Many people use soreness as an indicator of recovery from weight lifting workouts. Others believe they need to be sore from a workout in order to make progress and build muscle.
Is soreness really that important?
If you’re not sore, does that mean you are fully recovered from a weight training workout?
Let’s talk about soreness today and put an end to all the misinformation. It’s time to learn the truth about muscle soreness.
Some Muscle Groups Just Won’t Get Sore…
No matter what some people do, a certain muscle group won’t get sore. For example, Bob may do an experiment to see if he can make his shoulders sore. He does 50 sets of lateral raises just to see if they will get sore.
What happens?
His deltoid muscles never get sore no matter what he does. He switches exercises, raises the intensity, changes the frequency of workouts but nothing really makes his shoulders sore.
But for some reason, his shoulders continue to grow.
It’s been proven over and over that soreness is not an indicator of progress or building muscle. You just don’t need soreness to build muscle. So stop trying to make yourself sore from every workout. It just doesn’t matter.
So… If I’m Not Sore From A Workout, Does That Mean I Can Workout?
If a muscle isn’t sore, it must be ready to work again. Right? WRONG. As explained above, some muscle groups never get sore. Never. That doesn’t mean you should work that muscle group every day.
The frequency of your workouts really affects soreness.
For example, someone who only works a given muscle group once every 10 days is most likely going to have soreness in that muscle group after working it hard once every 10 days. That’s a very infrequent workout for that muscle.
Someone who works a muscle group once every 2 days probably will never get soreness in that muscle group after the first workout or two.
Does that mean the person working the muscle group once every 2 days is recovering faster and not doing enough damage to the muscle to induce growth? Does that mean the person working the muscle once every 10 days is inducing the proper stimulus for muscle growth? NO and NO.
All it means is that the person working the muscle group more frequently just isn’t feeling the damage to the muscle as well as the infrequent trainer.
So Why Do We Get Soreness In A Muscle Group Anyway?
Not too much is known about delayed onset muscle soreness… even the scientific community can’t come to any conclusions about muscle soreness.
We do know a little bit about it, though:
We believe muscle soreness is caused by irritated nerves during micro trauma to the muscle during weight training. Over some time, the nerves lose sensitivity even though the muscle continues to experience micro trauma.
So that’s all it really is… this means that soreness isn’t really a good indicator of recovery or progress being made with each workout.
What’s The REAL Measure Of Progress And What Tells You That You Are Recovered From A Workout?
With or without soreness, you can be making great progress with regards to building muscle mass.
The real measure of progress from EACH workout is strength. Did you gain strength from the last workout?
If you simply do the same weight every workout, you’re not getting anywhere. Your body isn’t going to change unless you are increasing the weight you are lifting.
Monitor your strength gains and stop worrying about soreness. If you aren’t getting stronger after several workouts, you need to change something. The WLC System will help you know exactly what you need to change.
So start using strength as a measure of recovery from a workout instead of soreness. Forget about soreness. It won’t tell you whether or not you’re recovered from a workout. Strength will.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I have made a new years resolution to gain at least 15lbs during the course of this year. The only problem is I have tired this before and have got no where with it. Do you have any suggestions on different things I should be doing to gain 15lbs of muscle mass or more?
Can you tell more more about yourself? Past experience with weight training? What have you tried before? I can definitely help you reach that goal THIS YEAR… maybe in the first 6 months or sooner.
I have never used soreness as an indicator of workout effectiveness. I work out intensely every time I train, but I am rarely sore after a workout. Yet I am stronger and more muscular than I have ever been (at 54 years old). This is how I know that my workouts are effective.
Soreness will happen after a longer break, after changing exercises, and for low frequency workout programs. For example, if you only workout each muscle group once per week you will most likely get sore unless you use low volume and low intensity. If you use higher intensity and infrequent workouts, you will get sore more often than not. Changing exercises may also lead to more soreness. BUT… soreness really doesn’t mean much. There’s no proof that soreness does anything for muscle or strength.