{"id":59521,"date":"2017-06-20T07:15:13","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T11:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=59521"},"modified":"2022-04-27T05:39:18","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T09:39:18","slug":"muscle-soreness-good-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/muscle-soreness-good-workout\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Still a Good Workout If I\u2019m Not Sore?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is
Photo: Twenty20<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spin left you all sweaty. That sprint workout had you breathing heavy. And you thought you busted your butt with those\u00a0kettlebells<\/a>. But the next morning, you can walk down the stairs just fine \u2014 no soreness. Um, hello, where\u2019s the payoff of a hard workout?<\/p>\n

Those aches we\u2019re talking about is called DOMS \u2014 or delayed onset muscle soreness<\/a>, which shows up 24 to 48 hours<\/a> post-exercise. \u201cYour muscles are like tightly woven nylon. Exercise causes small micro-tears in muscle fibers,\u201d explains fitness expert Chris Ryan<\/a>, CSCS. And it\u2019s a good thing. It means you overloaded your muscles and created damage in those fibers. During the process of repair, your muscles adapt and you get stronger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Are You Too Sore to Work Out? (Plus Recovery Tips)<\/a><\/p>\n

So a little hurt is great. But here\u2019s the thing: \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be sore after every<\/em> workout, and you don\u2019t want to be,\u201d says exercise physiologist Marta Montenegro<\/a>, CSCS. \u201cIf you\u2019re constantly sore, you\u2019re not giving muscles enough time to recover and adapt, so they can give you more the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the mental downside of all those aches. \u201cStudies show if you have a bad experience being too sore, that may prevent you from working out again for fear of the pain,\u201d says Montenegro.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Reduce Muscle Soreness<\/a><\/p>\n

What Your Muscle Soreness Means<\/h2>\n

Not every workout should make walking<\/a> or lifting the next day a serious chore, but it is necessary sometimes. \u201cIf you\u2019re never sore, you probably aren\u2019t going hard enough,\u201d says Ryan.<\/p>\n

Montenegro recommends that every two to three weeks you should push yourself in a new way. That might be going up in weight on your bicep curls<\/a> or trying a new class if you usually run on your own. The next day, your muscles should feel it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tells you that you are taking your body out of its usual routine and shaking things up,\u201d Montenegro says. It also ensures that your body isn\u2019t getting too efficient with your current workout du jour, which translates into less calorie burn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that DOMS feels like general muscle soreness, which should disappear in three days. If the pain is localized and sticks around for longer than that, it\u2019s time to get checked out, because\u00a0it could be a more serious\u00a0injury.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>How Do I Know If I Pulled a Muscle?<\/a><\/p>\n

When You Know Your Workout Worked<\/h3>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to be sore after every<\/em> workout, and you don\u2019t want to be.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While \u201cugh I can\u2019t lift my arms\u201d is a solid indication that you\u2019ve worked your muscles to the max, it\u2019s not the only<\/em> way to tell you put in work. Research shows<\/a> that relying on your ache\u00a0factor doesn\u2019t tell the whole story on how hard you pushed. That\u2019s because some people may be more genetically prone to soreness than others. Plus, the perception of pain differs from person to person.<\/p>\n

No matter what the activity, your workouts should do three things: make you breathe harder, make you sweat and make your heart rate<\/a> rise, says Ryan. Aim to check off those three things and you know you aced your gym class.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind, a few key training techniques also lead to less soreness, but still build muscle and burn calories. For instance, eccentric movements<\/a> (or the downward phase of an exercise), tend to lead to more stiffness. So if you concentrate on working in the concentric motion \u2014 say by lifting up on a count of three and down on a count of one \u2014 you\u2019ll likely still feel loose\u00a0the next day. Pool workouts<\/a> also help with this, thanks to their low-gravity, low-impact environment.<\/p>\n

Oh, and just an aside: The length of your workout doesn\u2019t necessarily matter in terms of getting in a good workout, either. So don\u2019t think you need to hit the magical hour mark to make your sweat time effective. (Just try this 20-minute treadmill workout<\/a> and you\u2019ll see what we mean.) Even more importantly: Any workout you do will burn more calories than simply sitting on the couch. So keep that in mind if you\u2019re deciding between Netflix or a lighter sweat sesh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>3 Cardio Workouts Under 20 Minutes \u2014 No Treadmill Required<\/a><\/p>\n

How to Cope with Muscle Soreness<\/h2>\n

When you wake up sore, the worst thing to do is sit around and wait for it to go away, says Montenegro. \u201cBeing sedentary means less blood flow and less nutrients to muscles, which means it will take you longer to recover,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

So do a light workout the next day. If you run, take a walk. If you\u2019re all about CrossFit<\/a>, fit in some cardio or head to the pool<\/a>. Don’t think these days are a waste of time either \u2014 that\u2019s when the magic happens. Your muscles don’t get stronger during exercise, but rather after.<\/p>\n

Not a Daily Burn member? Sign up at\u00a0dailyburn.com<\/a>\u00a0and start your free 30-day trial today.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just because you\u2019re not hobbling doesn’t mean you didn\u2019t put in some quality work at the gym. We talked to experts to get to the bottom of muscle soreness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":59525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6,14],"tags":[289,135,281,145,341,343,154,100],"class_list":["post-59521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","category-strength-training","tag-exercise","tag-post-workout","tag-strength-training","tag-stretching","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2exercise","tag-weight-training","tag-workout"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}