BUT, I'M NOT SORE...trainer tip #7 4.11.17

Today's Trainer Tip is about muscle soreness. I hear daily, "I worked so hard, I felt like I was dying. But my muscles aren't sore. What did I do wrong?" (or something to that effect.) My general response is this: SORENESS IS NOT AN INDICATOR OF A GOOD VERSUS A BAD WORKOUT...just as NOT being sore, does not mean your workout was ineffective. Did you give it your best effort? Did you train with proper form to muscle fatigue or failure? Are you progressing? Are you getting stronger and building muscle, if that's your goal? Are you burning and losing fat, if that's your goal? If you have answered yes to these questions, then you have being getting an effective workout and you are doing things right. Muscle soreness occurs when the muscle is stressed to the point that it slightly tears (micro tears), causing what is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). After starting a new or different workout routine or program, it is common to be sore for the first few workouts, but the soreness shouldn't linger more than a few days (24-72 hours). Soreness is your body's way of saying that it needs recovery before the next session. It's not necessary to be sore after every workout to experience results. As you adapt to your new routine, your body recovers better and more quickly, so you likely won't feel that same muscle soreness as when it was new. Changing things up will likely cause some muscle soreness...for example you could kept the exercises exactly the same, and just switch from 3 sets of 10 reps to 5 sets of 5 reps (or the other way around). You could minimize your rest time in between sets. You could increase the weight you’re lifting. You could simply change the order you perform the exercises in. Any change, big or small, could be enough to elicit some degree of muscle soreness. Everyone is different, so the experience will be different. Some may rarely feel sore, but will experience fatigue. Some will have DOMS 12-24 hours post-workout, but some may not experience soreness until 48-72 hours post work-out. Remember, live in the moment of your workout. If you give it 100% effort and you know you are progressing then be proud of it. Try to change things up from time to time to avoid a plateau and you may find that even slight changes can do the trick if soreness is what you crave, but always work smart, work safe, work slow...