No soreness

If I don’t wake up sore the day following starting a new strength training workout does that mean I didn’t go hard enough?
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Replies

  • blopmiyers
    blopmiyers Posts: 195 Member
    Soreness isn't an indicator of progress. Are you progressing in weights? If yes then you are getting stronger.
  • Chic_geek31
    Chic_geek31 Posts: 34 Member
    blopmiyers wrote: »
    Soreness isn't an indicator of progress. Are you progressing in weights? If yes then you are getting stronger.

    It’s my first time exercising( in years) I’m not sure what what my starting point should be
  • blopmiyers
    blopmiyers Posts: 195 Member
    blopmiyers wrote: »
    Soreness isn't an indicator of progress. Are you progressing in weights? If yes then you are getting stronger.

    It’s my first time exercising( in years) I’m not sure what what my starting point should be


    Ah welcome back!

    There's a stickied thread on the forum that would allow you to choose whichever program may fit your needs. Bodyweight, dumbell only, etc

    If you have any questions regarding exercise in general feel free to let me know.
  • dpr73
    dpr73 Posts: 495 Member
    If I don’t wake up sore the day following starting a new strength training workout does that mean I didn’t go hard enough?
    I disagree with the people that say soreness isn’t an indicator. It may not always be the case, but in my experience if you’re not sore you are doing something wrong. You should be experiencing total muscle fatigue when you finish a set (you can’t lift anymore) in the 6-8 rep range if you are doing strength training or 8-12 rep range for Hypertrophy.

    I disagree. I get DOMS after I take a week off from the gym but following my exact same training protocol. Sometimes conditioned muscles don’t respond the same as less conditioned muscles. I’m not sure this is the OPs case but your conclusion is an N of 1 (well so is mine, but it is clear that the experience is therefore variable)
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    If I don’t wake up sore the day following starting a new strength training workout does that mean I didn’t go hard enough?
    I disagree with the people that say soreness isn’t an indicator. It may not always be the case, but in my experience if you’re not sore you are doing something wrong. You should be experiencing total muscle fatigue when you finish a set (you can’t lift anymore) in the 6-8 rep range if you are doing strength training or 8-12 rep range for Hypertrophy.

    I'm also going to jump on the disagree train here. I only get super sore when I change my program or if I had some time off due to illness or whatever. Otherwise, even when I go to failure etc etc, I may get some discomfort - like right now, I can feel my glutes but it's not that 'i can't sit on the toilet' kind of feeling that can happen.

    I like to feel like I worked the muscles and I definitely do feel it after each workout (unless I was faffing around and not pushing myself), but it's not to the point of DOMS.

    This is similar to my experience. According to Helms, gains in strength are the best indicator of progress - blinding glimpse of the obvious there lol, but not fatigue or soreness.

    Every set to failure (there is a place for that) minimizes the power able to be generated for the next set. If that's the goal for that particular workout, great. Not all the time though. I just started hitting the weights again after a month off for PT, got a great "pumped" workout, feel great, no DOMS. I call that a win lol.

    Interestingly, Helm, Shoenfeld and Isaetel have collaborated on study on optimum training frequency. (it might have been a meta-analysis. If I have time later I'll try and find it). There is a great podcast with Israetel where he talks extensively about his work with Minimum Effective Volume (MEV) and Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV) for hypertrophy. (I'll try to find that too)

    He talks about volume being the main driver of hypertrophy and training to failure causing excessive need for recovery and having a detrimental effect on training frequency. The concept is not a complicated one. If you are trying to get muscles to grow, the more frequently you can work them, recover, then work them again, the more they will grow.

    He refers to training to failure as increasing fatigue and the need for recovery exponentially vs. training 1 to 2 reps shy of failure. So, training 1 to 2 reps shy of failure more frequently will be optimum for hypertrophy. Because physiology.... :D
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    mmapags wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    If I don’t wake up sore the day following starting a new strength training workout does that mean I didn’t go hard enough?
    I disagree with the people that say soreness isn’t an indicator. It may not always be the case, but in my experience if you’re not sore you are doing something wrong. You should be experiencing total muscle fatigue when you finish a set (you can’t lift anymore) in the 6-8 rep range if you are doing strength training or 8-12 rep range for Hypertrophy.

