If I don't feel sore, that means workout isn't working?

No, you don't always need to hurt after exercising. I personally haven't had pain after exercise for years, and I have excellent muscle mass and strength.

But what are your goals exactly? What are you trying to accomplish with your exercise?

I don't remember the last time I had DOMS and I've been running a progressive overload program for a while now. There are plenty of articles indicating DOMS is not a sign of a good workout. If start incorporating new lifts that engage muscles you haven't used you may get them for awhile, but it will likely go away.

My husband -- who is not fit but likes to work out sometimes -- often strives to be sore after a workout. He is always telling me that this means he's gotten a good workout. This is a misconception. Soreness does not always equate with an exceptional workout. However, in my husband's case, he had always felt sore following exercise because he only exercises a couple times a month. For him, soreness has always been how his body recognizes exercise. For me, I find that I am sore when I have taken a break from my routine for awhile or when I make a significant change to my routine. But soreness for not indicate a good workout for me.

DOMs is not an indicator of whether or not you've had a good workout. It is an indicator that you are using muscles you haven't used in awhile or are using differently. People who exercise regularly don't get DOMs unless they're doing something different or new that they don't normally do.

I only get DOMs when I've had to take some time off due to injury or whatever and then get back to it, or if I'm doing something that is not part of my normal routine. For example, the other day I went out for a walk to check out a new trail in our township...it runs along the side of a large hill and has a lot of climbing. It was just a walk, an not particularly strenuous, particularly relative to my usual training and such...but my calves were pretty dang sore yesterday because doing a lot of uphill walking is outside of anything I normally do...but I was just walking my dog, so it wasn't some kind of crazy workout or anything.

vm007 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm on WK - 30 of working out. I'm not a beginner but I've started focusing on joint health, functional strength and longevity instead of having big numbers on my big 3 (DL, Squat and Bench)

I do 4 sets with reps ranging from 6-8
I do upper and lower days
I track everything, so I can compare and increase weight accordingly.

However, there are days when I don't feel sore and DOMS is absent does that mean I'm not working out hard enough?

My sleep is good, my calories are in deficit (trying to lose 5 kg) and during day, I move around.

Need to push heavier and much more reps?

For me: lifting heavier = more power for my sport. That is hard to give up. But there are limits how far one can go. I wonder if a pyramid one day a week could help maintain strength while you cut and maintain volume with for frequency or…