To me, nothing is quite as satisfying as having sore muscles the day after a workout. My body seems to be saying “Man…good work! We’re getting stronger!” So when I wake up the morning after spending 90 minutes at the gym the day before and I’m not sore, it’s really kind of a let down. But is it necessarily a bad thing? And how should I modify my routine if that happens? More reps? More weight? New exercises?
Has my workout been a failure if I’m not sore the next day?
February 9th, 2010 by Workout Fiend Leave a reply »
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no it is not a bad thing!!!! ur just in good shape, but dont worry, the exercise is still doing ur body a lot of good. if you dont feel challenged enough WHILE working out you might want to add more reps, more weight, or even a new routine all together, because every workout works a different muscle. but dont worry, if you dont feel sore, it still good. hope this helped!
Sometimes it takes more than a day to feel the affects of a hard workout – it’s called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (or DOMS). I know what you mean about having sore muscles and making you feel like you had a “good” workout – but remember that muscle soreness is not an indication of getting stronger. If you did the same workout most days of a certain month – you would get stronger, regardless of whether you experience muscle soreness or not. You body will adjust to the activity level that you’ve been used to and eventually you won’t be sore at all. You would have to increase your workout time and intensity to make yourself sore again. It good to increase your intensity – but if you continue to do so, get sore again, but ignore being sore – you may end up over extending yourself and that may result in injury. The body is a remarkable machine that is adaptable to physical activity. The best thing to do so that your body doesn’t end up with an inujry is to vary your physical activity (run, swim, bike, hike, lift weights, dance, martial arts, etc.), intensity levels and give your body a day or so to rest. You’ll end up more physically fit and have less chance for injury (and if you end up injuring yourself – you may be laid up so that you won’t be able to do ANY exercise!)
You won’t be sore everyday, but if you start to notice diminished gains, then you are plateauing and need to mix it up a little. Here’s what I do and it has been working for me. Obviously a workout needs to be tailored to the individual, but these exercises may help.
Arms
Lying dumbbell triceps extensions
standing barbell curl
behind head reverse hammers
one-arm preacher curl
Close-grip pushdowns
incline dumbbell curl
Parallel bar dips
hammer curl
Single-arm reverse-grip pushdowns
reverse grip EZ bar
rope push downs
super light dumbbell curls
Chest
Dumbbell Incline Presses,
Pullovers and Presses,
Dumbbell Bench Presses,
Narrow-Grip Bench Presses,
Incline Dumbbell Flyes,
Barbell Incline Presses,
Push-Ups Between Benches,
Cable standing incline flyes
Cable standing decline flyes
Back
Barbell row
Dumbbell Row
Lat Pull Downs
Cable Row
Lower Back Machine
Forearms
lite wide lat pulldowns
Supermans
Shoulders
Lateral Raises
Bent-Over Lateral Raises
No rest front raises
Shrugs
Military Presses
Front Raises
Rotator Cuffs
Superlight lateral raises
On incline bench, with 2 10lbs dumbbells:
1st: Facing forward bring dumbbells up from sides to parallel to ground palms inward, slow repeat for ten reps.
2nd: Facing bench bring dumbbells up from sides backwards as far as you can palms inward, slow repeat for ten reps.
3rd: Stand up with dumbbells and do 10 lateral raises.
4th: Back in position 2, raise arms so they are forward, palms inward, arms bent in a semi bear hug position and parallel to ground. Bring to sides and back to center for 10 reps. I usually do 5 lbs here because this exercise is hard.
Do this set three times with out rest. The third set I change to all 5 lb movements. All of this is slow pace, like 1 second up and one second down.
Legs
Squats
Leg Extentions
Leg Curls
Adductors
Abductors
Calf Lifts
Glute Machine
Leg lifts
I also do 100 crunches per night.
My idea is to hit a variety of ranges and movements in order to work the muscle to the maximum. I tend to use a weight I can do for 10 reps and for 25 reps on the last two movements. Apart from this I do 20 minutes or Cardio every day and stretch before and after the workout, as well as frequently during. Stretching is very important to muscular growth because not only does it help prevent injury and alleviate recovery pain, but it also stretches out the fascia tissue that surrounds the muscle and inhibits its growth. When you are pumped and you stretch is when you get the best stretch of the fascia. Lastly rest and nutrition are every bit as important as the workout itself. Eating enough protein for the muscle to recover and grow as well as enough carbohydrates to replenish diminished glycogen stores in the muscles and liver is vital for repair and being ready for the next time you tax those muscles.