Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Does Muscles Soreness Mean a Good Workout? The Truth Behind "No Pain No Gain"

We all know the feeling, waking up the next morning after a work out feeling sore and thinking, "Wow I've had a great workout!" Some of us are not happy unless we feel sore the next day or the day after, and this feeling can be addictive. Some people believe the soreness means we have had an effective workout. You know the saying, "no pain no gain." Just how accurate is this saying?

What is muscle soreness? Soreness, associated with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is caused by small tears in your muscle fibers. It is during the rest and recovery period the you become stronger and gain lean muscle tissue. DOMS is normal if you are a beginner to working out or trying new activities. This soreness ususally occurs within 24-48 hours after a workout and can last up to a week. Soreness will occur to almost everyone at sometime or another and the level of soreness should decrease over time. If you are feeling sore after every workout it could be a sign of injury, to reduce your intensity or you need to allow yourself more time to recover.

Is soreness and good indicator of an effective workout? No, you can still get stronger without being sore. Not being sore the next day does not mean your workout was bad, ineffective or unproductive. It does not mean that you failed to build muscle, lose fat, or increase strength etc. Muscle soreness has nothing to do with the effectiveness of your workout.

Then how do I know if I'm getting a good workout? Working every muscle group ensures that you are getting a good workout. Make sure all of your muscle groups are hit atleast 2-3 times a week. Change your program, to avoid plateaus, every 4-6 weeks. If you change up your program you are "confusing" your muscles, providing shock.

There is not any truth behind the saying "no pain no gain." Soreness does NOT mean that you have had a good workout. So do not beat yourself up if you are not sore after a workout. Instead, focus of working hard and tracking your progress during your workout.

1 comment:

  1. Increase your level of physical lay out gradually to avoid getting injured.Change your exercise regularly to make your workouts effective. Practicing same exercise regularly makes your body to develop a stress against the effort and your body may stop responding to it.

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