I've been doing resistance training for about 2 weeks now. When I first started, my muscles would be sore the day after so I knew I really worked em good. But now, I don't get that soreness anymore. Even though I work just as hard and have increased the weight, my muscles don't feel sore. But I know that I couldn't push myself harder, do more reps, or lift more weight than I did. The only thing that's changed since last week is that I added a lot of protein to my diet. Is it possible that this increase in protein is keeping me from getting sore, or is it more likely that my body has adjusted to the weight training? I guess I feel like my workouts were a waste if I'm not feeling sore the next day, and yet I know I couldn't have worked harder. What do I do? Should I increase the weight and just do fewer reps? Should I do more sets? This is very frustrating when I'm not feeling like my workout was effective.

There are a few theories on what causes muscle soreness, with microscopic tears of the muscle being the most popular.

Well I guess my question is this: If I'm not sore the day after an intense workout, should I assume that means the workout wasn't intense enough to provide any benefit? In this case, if my muscles are not sore, does that mean they're not breaking down and therefore, not rebuilding?

Originally posted by someguyinhis20s:
Well I guess my question is this: If I'm not sore the day after an intense workout, should I assume that means the workout wasn't intense enough to provide any benefit? In this case, if my muscles are not sore, does that mean they're not breaking down and therefore, not rebuilding?
Nice question. This all depends on how you are working out, i.e. the amount of reps,sets, and the intensity of them. In general, you should at least "feel" you muscles. Also, pay attention to your form because if your form is not good then you will not get the benefits of the exercise(s) and thus you will not stimulate the muscle. This may be your problem. If it isn't then you are either going too light or you need to change the exercise routine around because you may be getting "stale".

Originally posted by C.J.W. Fit:
This all depends on how you are working out, i.e. the amount of reps,sets, and the intensity of them. In general, you should at least "feel" you muscles. Also, pay attention to your form because if your form is not good then you will not get the benefits of the exercise(s) and thus you will not stimulate the muscle. This may be your problem. If it isn't then you are either going too light or you need to change the exercise routine around because you may be getting "stale".

Well, I've only been doing this for about a week and a half so I don't think the routine is getting stale. I can feel the muscles when I'm working them and after one week, I think I've improved on my form. Even if I'm not "feeling" the correct muscles, shouldn't I at least feel sore somewhere, if not those muscles, then some others? If I'm not able to complete more than 10 reps, that suggest some muscles were stressed. I do 6 sets to failure, which starts out at 10 reps and with each set, I'm able to do less reps. I take 60 seconds rest in between. My heart is beating pretty fast so I know I pushed myself. I will try increasing the weight but I already know I can't even do 10 reps at my current weight. Last week I tried pyramiding the weight. Do you think that's better?

Soreness i thought was caused by a lactic acid build up in the muscles as the product of exercise. When you being a new training, your body isn't adapted and therefore can't flush all this byproduct out, thus it remains and your muscle fibers get irritated, concluding in soreness and pain. This may also eat away at some muscle but i'm not sure. The best way to get rid of it is to add a cool down phase at the end of your workout where you stimulate the muscles enough to flush out all that byproduct while not working the muscle to the point it'll build up more.

As your workout progresses, you get passed this soreness phase and will then toughing up and reach your peak. It will be harder to attain advancements in your performance but it can still be done of course. Things just level out more. But your body will adapt to your workout and if you crave the pain, or want to feel the advancements, you're not going to feel it as bad (unless you find a muscle you haven't worked out before lol). You should though, feel the muscle was worked out and feel that you can't push it anymore. The best thing i find is to do a muscle building intesne workout, once you've gotten to the point of a strong muscle, work on muscular endurance so that you can perform efficently and effectively at that strong point. Plus, you'll feel a lot of burn on an endurance workout!

Originally posted by darkwolfofvoid:
Soreness i thought was caused by a lactic acid build up in the muscles as the product of exercise. When you being a new training, your body isn't adapted and therefore can't flush all this byproduct out, thus it remains and your muscle fibers get irritated, concluding in soreness and pain. This may also eat away at some muscle but i'm not sure. The best way to get rid of it is to add a cool down phase at the end of your workout where you stimulate the muscles enough to flush out all that byproduct while not working the muscle to the point it'll build up more.

