Hello! I am starting body for life and I didnt really read anything in the book on muscle soreness. I do my sets and I do them hard so that I am pushing myself, but then the next day I am not sore. Should I be? Does anyone else know? How do y'all feel after a workout? Any advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

When I lift to total failure, I'm always sore. Some parts get more sore than others Some (very few) people don't seem to get sore, so maybe you are one of the lucky ones. Are you sure you are really lifting to failure? On a good leg day, I'm so sore for about 3 days that I have to sit down very carefully.

Mel

LBWO on Monday and I still don't want to walk up and down stairs, quads are screaming. This morning UBWO and when I was done arms are like jello and my gym bag is too heavy. Were bench dips always a secret? I don't think my tri's have ever been worked like this If your lifting to failure and your not sore, more power to you.

Chris

99.9% of the time I am sore, if I'm not I'm disappointed!

While there is research stating that post-workout muscle soreness is not an indicator of workout intensity, I think most people agree (myself included) that it's a great feeling knowing that you're sore, because it makes you feel as though you really pushed yourself.

Muscle soreness is very specific to the type of movement. For instance, if I do bench press three times a week with a barbell as the first exercise in my workout, every time for months, then decide to use dumbbells or the incline bench instead, I will likely get so sore I won't be able to move for days. This is why it's important to change up your weight routine - to stimulate your muscles from every angle, different weights, different movements.

I think it is odd that you aren't noticing the soreness. You should notice immediate soreness post workout and delayed soreness 1-3 days later. You may want to try varying your exercises and see how your body reacts to that - maybe your program is stale and needs revamped.

I agree here ... if I change the type of exercise I do to work the same muscle group, I'll experience more soreness. HOWEVER, I do find that the amount of soreness diminishes over time until I change exercises again.

I think it's something to think about but I don't think it's necessarily odd. I NEVER experience soreness immediately post-workout. Tiredness, weakness, yes, but soreness never, unless I've pulled or strained something. My soreness does not show up until the next morning. I'm assuming you had soreness after you started working out, but it's gone away now? If that's the case, just try changing up your routine first and see what that does for you. Make sure you are truly lifting to failure. If you're still not sore ... then don't worry about it. While I also feel proud when I'm a little sore, I think that having a lot of soreness as a GOAL is a little masochistic. What's the use of having a strong body if it hurts too much to move it more often than not? You don't necessarily have to get sore after every workout to make progress. I know plenty of fitness professionals who don't get sore after their day-to-day workouts.

Ya'll were a great help. I felt a burn when I was working out, and I thought that that was what I was looking for. But after reading what ya'll said, i pushed myself harder and I was definetly sore the next morning. I have been working out now lifting weights and running since Wednesday. My question now is-- I have gained 5 pounds since then. I doubt it is muscle, I realize that it probably doesnt grow that fast! But did y'all have the same experience when you started out? How long does it take for a muscle to-I am not sure how to say this right-become a muscle? I have never read anything on this. (I realize you cannot weigh yourself everyday, but I had been mainting this weight, and was surprised that i had gained when i was eating healthier and excericising more. I thought most people lost a significant amount of weight the first week.) Also, what type of a diet do you follow? I am doing the body for life thing, but was wondering if anyone else had any other ideas and what has helped them to lose weight. Thanks!!

Chelle -- PATIENCE! Rome wasn't built in a day or a week! Do ALL the right things and they will fall into place... EVENTUALLY... I doubt that you GAINED 5# in a week of being careful with exercise and eating... It is probably water but it could be many things... Don't weigh yourself too often either.

Have you taken pics? Have you taken measurements? Do you have a pair of dream pants to us as a pant-o-meter? These are all much better than that darn scale!!!

Sore, damaged muscles retain water. It will go away Never weigh yourself after leg day!

Mel

Odd ... my LEGS (which are very strong) really feel sore after a hefty work out, but no matter what abuse I put my arms/upper back through (yep, lifting to failure all right!!!) they never get sore! The only torso pain I get is my abs and lower back.

I actually had that same problem when I started. Now I'm able to work my arms so that they're sore the next day, but I don't know what changed. It might just be something like supporting/stabilizing ligaments, tendons, etc. just aren't strong enough to keep up with certain muscles when you first get started. I'd just say, keep at it and add more weight when you can.

Soreness doesn't really make a quality work out. You could hit me with a bat and I would be sore, but I wouldn't say it was a workout for me.
I do a split routine, my chest stays sore for 3 days after I'm done, while my shoulders are fine the next day. I work my shoulders just as hard.

If your training your legs hard and heavy I'm amazed you could do cardio after that. I have a hard time making the 1 block walk home after my leg day.

Yepper, I'm almost in the same boat. My lower body is stronger, I push it harder, I'm more confident in lifting weights and will up the weights and test myself. My lower body also shows muscle development quicker. My upper body is a whole nother animal. It gets sore easier, I'm afraid to pull or tear something and I just don't feel confident about my upper body strength, especially my bis tris and chest.

Tiki.

I’m with you on this one, kblahetka! After a heavy leg workout, I can barely walk out of the gym. There’s no way I’d have the energy to do cardio after legs. It’s tough enough to just limp down the stairs on my rubber legs and struggle out to my car.

Honestly, I think that I’d assess the quality of my workout if I found that I had anything left after legs. I'd ask myself how hard am I really working my legs? How many sets and how many exercises? Am I going to failure and using proper form? Do I have a plan or am I just wandering from one open machine to another, doing a little here and a little there?

For me (and it's just me -- not necessarily right for anyone else), a typical leg day runs for an hour to hour and a half, at least five or six exercises, between three and six sets of each (total at least 20 sets). I try to hit as many compound exercises with free weights as possible (like squats, lunges, and deadlifts). So there’s nothing left when I’m done.

And I’m ALWAYS sore the day after legs (and the next and sometimes the next! ). Some body parts are tougher for me to get sore (back and shoulders) but some are always sore after a good workout (arms, legs, chest).

One note about cardio and crosstrainers etc — cardio is very important for fat-burning but isn't muscle building exercise (that's why we need to do both). You could do cardio for 24 hours a day and not build any leg muscle at all. In fact, it can be counterproductive to do too much cardio — you may end up burning the muscle that you’ve worked so hard to build. Many bodybuilders consider excessive cardio to be detrimental to muscle building — some do none at all. So if you’re doing a lot of cardio (I’m not talking about the normal cardio that most of us do; I mean multiple hours per day), you may be working against yourself.

Tiki — we women are proportionally weaker in our upper bodes than lower -- usually our legs are our strongest parts. I lift with a male partner and it’s always interesting for me to compare the weights we can lift for the different body parts. For most upper body exercises, I’m at anywhere from 33-50% of what he lifts, except for back, where I’m about 50% across the board. But on legs, I’m around 70% and there’s a few exercises that I can almost match him on. I’d say that right now my chest and shoulders are my weakest body parts overall, but I’m reluctant to go very heavy on shoulders for fear of reinjuring them. But I’m pushing hard at upping the weight on chest exercises and am ending up soooo sore after each workout.