Importance of Muscle Soreness

[Getinbgr]

Following an extended period of time off from lifting, I have now been lifting seriously for the past two months. A typical week looks like this:

Day 1--Chest and Tris
Day 2--Back and Bis
Day 3--Legs and Shoulders
Day 4--Abs
and
Repeat

I am consistently able, through the intensity of my sessions, to obtain next-day soreness in my chest, Triceps and Biceps. However, lately, I have not been able to obtain a high level of soreness in my back or legs, even when raising reps, sets or overall intensity. The muscles will feel tired but not sore...the exhausted sore I get in my triceps after four sets of skulls or in the chest after maxing out. Is this typical/normal or is it a sign I'm not working the muscles hard enough?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[MFT81]

#1. your routine needs a huge overhall, you have no rest days at all,
and on top of that I already know that your either dont deadlift or dont squat. If you do, well i dont know your the son of arnold i guess.....

#2. You dont necessarily have to be sore after a workout to make gains, I know that people will say, well if you not sore than you didnt workout hard blah blah blah,

There was another thread which they talked about soreness, and one of the boards respected members(IMO) Dude-Man brought up the former point.

Still havent got any new info on this one way or the other but Im sure weve got a few members with some good journal reviews on why sore after a workout itnt the best idea.

bottom line CHANGE YOUR SPLIT!

[Johny-too-small]

You need to have 3-4 rest days per week. I train EOD. However, training 2on 1 off would be okay too. If you keep working out ed, you'll start to atrophy in many of your power lifts.

[MartyMcFly]

I agree with both other posters.

[Getinbgr]

I have it 3 on 1 off (abs is essentially my day off). Isn't it generally ideal to give each muscle group about 72 hours of rest, which is what I have been doing?

[UberSteroids]

I have it 3 on 1 off (abs is essentially my day off). Isn't it generally ideal to give each muscle group about 72 hours of rest, which is what I have been doing?

Yes, it goes anywhere from 24-72 hours, depending on individual and exercise performed (intensity) etc.
The soreness means that Your connective tissue has been "damaged". If You are not sore, means that Your connective tissue sorrounding Your muscle is strong enough to handle the resistance You train with. Increase resistance, and eventually You will get sore (if exercise done efficiently).

[Getinbgr]

Got it. I had thought about going 2 on 1 off, but in the past, I've felt, particularly with my tris and chest, that my muscles start screaming for more work.

[MFT81]

I have it 3 on 1 off (abs is essentially my day off). Isn't it generally ideal to give each muscle group about 72 hours of rest, which is what I have been doing?

not exactly, your body dosent really differenciate between muscle groups all it knows is that somthing tramatic happened I.E. weight training and that it uses resources to repair. You still need more time off, if you plan on growing, just because your legs are sore dosent mean that your ready to do a chest workout.

less is more, but you will figure this out one way or the other.

[MFT81]

here is a good thread on why muscle sorness should be the goal but sometimes is the byproduct of progression.

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...uscle+soreness

notice when they talk about your CNS (Central Nervous System) takes longer to recover than the muscle group, well with the split you have and only taking one day off every two to worse yet three days, your just beating the shyt out of yourself.

[Johny-too-small]

^^^ agreed. Your body WILL NOT heal muscle tissue until it heals the CNS first. Many pros will train 1 and take off 2-3 days.

[Getinbgr]

Appreciate it.

[Panzerfaust]

I learned real quick to switch to a 2 on 1 off split.

Going staright through is wrecking your CNS. Everyone just needs to find a balance. And i think for me, 2 on 1 off is just that.

My split looks like this right now:

Mon - Chest/Triceps
Tues - Shoulders
Wed - Cardio Only
Thurs - Legs
Fri - Back/Biceps
Sat - Off
Sun -Off

[Getinbgr]

In my second week since I changed my split to 2-1. Too early to tell for certain, but my muscles seem to be swelling more with the extra rest. I also seem to be putting on weight better during my bulk phase.

[helium3]

soreness usually occurs more frequently but not exclusively in beginners,until some muscle growth and adaptation occurs.soreness is not that important and is not a prerequisite to muscle hypertrophy.


frequency of training can be high if you adjust volume to compensate for the muscle being trained more often.but if you do a standard split or similar and train bodyparts frequently your going to fry your cns which is the most important part as regards to recovering.

[UberSteroids]

soreness usually occurs more frequently but not exclusively in beginners,until some muscle growth and adaptation occurs.soreness is not that important and is not a prerequisite to muscle hypertrophy.


frequency of training can be high if you adjust volume to compensate for the muscle being trained more often.but if you do a standard split or similar and train bodyparts frequently your going to fry your cns which is the most important part as regards to recovering.

In Your opinion, where does the muscle soreness come from? What is happening? I wanna hear this.

[operationgetbig]

google DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)...you will get a lot of info

[Getinbgr]

What is meant by "adjusting volume"?

[MFT81]

That means the volume or amount of work (Sets/Reps) being done in one workout.

Arnold was into high volume workouts,

Mike Mentzer was not.

What helium was saying (I think) was that if you want to train more frequently (Like your split design) than you need to decrease your volume of work, that way you dont have to spend as much time recovering from one huge workout and can train again sooner.

Basically you have to find a balance that works for you which your doing.

[Getinbgr]

I'm better off with the high volume/fewer days split...my jewish gym celebrates a lot of holidays--been closed the last two days for Passover.

[nyjetsfan86]

i hate DOMS but i also love it