As a bodybuilder, you no doubt have experience D.O.M.S. ~ You also know from experience that training hard despite such soreness not only results in continuous soreness, but also tends to invite a sense of over-training and eventual staleness.
It seem rather superfluous, therefore, to admonish you to avoid this kind of soreness to the extent possible, while at the same time not giving up any of your training time and abilities to engage in intense training.
Yet, despite the good sense such an admonition makes, most bodybuilders trudge on, driving even harder through the pain they should be trying to avoid.
The common assumption seems to be that such pain is some sort of a signal - 'no pain, no gain" - that growth is occurring. It is not.
Indeed, this kind of pain is a signal that a destructive process is taking place. Growth and Development slows down during such periods.
Another common fallacy among bodybuilders is that the pain they experience near the tie-ins between two muscle groups-for example, near the base of the bicep, top of the tricep, or near the armpit where the delt and pec come together - is indicitative that the exercise they are doing is going to help that particular area in some sort of "isolated" way or localized sense.
It does NOT.
The pain that is felt is merely stretched or torn connective tissue, probably resultant from the negative/eccentric phase of the applied exercise(s). Again, this kind of pain is a warning that destructive process is in the works- it does not signal growth.
By careful and progressive application of heavier and heavier eccentric movements, performed over a period of months and years, the ligaments and tendons, as well as the connective tissues near the tendons can be strengthened such that minimal pain, if any, will be felt after heavy training.
The line between adaptive stress and destructive stress is a fine line. Your bodybuilding efforts can only be maximized if you learn how to walk the gauntlet between these two states, never undertraining for fear of lost effect, and never overtraining for fear of injury, boredom and diminished gains.
No bodybuilder is immune to overtraining. Bodybuilders have a powerful will to excel. This desire to be the BEST and to WIN is healthy, but it has to be tempered with wisdom and most of all PATIENCE.