is being sore good?

[ryu007]

I've been weight-lifting for about 4 years now, and while I know that doesn't make me an expert on the subject, recently I've had to up my number of sets by a lot (doing almost 30 for back) to get the same amount of soreness when I first started training. A buddy of mine who's an amateur bodybuilder told me that if you're not sore, you didn't get a good work-out. Is that true? I'm enlisted active duty in the US Air Force, so I can't ALWAYS make time for the gym. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[Mike]

A buddy of mine who's an amateur bodybuilder told me that if you're not sore, you didn't get a good work-out. Is that true?

Completely false.  Once he's a pro, then you can listen to him.   



Scratch that, don't listen to him.

[pumpher]

Soreness is good -> it indicates muscular tissue injury; When coupled with rest, nutrition this should equate in growth

Although you can have a "good workout" without being sore, being sore indicates this with 100% certainty

[nodeal]

Soreness is good -> it indicates muscular tissue injury; When coupled with rest, nutrition this should equate in growth

Although you can have a "good workout" without being sore, being sore indicates this with 100% certainty

completely agree

[smaul]

Being sore is good to a certain extent, cripplingly sore is not good.  I also dont think its a good thing if it takes you that many sets to feel like you've had a good workout.  Try increasing intensity in other ways

eg. forced reps/forced negatives (esp on pullups)
increasing the reps by dropping the weight slightly
increasing the weights
decreasing/increasing rest between sets

etc. check out the weider principles 

[dontknowit]

Being sore can also mean a bad diet. Your body doesn't get the right amount of c/p/f so it takes a longer time to recover.

[heretostay13]

Not being sore can be a godsend. It sucks just trying to do normal daily activities with muscle soreness constantly plaguing you. Personally, I believe in muscle soreness as an indicator (not absolute though) that muscle fibers have been worked thoroughly. Now, as someone said chronic/deep muscle soreness definitely isn't a good thing and obviously indicates something is wrong in restorative measures/recovery. For me muscle soreness has always been something that lasts for 2 days usually, dissipating by the third day, and gone by the fourth (training the body part every 72-96 hours). I suppose that soreness is just one of those things that is automatically associated with growth. Like the adage "it hurts".."well, that means it's working."

[The Heckler]

Damn guys, stop overthinking this shit so much, just go the gym, push your body to the absolute limit every time (high reps, low reps, whatever), then eat like a horse (or "onlyme") and everything will take care of itself.

[pumpster]

Damn guys, stop overthinking this shit so much, just go the gym, push your body to the absolute limit every time (high reps, low reps, whatever), then eat like a horse (or "onlyme") and everything will take care of itself.

Not a bad idea, then again this is a forum and it's a good question.

[wes]

recently I've had to up my number of sets by a lot (doing almost 30 for back) to get the same amount of soreness when I first started training.

No wonder you were sore,you did 30 sets..........waaaaay too much work.

If you do 50 sets,you might get even more sore!

More is not better,better is better.

Train faster,heavier,and maybe add some sets,but you got sore because you overtrained plain and simple.

Recovery is key..........no recovery=no growth !

[The Heckler]

Not a bad idea, then again this is a forum and it's a good question.

My point is to not sweat the small stuff.

[pumpster]

My point is to not sweat the small stuff.

Don't know that this is small any more than anything else. What else would you like to discuss?

As someone said, soreness is indicative of effective training, but it's absence isn't necessarily a problem either.

Too much soreness isn't cool; higher frequency, hitting the muscle every 48-96 hours should mean "good" soreness, it's there but not overwhelming.

[darksol]

Here is what I have found through my own experience.
Sore = Body building Muscle.
If you workout hard enough to make micro tears, and you eat plenty of protein, then you will be sore
I have found that when I workout and don't eat any protein afterwards I won't be sore.
But if a couple days later I eat a few cans of tuna, I find myself sore the morning after.
I know this sounds messed up.
think of it like this.  If you bust your ass in the gym. You usually don't feel sore the same day.
If you do its because of injury.
You will feel sore the morning after because the body has finally transported nutrients to the cells for repair.
So in theory Soreness is a sign of the body repairing itself.
Its just like going in for surgery. You will be sure for several weeks because it takes that long for the body to repair.
If you are not sore you are not making the kind of gains you probably want to make.

[ryu007]

Too much soreness isn't cool; higher frequency, hitting the muscle every 48-96 hours should mean "good" soreness

Should I up my work-outs for each muscle group to twice a week then? I usually go with the "Once a week" approach. Is that not enough? I always thought the more time I gave my body to rest the better. A couple of months ago I hurt my shoulder and I couldn't do any kind of presses, I gave myself a couple of weeks off, and when I came back I was sore every single day! I thought it was 'cause I hadn't worked out in a while.

[pumpster]

Should I up my work-outs for each muscle group to twice a week then? I usually go with the "Once a week" approach. Is that not enough? I always thought the more time I gave my body to rest the better. A couple of months ago I hurt my shoulder and I couldn't do any kind of presses, I gave myself a couple of weeks off, and when I came back I was sore every single day! I thought it was 'cause I hadn't worked out in a while.

It's typical to be sore after a layoff.

Frequency of training's as controversial as the question of soreness. Most of what i consider the great bodybuilders of the last 4 decades trained each muscle at least twice weekly. I think you should try twice weekly for a couple of months and see what you think, compare with the effects from what you're doing now, then decide which is better. Or if they both work, cycle back and forth over months.

The theory about the need for long rests between workouts is just one approach, something from HIT; there're pros and cons to whether it's necessary, nothing conclusive. Longer rests between workouts is virtually the only thing about HIT that has been retained in the workouts of some today. Maybe because it's easier?

[ryu007]

Being sore is good to a certain extent, cripplingly sore is not good.  I also dont think its a good thing if it takes you that many sets to feel like you've had a good workout.  Try increasing intensity in other ways

eg. forced reps/forced negatives (esp on pullups)
increasing the reps by dropping the weight slightly
increasing the weights
decreasing/increasing rest between sets

etc. check out the weider principles 

So far so good, for the past week I've been lifting every set to complete failure (never to exceed 10) and by my second exercise my muscles are already begging for mercy!