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Anybody
who has ever touched a weight knows the
feeling...
It happens
the first time you do squats or deadlifts...the
first time you do negative-only training...the
first time you do an exercise you've never
done before...
Ironically
enough, as painful as this feeling sometimes
is, it can actually be quite addictive!
Many people I hear from actively seek out
ways to make themselves sore because they
love that feeling of soreness. To them,
it's an indication that they've made progress...that
they've accomplished something in the gym.
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Without that soreness
to give them feedback, some people feel they haven't
really done enough.
This has led to
some pretty insane training methods and programs,
let me tell you.
But here's the deal...even
though I'm personally known for creating unique
exercises and programs that no doubt result in
a LOT of muscle soreness, the major goal of these
unique techniques is NOT to make you sore!
Yes, it's a common
side effect, but if I wanted to dole out pain,
there are much more targeted ways of doing THAT.
Cripes, just drop a weight plate on your foot
- there's pain for you...lots of soreness, too.
My goal is not to
induce soreness but to induce a training effect
on the muscles through the application of unique
training methods.
Pain is NEVER the
goal. Adaptation is the goal.
So, IS muscle soreness required in order to achieve
a muscle-building effect on the body?
No.
Simple
as that.
I won't get into
all the specifics of HOW muscle soreness comes
about (there actually is debate on the mechanisms
by which Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness operates)
but muscle soreness is simply an indicator that
you've done something your body is not used to.
It CAN be an indication
that what you've done will result in muscle growth
but there is no guarantee. I can make a person
sore from doing a set of 100 reps on the bench
press but do you think that will result in significant
muscle growth? The load simply isn't great enough.
Heck, the most soreness
I EVER experienced in all my life didn't even
come from weight training! It came from running
(and walking) a 20 km race without training for
it (back when I was 16 years old and crazy). I
was sore all over before I even FINISHED. Two
hours later I could hardly move. And I can promise
you, I didn't gain a pound of muscle from THAT
experience.
I'll be honest with
you...I've been weight training about 18 years
and I very RARELY get any significant muscle soreness
anymore (i.e. the kind that makes you walk funny
or have a hard time scratching your nose). It
takes a LOT for me to get even mildly sore. All
those unique exercises and programs I've done
over the years have resulted in muscles that have
pretty much seen it all.
Even when I perform
an exercise I've never ever done before or done
a program that is totally new to me, soreness
is never significant.
Yet, my results
ARE.
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I'll give
you a specific example. In my Muscle
Explosion muscle-building program (the
link below), I've included a week where
you perform ONE exercise 5 days in a row
for more than 200 sets (I like to use deadlifts).
Without getting
into the specifics of the program, I generally
gain about 5 pounds of muscle in this single
week alone, just based on this style of
training. And even with that extreme workload,
I RARELY experience ANY soreness.
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Yes, my nervous
and muscular systems are pretty well trashed at
the end of those 5 days but soreness? Not much
to speak of.
I'll say it again...soreness
is an INDICATOR of the potential for muscle
growth NOT a requirement.
Here's another example...any
professional athlete.
Do you think an athlete who wants to gain muscle
will pursue a program where excessive muscle soreness
prevents them from practicing or affects the mechanics
of their sport?
Absolutely not.
Their coaches wouldn't permit it.
Muscle has no brain.
All it knows is when it needs to adapt to a workload
greater than what it's accustomed to. A targeted
increase in workload will (generally) result in
an increase in muscle mass, when all other factors
are accounted for (like nutrition, recovery, etc.).
So where does that
leave the trainer looking to build muscle?
Train to improve
your performance. Try new techniques, programs
and exercises.
But for crying out
loud, DON'T train with muscle soreness as a major
goal and DON'T worry if a training program doesn't
immediately make you sore. You'll get results
from overloading your muscles, eating enough quality
nutrition to support the muscle-building process
and recovering enough between workouts.
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