Muscle Soreness or Not?

[NitroTech]

Curious to everyones opinion on this. Usually my workouts lead to mild muscle soreness unless I've recently changed my routine and it may be slightly more. Recently I changed my tempo to a slower negative, a count of 4, and subsequently my weights have dropped. With this tempo change the burn and contracts are way better but I'm finding I'm not as sore as usual. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with this tempo change.

Looking on your opinions of whether you guage the effectiveness of your workout by the soreness that follows or not. I was always told if you're not sore you didn't work out hard enough! Experience and opinions please.

[Ecto]

I used to do the same thing. being sore doesn't do squat for ya or judging your workout on being sore. I wasted years working out like that and gained absolutely nothing. But i was never strong to begin with. Now all i do is train for strength and the muscles come with it. just my lowly .02

[kazman68]

I've been going at it 20+ yrs...I don't get as sore as I used to, but I don't push quite as hard either, I've found the Vitamin C at 3 grams a day + the extreme stretching I do..really reduces the soreness, I might feel it a bit the next day, but I remember when I first started, walking up the steps at school and being sore from ass to ankles after a heavy squat day. I don't think you have to be so sore to have had a good workout, especially if your eating,right and getting enough rest, and of course gear helps in this area too, decreasing recovery time.

[SisterSteel]

I NEVER base my workout's success on whether or not I'm sore. In fact if I'm eating right, stretching, foam rolling, etc I'm rarely getting very sore anymore. I don't have that crippling soreness and you really don't want that.

[red crayon]

I usually judge my work out by what the mirror tells me. The mirror doesnt know how sore I am or am not. Growth is sometimes painful but not always. If you needed to be in pain for growth to happen kids would always be in a state of constant pain.

[Lunchbox]

If I have a good case of the swamp ass from sweating... thats a good workout.

;)

[malaki26]

If I have a good case of the swamp ass from sweating... thats a good workout.

;)
lol

[bigmac]

Anyone think soreness is directly related to time between last workout (time off)?

[zedhed]

^^^For me def YES!^^^

[Ironguruera]

Anyone think soreness is directly related to time between last workout (time off)?

For sure. If the soreness limits rom u need more time off before u re train that muscle IMHO.

I feel soreness each session is not a must however I do use it as bio-feedback that its time to change it up. I also judge by stagnating lifts that its time to mix it up.

[Bruiser]

As a powerlifter, I know that when I look back and see when I've plateaued... it was always the same time that I wasn't sore from my training. So personally I know that for me and strength gains, muscle soreness and progress goes hand in hand. It lets me know if I'm pushing myself hard enough or not.

[bigmac]

Yeah, I agree. Sometimes it hard to take a few days off and sometime its hard to get re-motivated after a few days off. Listening to your body and finding that happy medium between overtraining and undertraining is key (for me).

[c/s]

for sum reason i dont feel sore until 2 days later..why is that? is anybody like this? unless i do legs. then yeah ill feel it the next day walking like a old man

[kazman68]

for sum reason i dont feel sore until 2 days later..why is that? is anybody like this? unless i do legs. then yeah ill feel it the next day walking like a old man

Sounds like DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness

[Fit Guru]

My legs get sore every time . No ifs ands or buts. I do gauge soreness on wheather the WO was beneficial. If I have a bad WO and I know it then I'm not surprised when I'm not sore.