what do i do when my muscles dont get sore after workout?

[expeditus]

i have gone to the gym this past few days and after a few days i dont get soreness especially in my chest area and my left arm gives up easily than my right arm my muscle fails fast what should i do?

 

 

[Truth]

Increase weight 

Increase reps

Lower weight, increase reps.

Focus on slow eccentric

Do isometric holds

Squeeze (flex) during reps

take 15 second breaks instead of 30 seconds or minute breaks. 

Do new exercises (if you have exer-phobia)

1 and a half reps

Supinating

Go to absolute failure

Isolation exercises

Learn muscle activation techniques

Understand how tension, pain and growth occur in muscles including the mind-body connection so you know you're hitting proper tension and contractions on the right muscles.

There's so many things for you to Google and Youtube. Mechanical tension (progressive overload), metabolic stress, eccentric overload, muscle damage etc. Also be careful what you wish for  

Edited January 19, 2018 by Truth

[Faceless]

Stop worrying and enjoy your workouts. Don’t get to critical. Change it up and see what works best for you. 

[Sukhpaal]

Just because your muscle isn't always sore doesn't mean its a bad thing. When your muscle is sore it is just clearing out lactic acid. Just go to failure every set and you'll be fine.

[Michael569]

Your body adapts to anything as long as it is a regular stressor. Our endocrine system works its magic 24/7 and your hormones and their receptors are constantly shifting around depending on the environment that you are in and its influence on you.  So if doing 50 sets of heavy quads once a week is your thing, in few months you would not get sore from it, but add to id 5 sets of sprints and you are all "dead" again. 

It is the adaptation. It does not mean you are doing something wrong, it is just that you have adapted to the stress. 

It could also mean that your nutrition is awesome which definitely helps to eliminate the buildup of lactic acid Diet full of antioxidants does an excellent job in removing the effect of free radical damage after a vigorous workout. 

[Gmork]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlGZfIgc6Vk

[Hardkill]

On 1/18/2018 at 9:57 PM, Sukhpaal said:

Just because your muscle isn't always sore doesn't mean its a bad thing. When your muscle is sore it is just clearing out lactic acid. Just go to failure every set and you'll be fine.

Okay, this is a common misconception. Muscle soreness has nothing to do with lactic acid build up. It is an inflammatory response to the microscopic damage done to the muscles and connective tissue. Sometimes if you're muscles and connective tissue including ligaments, tendons, fascia, cartilage feel sore for more than 3 days then that means you did either too much total volume (too many sets and/or reps for the exercise, though sometimes it could mean too much weight) or did too many exercises that primarily targeted a specific muscle during a workout session. When a certain muscle group or groups of muscles get sore for more than 3 days then that means that those muscles and connective tissue associated with them got too damaged and will not be able to recover efficiently and effectively from them. Regarding lactic acid, lactic acid always clears from the muscles completely about a half hour to an hour after the workout session. Hell, most of the lactic from that worked muscle or muscles (depending upon which specific exercise(s) you did) already gets recycled to the liver and then back to the muscles turning it back to glycogen (the stored form of glucose). Also, lactic acid build up and muscle soreness have different physical sensations. Lactic acid build up is the burning feeling you get during and several seconds after doing a certain anaerobic endurance activity for a set period of time or doing a specific muscle building exercise for moderate to high level of reps. Essentially, the feeling of lactic acid build up is that sensation that gym bros or coaches typically are saying when they say "feel the burn!" Now, Muscle soreness is when the muscle feels more like an aching tightness especially when you try to either contract it or stretch it. Also, when the muscle and its respective tendon(s) and ligament(s) are sore, they feel more tender when you touch them. When a muscle has lactic acid built up in there, it doesn't feel more tender when you touch it. 

Btw, going to failure on every set is another common mistake. I used to do that all the time because my ego compelled me to do so (especially when I want to really grind hard on the last rep on the squat, deadlift, bench, and OH press). However, I've backed off from doing that on most of my exercise and my joints feel better and I have been able to recover better. U usually want to go 1-2 reps short of failure for each set. For accessory movements it's okay to go to failure on the last set. Also, by failure I mean missing a rep. It's okay if on your last set for each exercise (even the main lifts) you break your form a little bit as long as you feel for sure that you can complete that last rep or finish executing one more rep. This will take some experience to know when to stop short of failure.

In case you're wondering who the hell I am, I am a highly knowledgable trainee in weightlifting, cardio/conditioning, fitness, flexibility training, nutrition, anatomy, and physiology. I've been studying all of this stuff down to a very scientific level for well over 14 years and have devoted over 4 years to heavy lifting and bodybuilding. I am also a highly experienced martial artist and half been training for a half-marathon for almost 6 months.

Edited January 21, 2018 by Hardkill

[Siim Land]

Why would you want to get sore muscles? You won't be able to train then...

As a natural lifter, the key to building muscle is progressive overload - getting stronger and increasing the amount of weight you can lift. 

Soreness doesn't indicate building muscle as hitting failure can prevent you from working out more frequently. It's actually better to lift as often as you can recover as to keep the muscle building stimulus active. 

You build muscle by forcing your body to recruit more muscle fibers to perform a lift which leads to hypertrophy. Focus on 5-15 reps for muscle growth. Do mostly compound lifts and add a few accessories. Train 3-5 times per week and eat enough protein.

[OhHiMark]

A good technique if one side of the body gives up before the other is to focus on iso-lateral workouts i.e one side at a time. So for your chest, you'd hold a dumbbell in the right hand for 8 reps, the the left. Should stimulate the correct muscles to bring the weaker side up to speed. It's good because the weaker side doesn't have the stronger side to compensate so must get stronger.

Don't worry about not aching after a workout.

[pluto]

There is nothing wrong with muscles not being sore after a workout.

[Hardkill]

Sometimes, not being sore is a good thing because it means that your connective tissues and muscles have adapted very well by becoming more durable than before, especially for the exact workout routine (exercises, sets, reps, number of workout days, etc.) In fact, you can use it as an opportunity to improve your flexibility. If you muscles get too sore too often then it can significantly reduce the range of motion in each of your joints.

So how do you know if you effectively worked a certain muscle or group of muscles you targeted for each of the exercises you did if you didn't get sore over the following 1-3 days? The answer is noticing whether or not you are making progress in a certain exercise. If you are either able to do more reps  with same weight you worked with as before, or feel stronger than before and feel like you can lift with more weight than before, or you see that you are gaining more muscle mass or they feel harder when you flex them then you are making progress. Any of these signs hold true whether you are primarily training for strength or if you are mainly focusing on building muscle mass. If you goal is primarily to develop muscular endurance, then you know you are making progress if you can do more reps without feeling too sore for the next 1-3 days.