. In some cases, if you work it SUPER hard (too hard?), you'll feel the pain later on. More likely it will manifest as a little discomfort with more fatigue.

    (2) In order to make progress, yes, you need to make the exercises more difficult. Have you considered a bodyweight program like You Are Your Own Gym/Body By You or Convict Conditioning? They will work you through progressions on various exercises like planks and pushups so you can indeed keep making them harder and making yourself stronger. :)
  • ArizonaToast
    ArizonaToast Posts: 231 Member
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    cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »
    (1) For the most part, the soreness comes from the first time or times you put a muscle through a particular movement. In some cases, if you work it SUPER hard (too hard?), you'll feel the pain later on. More likely it will manifest as a little discomfort with more fatigue.

    (2) In order to make progress, yes, you need to make the exercises more difficult. Have you considered a bodyweight program like You Are Your Own Gym/Body By You or Convict Conditioning? They will work you through progressions on various exercises like planks and pushups so you can indeed keep making them harder and making yourself stronger. :)

    Thanks for the answer. It makes perfect sense. I am currently reading "You Are Your Own Gym".
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
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    Great post.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
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    cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »
    (1) For the most part, the soreness comes from the first time or times you put a muscle through a particular movement. In some cases, if you work it SUPER hard (too hard?), you'll feel the pain later on. More likely it will manifest as a little discomfort with more fatigue.

    Unfortunately, #1 is wrong for I'd say most people. Most will get sore with a certain level of incremental increase, which is different amounts for all people...you cant reliably say how much, its more trial and error. And you get sore many many more times than the first times you go through a movement, it is increasing intensity and repetition that matters, a little bit of soreness with increases in weight or reps is very normal.

    You don't have to be sore to gain muscle though. The more regularly you train, and the more you fine tune it, and the younger you are, the easier it is to find the zone of enough resistance to build muscle, but not so much so as to get much soreness. As you age, the soreness gets more and more common as well. On the other side of the coin there are also some people who almost never get sore and will think this is normal for everyone...which could be the above poster included.

    Different muscles I find also react differently, and feel different: I like the feel of chest and quad soreness, but I hate hamstring and calf soreness. Quads are relatively easy to get sore and pleasant, while hamstring soreness is difficult for me to get, but pretty debilitatingly painful when I do. So if I get my quad sore thats generally a good workout, but if I start to feel the hamstrings, I've probably overdone it. It's hard for me to do a single weightlifting workout without feeling some level of soreness 24-48hrs later. You have to learn your body's reactions, and try to find your zone of enough, but not too much.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
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    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish wrote: »
    cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »
    (1) For the most part, the soreness comes from the first time or times you put a muscle through a particular movement. In some cases, if you work it SUPER hard (too hard?), you'll feel the pain later on. More likely it will manifest as a little discomfort with more fatigue.

    Unfortunately, #1 is wrong for I'd say most people. Most will get sore with a certain level of incremental increase, which is different amounts for all people...you cant reliably say how much, its more trial and error. And you get sore many many more times than the first times you go through a movement, it is increasing intensity and repetition that matters, a little bit of soreness with increases in weight or reps is very normal.

    You don't have to be sore to gain muscle though. The more regularly you train, and the more you fine tune it, and the younger you are, the easier it is to find the zone of enough resistance to build muscle, but not so much so as to get much soreness. As you age, the soreness gets more and more common as well. On the other side of the coin there are also some people who almost never get sore and will think this is normal for everyone...which could be the above poster included.

    Different muscles I find also react differently, and feel different: I like the feel of chest and quad soreness, but I hate hamstring and calf soreness. Quads are relatively easy to get sore and pleasant, while hamstring soreness is difficult for me to get, but pretty debilitatingly painful when I do. So if I get my quad sore thats generally a good workout, but if I start to feel the hamstrings, I've probably overdone it. It's hard for me to do a single weightlifting workout without feeling some level of soreness 24-48hrs later. You have to learn your body's reactions, and try to find your zone of enough, but not too much.

    I think this has been the key for me--the intensity. I'll be sore the first time I work a muscle a particular way, and then the first time I hit sort of my maximum intensity (like I did last night on, of all things, the lat pulldown). As long as I don't take a break, I'll get away with just some discomfort and *lots* of fatigue after that by maintaining the same intensity. It's also why so many marathoners get crazy leg DOMS after a race (since with a marathon you don't usually train the whole distance).

    And yeah, I have a tendency to overstate it a *little* because I find the whole "if you're not in pain/puking you didn't work hard enough"/"no one ever regretted a workout" attitude--even if it is in semi-jest--dangerous and off-putting.
  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
    edited June 2015
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    DOMS is not an indicator of how effective or efficient the work out was.

    If you want to get stronger yes you will need to continually challenge the body by making the exercise progressively harder.
  • jrodri0105
    jrodri0105 Posts: 91 Member
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    I have been taking magnesium supplement at bed time (ZMA). It has helped with the muscle soreness. I take it at bed time because it helps with sleep too. Although that is not the receiving i'm taking it. I have been able to increase the amount of workouts I do because it has reduced my muscle soreness.
  • charlesmauch
    charlesmauch Posts: 58 Member
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    See this wikipedia article.

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