Hi!
I think this might be a rather dumb question, but I am going to ask anyway. After doing weight training, if the muscles worked actually feel sore the next day (or next 2 days), can you conclude that you have in fact increased muscle mass? I think you could be sore from improperly using the weights or from straining too hard....
I generally do cardio exercise more than weight training. I know I probably need to focus on weight training to increase my muscle mass and in turn burn more calories. I do not entirely like doing weights though and only do them about once a week or even once every 10 days. (I know that is really not enough, and I should probably do weights 2-3 times a week).
Anyway, I guess I feel sort of encouraged when I feel sore the next day because I feel like maybe what I was doing actually did something.
Hi!
I think this might be a rather dumb question, but I am going to ask anyway. After doing weight training, if the muscles worked actually feel sore the next day (or next 2 days), can you conclude that you have in fact increased muscle mass? I think you could be sore from improperly using the weights or from straining too hard....
Do you mean from one workout? No. It takes a lot of work to increase muscle mass. Sure, you could get pain from using weights improperly. You also get soreness because your muscle just isn't used to moving in a particular way or with that amount of weight. Soreness is not really an indication that you are doing something correctly nor is the absence of soreness an indication that you are doing it wrong. I think many people like that sore feeling because it makes you feel accomplished. If you are only weight training every 10 days or so, I would imagine you'll always be sore. How are you eating? You aren't going to gain muscle unless you are eating to gain muscle. You can however work toward maintaining what muscle you have if that is what you would like to do.
When you're sore the day after a work out, it is because you induce microscopic tears in the muscle tissue and it's forced to rebuild it. While it's rebuilding it, it's actually improving upon the muscle and making it a bit thicker and stronger (it is a very small amount of new muscle though).
This is why you're not encouraged to work out a muscle group when it's sore. Your body is trying to heal it, and if you continue to shred it, it's preventing it from healing which isn't what you want.
I'm not saying that if you're not getting soreness, you're not building muscle... Because I really don't know whether or not that's true. I know my dad, a hard-core gym-monkey for years now, feels accomplished when he's sore the next day after a good work out. I don't know if it's needed or not though.
Well, I had worked with a personal trainer who gave me the set of weight exercises to do, so I am pretty confident that I am doing them correctly. Generally (even though I do not do them as frequently as I should) I am not sore afterwards. This last time I was though. I like the idea that when I feel the soreness, that it means that the muscle is actually going through that process rebuilding and thickening though. I guess overall I just need to try to do the exercises more often...and over time increase weight and reps. My question/doubt was basically just if that soreness meant that the muscle was increasing. I suppose that the answer is that if it is it is pretty microscopic. But, still nice to think that it is doing something. (in my opinion).
Wild: I was about to post about lactic acid buildup but your post made me look up my sources again and I was surprised to find all the new research in the past 10yrs that has pretty much debunked the lactic acid theory and replaced it with the muscle tear theory.
Jenny: My experience with DOMS is when I first start a new routine, or if I take too long a break, I'll experience some soreness. The longer the break, the worse it will be. But if I stick with a routine for a week, the soreness does not return with subsequent workouts. (or the minor soreness I feel is more of a "good sore").
To get over the soreness when I first start a new routine, doing light cardio the next day and keep moving tends to keep the soreness down. That works for me. My son swears by the Vitamin C theory that went along with the lactic acid theory. (the vitamin C helps break down the lactic acid that has built up, but since that theory has been debunked, I dont know its validity). I tried it a few weeks ago when I started back up with increased exercise and weight training and it actually worked for me too.
Muscle soreness after weight training...