    I'm also going to jump on the disagree train here. I only get super sore when I change my program or if I had some time off due to illness or whatever. Otherwise, even when I go to failure etc etc, I may get some discomfort - like right now, I can feel my glutes but it's not that 'i can't sit on the toilet' kind of feeling that can happen.

    I like to feel like I worked the muscles and I definitely do feel it after each workout (unless I was faffing around and not pushing myself), but it's not to the point of DOMS.

    This is similar to my experience. According to Helms, gains in strength are the best indicator of progress - blinding glimpse of the obvious there lol, but not fatigue or soreness.

    Every set to failure (there is a place for that) minimizes the power able to be generated for the next set. If that's the goal for that particular workout, great. Not all the time though. I just started hitting the weights again after a month off for PT, got a great "pumped" workout, feel great, no DOMS. I call that a win lol.

    Interestingly, Helm, Shoenfeld and Isaetel have collaborated on study on optimum training frequency. (it might have been a meta-analysis. If I have time later I'll try and find it). There is a great podcast with Israetel where he talks extensively about his work with Minimum Effective Volume (MEV) and Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV) for hypertrophy. (I'll try to find that too)

    He talks about volume being the main driver of hypertrophy and training to failure causing excessive need for recovery and having a detrimental effect on training frequency. The concept is not a complicated one. If you are trying to get muscles to grow, the more frequently you can work them, recover, then work them again, the more they will grow.

    He refers to training to failure as increasing fatigue and the need for recovery exponentially vs. training 1 to 2 reps shy of failure. So, training 1 to 2 reps shy of failure more frequently will be optimum for hypertrophy. Because physiology.... :D

    I may have heard those already. They (or similarly titled podcasts) are what led me to examine the volume I was pushing each workout and the frequency per week I was doing that. What tipped me off was that my legs (push) were beginning to feel increasingly weak while pull always felt like I wasn't doing enough.

    On squats I was going to within 1 rep of failure every workout, every set. Pull I usually had 2-3 reps left in the tank. With push recovery was slow, 2-3 days before I felt ready to repeat, and with pull I was completely fresh the next day. Go figure :D

    I had a lot to learn, and still do. :)
  • Scotty2HotPie
    Scotty2HotPie Posts: 143 Member
    mmapags wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    If I don’t wake up sore the day following starting a new strength training workout does that mean I didn’t go hard enough?
    I disagree with the people that say soreness isn’t an indicator. It may not always be the case, but in my experience if you’re not sore you are doing something wrong. You should be experiencing total muscle fatigue when you finish a set (you can’t lift anymore) in the 6-8 rep range if you are doing strength training or 8-12 rep range for Hypertrophy.

    I'm also going to jump on the disagree train here. I only get super sore when I change my program or if I had some time off due to illness or whatever. Otherwise, even when I go to failure etc etc, I may get some discomfort - like right now, I can feel my glutes but it's not that 'i can't sit on the toilet' kind of feeling that can happen.

    I like to feel like I worked the muscles and I definitely do feel it after each workout (unless I was faffing around and not pushing myself), but it's not to the point of DOMS.

    This is similar to my experience. According to Helms, gains in strength are the best indicator of progress - blinding glimpse of the obvious there lol, but not fatigue or soreness.

    Every set to failure (there is a place for that) minimizes the power able to be generated for the next set. If that's the goal for that particular workout, great. Not all the time though. I just started hitting the weights again after a month off for PT, got a great "pumped" workout, feel great, no DOMS. I call that a win lol.

    Interestingly, Helm, Shoenfeld and Isaetel have collaborated on study on optimum training frequency. (it might have been a meta-analysis. If I have time later I'll try and find it). There is a great podcast with Israetel where he talks extensively about his work with Minimum Effective Volume (MEV) and Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV) for hypertrophy. (I'll try to find that too)

    He talks about volume being the main driver of hypertrophy and training to failure causing excessive need for recovery and having a detrimental effect on training frequency. The concept is not a complicated one. If you are trying to get muscles to grow, the more frequently you can work them, recover, then work them again, the more they will grow.

    He refers to training to failure as increasing fatigue and the need for recovery exponentially vs. training 1 to 2 reps shy of failure. So, training 1 to 2 reps shy of failure more frequently will be optimum for hypertrophy. Because physiology.... :D

    Would love to read or listen to this