As your workout progresses, you get passed this soreness phase and will then toughing up and reach your peak. It will be harder to attain advancements in your performance but it can still be done of course. Things just level out more. But your body will adapt to your workout and if you crave the pain, or want to feel the advancements, you're not going to feel it as bad (unless you find a muscle you haven't worked out before lol). You should though, feel the muscle was worked out and feel that you can't push it anymore. The best thing i find is to do a muscle building intesne workout, once you've gotten to the point of a strong muscle, work on muscular endurance so that you can perform efficently and effectively at that strong point. Plus, you'll feel a lot of burn on an endurance workout! Lactic acid has absolutely nothing to do with soreness. This is one of the biggest myths out there. Lactic acid is built up within the blood during exercise and when the levels of it are too high you shut down, as in when you cannot do another rep of a given exercise. If you do cardio the lactic acid is removed which allows you to continue exercising. Lactic acid has NOTHING to do with muscle soreness.

who says it's a myth?

Some info I found VERY helpful:
This is fairly technical but describes the different types of fuel the body will use under variable exercise conditions.

* ATP is the body's only energy source, everything is converted into ATP at some point

* the order of fuels used by the body under intense exercise conditions is: ATP first, CP second, muscle glycogen, blood glucose, and liver glycogen. (glucose and glycogen are the body's sugar reserves). If all of those resources are exhausted, amino acids (proteins) are then converted to glucose.

* "feeling the burn" in a particular muscle implies that the glucose or stored glycogen are being metabolized at a rate too fast for the amount of oxygen present. This leads to lactic acid (causing the burn) which can be carried back to the liver where it can be re-converted into glucose. (so it's sort of a self feeding cycle)

* carbohydrate loading can, in general, double the amount of glycogen stored in the muscle and liver.

* adrenaline and noradrenaline are mostly responsible for the release of stored glycogen from the liver, and stored free fatty acids from adipose. So, without these two, you won't be able to tap your body fat for fuel. Fortunately, exercise increases both of them.

* the body stores fats inside active muscle cells too. This intra-muscular triglyceride can also be tapped as an energy source, but they are hit less and less as the intensity and duration of an exercise increases.

* Proteins and ketones can be used as exercise substrate (fuel) as well, but they only account for a small percentage, and aren't very efficient at the task.

* Fats and triglycerides compose a significantly larger percentage of your body's stored energy reserves. ATP/CP can only last for a few seconds, and glucose/glycogen reserves can be depeleted in only a few hours with the right kind of effort.
(I'd give the link but it was taken away B4 so can't sorry) TAURI

Originally posted by TAURI:
Some info I found VERY helpful:
This is fairly technical but describes the different types of fuel the body will use under variable exercise conditions.

* ATP is the body's only energy source, everything is converted into ATP at some point

* the order of fuels used by the body under intense exercise conditions is: ATP first, CP second, muscle glycogen, blood glucose, and liver glycogen. (glucose and glycogen are the body's sugar reserves). If all of those resources are exhausted, amino acids (proteins) are then converted to glucose.

* "feeling the burn" in a particular muscle implies that the glucose or stored glycogen are being metabolized at a rate too fast for the amount of oxygen present. This leads to lactic acid (causing the burn) which can be carried back to the liver where it can be re-converted into glucose. (so it's sort of a self feeding cycle)

* carbohydrate loading can, in general, double the amount of glycogen stored in the muscle and liver.

* adrenaline and noradrenaline are mostly responsible for the release of stored glycogen from the liver, and stored free fatty acids from adipose. So, without these two, you won't be able to tap your body fat for fuel. Fortunately, exercise increases both of them.

* the body stores fats inside active muscle cells too. This intra-muscular triglyceride can also be tapped as an energy source, but they are hit less and less as the intensity and duration of an exercise increases.

* Proteins and ketones can be used as exercise substrate (fuel) as well, but they only account for a small percentage, and aren't very efficient at the task.

* Fats and triglycerides compose a significantly larger percentage of your body's stored energy reserves. ATP/CP can only last for a few seconds, and glucose/glycogen reserves can be depeleted in only a few hours with the right kind of effort.
(I'd give the link but it was taken away B4 so can't sorry) TAURI
This is 100% correct, especially the first 2 points.
Lactic acid buildup is what shuts muscle contraction down and this is what many people do not know or realize. Lactic acid has nothing to do with muscle soreness. Great job Tauri!!

Originally posted by darkwolfofvoid:
who says it's a myth?Everyone because this is 100% fact. Read what Tauri posted.