No Pain No Gain?

Q. I used to be sore after nearly every workout. Lately, I have not been getting sore at all and I'm worried that I am not getting a good workout. Do I need to be sore to make progress?

A. First, know that you are not alone with your concerns. I often answer this exact question when clients progress beyond the beginning stages of their training program. The simple answer is NO, you do NOT need to be sore for a workout to be productive. Once your body adapts to the stimuli of strength training, you won't experience nearly the soreness that you did in the beginning. This adaptation is a good thing! Remember, adaptation to strength training means more muscle, faster RMR and etc.

Unfortunately, people do equate muscle soreness to hard work when it fact it has nothing do to with making progress. As strength coach, Charles Staley, once said,"I can hit someone with a baseball bat and make them sore, does this mean this is good too?" Some popular programs are hard just for the sake of being hard. Heck, I can do 500 body weight squats and be REALLY sore tomorrow morning but what is the point? The goal should not be to get sore for the sake of soreness, but to systematically improve your strength and conditioning.

Now, you may continue to experience muscle soreness from a change in intensity, volume, load and several other factors. This is normal and you should expect it periodically.

Make it a point to journal your progress. Note your measurements, weight lifted or fat loss. This way you can track your progress and make adjustments accordingly based on solid numbers and not whether or not your glutes are too sore to sit down the next day.

Rick Mayo