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No pain no gain?

#1

tblassingame , 10-25-2010 07:23 AM

I don't get sore anymore from working out. My husbands says its because I don't push myself hard enough so when I go to the gym the next day I push 10x harder...and the next day still nothing. I have not always been "obese"(I really hate that word but thats what the Drs call me) I used to actually be a very athletic person never considered "skinny". My "skinny" friends say that maybe I have excellent muscle memory and thats why I don't get sore not my arms, not my legs, some small occasions my stomach will but thats it. Does anyone else have this problem. I feel like if I don't feel the burn then I'm not doing something right.

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#2

joyfulloser , 10-25-2010 09:28 AM

What kind of exercise are you doing? aerobics? weights? It depends on the workout...if you are lifting weights...you should definitely have some soreness the following day or two. If not, you need to up your weights. Don't really believe you muscle soreness from cardio...but depends on type...(ie. running may bring on some soreness if you are not used to it).

Sorry if my post does nothing more than raise more questions, but without knowing what type of exercise you are doing....it's hard to give advice

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#3

mkroyer , 10-25-2010 11:38 AM

are you doing *mostly* the same routine for strength training? i find im only sore after the 1sr or second day of doing a new routine, or progressing mto the next phase or whatever. . Even if youve increased your weights, if you are still doing the same movements than you might not get sore. It doesnt mean ou are making progress though. I know everyone says they dont feel like they got a great workout if they arent sore, but that just isnt necessarily true. make sure you change your routine often, and continue to increae your weights-- onlyyou know if you are lifting too light or not pushing yourself

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#4

LoveRyGuy , 10-25-2010 11:50 AM

From what I understand, the muscle soreness is due to dehydration, causing a buildup of lactic acid. IMO it sounds like you might be well nourished and hydrated. Work as hard as you feel you can, not as hard as your husband or anyone else says you should.

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#5

tblassingame , 10-25-2010 01:41 PM

I do the stairstepper, both elliptical and treadmill on incline and a good speed, from time to time I ride a stationary bike. I do weights I switch up which body part I work everyday. I have raised my weights and still nothing, I feel the "burn" while I am doing the exercise and for a little bit after but nothing the next day. I am the kind of person that if I don't feel sore I don't feel like I pushed my self hard enough. growing up it was always give it 110% and even at that it wasn't good enough you could always do better. I think I am going to try P90X tomorrow.

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#6

KimL1214 , 10-25-2010 02:02 PM

You're question intrigued me, so I did a little research. I was an athlete all the way through high school and college and have finally got myself back into being an active person. I remember our coaches would always ask us if we were sore, and if not, they would increase the intensity of our workouts or completely change things up. The article I found on Web MD is probably the most trustworthy one I found (Link is below). While I did find some articles that say muscle soreness is not something you want as it only shows that you are out of shape, most of the articles stated that in order to increase your fitness level, you should feel soreness after new workouts. For track and field in college, we always had one day a week of plyometrics, while the other 5 days consisted of weight training, sprints and running. Everyone was sore after a plyometric day. I still have a lot of the different plyos exercises we used to do if you are interested. You go to the gym a lot, so try some new machines, new levels, or maybe try doing some of them backwards. It may look funny, but walking backwards on a treadmill works different muscle groups, as does moving your legs backwards on the elliptical. You could also try some interval training on both, sprint for 30-60 seconds, then coast at a comfortable speed for 60-120 seconds, and keep alternating. How many reps do you do at the weights you're on right now? You should only be doing 8-10 reps at the most, 3 sets of each, and by your 3rd set you should really be struggling to get the weight up. Your 7th and 8th or 8th, 9th, and 10th reps should really be something you have to talk and breathe yourself through (I was a power lifter in college as well if you need any other advice with lifting).
I don't know if this was any help... good luck!

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercis...eep-exercising

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#7

tblassingame , 10-25-2010 03:50 PM

Kim on the elliptical I use there is a button that randomly switches the modes, ex. the lights will go on to reverse and lean back. the next is arm ripper, then squat. And I never do like fatburn on the machines always random so it changes throughout the workout. I have also gone to our CrossFit gym and was sore after that but not the next day. I do 3-4 sets of 10 on the weights and have changed the weight. can you PM me the plyometric exercises that you have? Like I said I might start P90X and it has an intense workout schedule that switches it up pretty good.

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#8

xty , 10-25-2010 05:58 PM

You should probably be getting sore sometimes...but probably is the key word.

Muscle soreness is caused by microscopic tears the muscles get when you work them out. This causes them to repair themselves and build bigger and better in the process.

Basically - anything you arent accustomed to doing will cause muscle soreness. However there are some variables:
- warming up and cooling down may help
- eccentric muscle contractions (movements that cause muscle to forcefully contract while it lengthens) seem to cause the most soreness
A better measure of efficiency than just soreness is how well you can workout! You should be doing a high enough weight and/or enough reps per set to feel like you cant quite continue safely in good form (stop right before that point, but it should feel very challenging).

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#9

KimL1214 , 10-26-2010 10:58 AM

tblassingame~ Unfortunately I can't PM you yet as you need to have more posts before that's made available to you.

I'm not sure what you have available to you, but here are things you can do at a local track/staircase.

We did a lot of short sprint ladders, 10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10 (meters). Each time you finish a sprint, jog back to the start and immediately start the next sprint. Usually we would do between 3-5 sets of these with only 2 min. rest in-between.

Stairs are always a good workout as they're all about how hard you push yourself. There's classic run up the stairs, skip 1 stair, skip 2 stairs, hop on one leg, then the other, run up only touching your right foot on the right of the step, then your left on the left side of the step.

Toe Taps. Use a high step/bench and touch the balls of your foot to the step/bench as many times as you can in 60-120 seconds.

Wall sits. Sit with your back against a wall at a 90 degree angle, minimum 3 min. Make sure your arms are straight out in front of you, not resting on your lap. If this is too easy, grab a weight plate a hold it to your chest. We used to hold 45lb. weights against our chests.

If you have any equipment like heavy balls, speed ladders, jump ropes, etc. let me know I can give you some more stuff.

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#10

Eliana , 10-26-2010 11:13 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by KimL1214

Wall sits. Sit with your back against a wall at a 90 degree angle, minimum 3 min. Make sure your arms are straight out in front of you, not resting on your lap. If this is too easy, grab a weight plate a hold it to your chest. We used to hold 45lb. weights against our chests.[/FONT]
Minimum three minutes?? LOL! I've been pretty proud of my three minutes! My favorite workout lately is to run up and down the stairs 3:00, do 20 squats, then a 3:00 wall sit and repeat for 3 sets. But man, I find the wall sit incredibly hard, especially the lower I sit.

I disagree upthread about only lifting heavy weights for small reps. I think there's a place for this, but there's also a place for lighter weights and more reps. I use both and mix it up which gives me muscle soreness on occasion.

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