Muscle soreness after workout - Im confused

[klm129]

I tried researching whether or not I should strive to obtain muscle soreness after every workout and got many contradicting opinions.
From "muscle soreness does not mean a thing",
to "your wasting your time if your muscles are not sore".

To be clear ... what I mean by soreness is not pain right after the workout, its a pain that effects only the muscles and which I usually feel the next morning and never lasts more than 2 days.

I tend to feel this soreness my first week after a deload/break, then it seems I cant get that same soreness until I take another break, even tho I'm increasing reps and/or weight each workout.

I'm worried I'm not getting as much as I could from a workout when I dont feel that morning soreness ... Is my body telling me I should work harder by and adding more sets/reps/weights?

[TOkidd]

I read somewhere that it's not actually the muscle itself that is sore after a good workout, but the tendons and ligaments.

As for whether or not you should feel this after every workout...I think a lot of people struggle with this question because sometimes you can train very hard and not experience much soreness the following day or two, but another time you can have a relatively tame workout and wake up the next day feeling completely wrecked. So soreness after a workout is a strange phenomenon.

I don't know what else to say. I guess as long as you're still making progress, gaining size and strength, then it's a moot point.

[lifter65]

for me the only time i get sore is after switching up an exercise or doing it in a new way, but once i adapt to it i never get sore

[PK-V]

I read somewhere that it's not actually the muscle itself that is sore after a good workout, but the tendons and ligaments.

As for whether or not you should feel this after every workout...I think a lot of people struggle with this question because sometimes you can train very hard and not experience much soreness the following day or two, but another time you can have a relatively tame workout and wake up the next day feeling completely wrecked. So soreness after a workout is a strange phenomenon.

I don't know what else to say. I guess as long as you're still making progress, gaining size and strength, then it's a moot point.

Correct

DOMS will not effect your strength but your ROM may be limited due to surrounding tendons and ligaments becoming inflamed, your body's uses this as a form of defense

Basically your body's way of telling you to back off to prevent joint damage

Antioxidant supplementation will help alleviate DOMS symptoms sooner

Don't fall into the trap of taking NSAID's to mask pain

Not all body parts will experience the same level of DOMS due to limiting factors DOMS is not a sign of growth

I remember my younger years I would wake up in the morning and touch my chest the day after training chest and feel the DOMS and think to myself "YESSS" and wear it like a badge of honor LOL

[spywizard]

there is a study that shows lactic acid conditioning can cause an heightened GH secretions.. if you are a male 21-24 and not obese, so no, it is not a desired training goal..

[brad1986]

for me the only time i get sore is after switching up an exercise or doing it in a new way, but once i adapt to it i never get sore

THis is 100% true. If your going for strength of hypertrophy and you are not getting sore it is a good sign that you have adapted to your routine and is probably time to change something

[brad1986]

Correct

DOMS will not effect your strength but your ROM may be limited due to surrounding tendons and ligaments becoming inflamed, your body's uses this as a form of defense

Basically your body's way of telling you to back off to prevent joint damage

Antioxidant supplementation will help alleviate DOMS symptoms sooner

Don't fall into the trap of taking NSAID's to mask pain

Not all body parts will experience the same level of DOMS due to limiting factors DOMS is not a sign of growth

I remember my younger years I would wake up in the morning and touch my chest the day after training chest and feel the DOMS and think to myself "YESSS" and wear it like a badge of honor LOL

Except for the fact that doms stands for delayed onset muscle soreness not delayed onset ligament soreness.

[PK-V]

Except for the fact that doms stands for delayed onset muscle soreness not delayed onset ligament soreness.

Went on one of my power trips again

I was trying to inflate the ligament and tendon inflammation to explain the reasoning behind reduced range of motion

DOMS does indeed occur in the muscle but it's more related to the inflammatory response than to the actual damage was what I was trying to get across

[gym_junki]

I font get sore when I have adapted to an exercise, if I take a more than 2 weeks off that first day back to training kills me, and I get scared to do legs cos I will not be able to walk the next day so usually I do light workout get them sore than the next workout go hard on them and I'm fine I usually like the feel of being in pain you feel like youv actually had a good workout.

[brad1986]

Went on one of my power trips again

I was trying to inflate the ligament and tendon inflammation to explain the reasoning behind reduced range of motion

DOMS does indeed occur in the muscle but it's more related to the inflammatory response than to the actual damage was what I was trying to get across

for sure man I see what your saying

[PK-V]

Just uploaded a pdf on Treatment and Prevention of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness if anyones interested feel free to download

http://www.mediafire.com/?asre2cyb5r4b0qd

[klm129]

Thanks for all the replies guys .. seems like a hot topic.

Looks like most say that muscle soreness is not a requirement to obtain optimal gains.

Ill just make sure Im able to increase reps/weight week by week.

[Cagerat]

I never have DOMS unless I took time off, or switched workouts, and I still make gains.