Feeling the burn doesn't mean being sore afterwards. When my trainer asks me if I "feel the burn," he's referring to feeling a burning sensation in my muscles as I'm lifting, not being sore afterwards. And I do feel that burning sensation when I'm lifting, but I'm not always sore afterwards. Sometimes the burning will be so bad that I'll be sure I'm going to be sore afterwards and then I'm not. Sometimes I won't feel the burn much at all but will be completely sore afterwards.
For example--dead lifts are really easy for me. I can do them with a lot of weight and I can do them for a long time--my grip will give out long before my hamstrings will. It's hard for me to get to the point of failure with them. But if I do enough dead lifts with enough weight, I'll feel sore afterwards even though they felt totally easy as I was doing them.
Lunge or split jumps, on the other hand, are always hard for me. By about ten, I feel like I'm going to die. My trainer will have me do 20 or 30 in a row and it kills me every time. I can't even do that many without stopping to rest and there's no doubt that I'm feeling the burn by the time I'm done. But I'm rarely sore afterwards. They just aren't that kind of exercise.
I find that I only get sore if I'm using muscles that haven't been used in a while, if I'm doing something that is significantly harder or different than what I've been doing (which again probably means I'm using muscles I haven't used in a while), or after a break (e.g., a vacation--again, muscles I haven't used at all for a few day). If I'm in good condition, I'm working out regulary, and my workouts are good, I rarely feel sore. In fact, I sometimes take soreness to be a bad sign--it means that I've been neglecting my workouts.
I'm not in any way an expert or professional, so take this for the amateur opinion that it is, but I think that so long as you are finding it difficult to complete the last few reps of each set, you're probably lifting heavy enough and getting a good workout. I would be surprised if you aren't also feeling some burn at that point, but the burning sensation should go away quickly once you finish the set (if it doesn't, that's a sign that something is wrong). And it doesn't mean you'll be sore afterwards.
Last edited by BlueToBlue; 04-06-2009 at 03:49 AM.
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