Should I Be Sore After Weight Training?

By Marc David

It’s long been a myth that if you didn't get sore from your last workout, then you didn’t work hard enough and you probably didn't improve. But it's just a myth. Soreness is not an indicator of a successful workout.

Muscle soreness that occurs directly after a workout is known as acute muscle soreness. Muscle soreness that appears 12 to 48 hours after exercise is known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) or post exercise muscle soreness (PEMS).

Acute muscle soreness or inflammation can last up to an hour after exercise and can be caused by a reduction in normal blood flow to the muscle and a build up of metabolic byproducts like hydrogen ions or lactic acid.

The physiological mechanisms that cause DOMS or PEMS are not completely understood but the leading hypotheses are: (1) the Connective Tissue Damage Hypothesis, (2) Skeletal Muscle Damage Hypothesis, and (3) The Spasm Hypothesis.

Connective Tissue Damage Hypothesis.

In a 1997 study, Brown, Child, Day and Donnelly reaffirmed an early study done by Abraham suggesting that DOMS or PEMS is due to a disruption in the connective tissue of the muscle and tendinous attachments.

Skeletal Muscle Damage Hypothesis.

In a 1986 study, Clarkson et al found that serum creatine kinase concentration was elevated with concentric, eccentric and isometric contractions, with greater perceived muscle soreness associated with the eccentric contraction. In a 2000 article entitled “Effects of Plyometric Exercise on Muscle Soreness and Plasma Creatine Kinase Levels and its Comparison with Eccentric and Concentric Exercise” (The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 68–74), the authors found Clarkson’s study not only proved to be true but also concluded that plyometric activities had incurred perceived muscle soreness than concentric contractions.

Spasm Hypothesis.

In a 1980 study, Devries proposed that DOMS or PEMS is due to a restriction in blood supply, generally due to factors in the blood vessels, with resultant damage or dysfunction of tissue called ischemia. As you continued to workout, further ischemia would result in more damage and "soreness." This theory was further proven by work done in 2000 by Barlas, Walsh, Baxter, and Allen.

Sources: ISSA Complete Guide to Fitness: Edition 8.1.5, Unit 15, pp. 415

DOMS or PEMS seems to be a side-effect of muscle tearing and repairing that occurs after a workout. It's an unfortunate side-effect as well because you are very sore and it takes 2 or more days for the soreness to go away. Soreness should not be a goal of training. Many people experience soreness when they do a particular exercise with a moderate to heavy weight and get a good, deep stretch. Not every person experiences muscle soreness. In fact, many do not yet they continue to make fantastic progress.

Forget soreness as an indicator or progress and use the most underutilized piece of equipment in the gym to tell you EXACTLY where you are, where you've been and if you are making forward movement.

What's the piece of equipment?

A training journal!

Your goal should be to improve on your last efforts. Getting a little bit better with each step and each workout. If you track your progress in some type of journal, it’s easy to see if you are improving. It's even more beneficial to track some of your body measurements (fat loss, weight gain, size on arms and legs).

Use your journal to track your progress and your perception of how you feel. When you are done with a workout, you should feel better. Not so fatigued you can’t drive home. And not puking or so nauseous that it's difficult to impossible to eat post-nutrition foods. You want to push yourself and get better but blasting yourself to the point of fatigue and overtraining where you are tired 2 days later or getting so sore it takes 7 days to walk again, is not good training. It will affect your recovery and that ultimately affects your next workout like a domino effect.

Soreness is not an indicator of a good workout. That myth has been around forever. Getting tired is easy. Getting better is not. I’ve never seen any proven scientific results that says soreness is a must in order to get better or stronger or bigger.

Practical Guidelines for Individualizing Your Training Program

A. Use "default," or standard, well accepted methods first. Use less standard methods only when you reach a point in your training where progress is no longer forthcoming.

B. Become familiar with anatomy and kinesiology, in order to better understand your body's unique characteristics.

C. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." If you are making acceptable progress, don't change a thing.

D. If conventional programs just aren't cutting it for you, start experimenting. Try different exercises, different intensity ranges, a different number of exercises and/or sets, etc. Give the new program at least two weeks before you make judgments about it's effectiveness. If it seems to work, stay with it. But remember— the body will eventually get used to any program, so eventually, you'll have to switch gears.

E. You can find shortcuts in the experimentation process by modeling yourself after a successful person who shares your unique characteristics. For instance, if you're exceedingly tall, find other tall bodybuilders who have been successful, and find out how they altered their training programs to fit their individual needs, Chances are, it'll work for you too.

F. Use your common sense! Often, athletes with many years of experience resort to foolish and extreme practices to make further gains. Remember— if you've been training properly for more than 10 years, you're near your "ceiling of potential." If we all could make improvements endlessly for decades, everyone could squat 1000 pounds, or become Mr. Olympia, or whatever else their goal is! Your goal now is to stay patient, keep healthy, while still seeking further improvements.

G. Consider hiring a competent personal trainer. Experienced trainers have adapted training programs to a wide variety of people, and can usually show you ways to save time and energy.

H. Have a clear, objective vision of what you expect to gain from your program. If you don't, you'll have no way to evaluate the effectiveness of your training.

If you are bored with your routine, change it. If you are a gym aficionado, and you are tired of your triceps routine, get a new one, and work with that. Don't bore your muscles,. Keep them interested & excited!

Vast Applications

Individualization has vast implications for your entire fitness program— not just exercise. For instance, just because 99% of Americans rely on commercial gyms for their fitness needs doesn't mean that YOU have to. You may prefer to train at home, or even outdoors. Today, people have access to an almost limitless variety of exercise modalities, including aqua fitness, martial arts, elastic resistance bands, yoga, dance, you name it. Many roads lead to Rome, so do what you enjoy.

Smart athletes also know that nutrition must be individualized as well. Case in point: English bodybuilder and elite strength athlete Gary Taylor. Despite the conventional advice of eating a high protein diet, Gary feels he does best on high carbs and low protein. With a 600 pound behind-the-neck push press to his credit, it's hard to argue with his unique approach.

Your goals don't need to be structured in conventional ways, either. While most seek more muscle or strength, you might find more satisfaction pursuing other objectives, such as everyday functional ability, or simply the sense of well-being that comes with following an exercise program. It's important to enjoy the process of training. If you're getting the results you want, don't change a thing. But if you're still not satisfied, try the suggestions we've outlined here. Lastly, remember that your individuality is a dynamic concept. As you progress, your exercise program must be constantly modified.

That's right. Your body will help determine what you need. If you get stuck, get some help.

Not only do our fitness goals determine what type of exercise we should do, but also our personalities. Some people find gyms boring, but they love salsa or bhangra class. I chose martial arts because I'm rambunctious, and I supplement it with weight training & cardio. One one person likes, another doesn't.

You probably won't see me running any marathons. Not because I can't, but because it doesn't interest me. However, some people get complete ecstasy from it. The point is, choose the activity you like most and work around that to determine the best way for you to be fit.

-Melissa

Article from Men's Health

Q: Is it better to vary reps, or to change exercises?

Aaron, Chevy Chase, MD
Muscle Guy answers from Men's Health

I prefer both. Too much of the same exercises can lead to harmful muscle imbalances, so change exercises every 4 weeks. And although lots of guys perform 10-rep sets, other techniques can quicken muscle growth. For example, alter the number of reps with each workout. An Arizona State study followed men as they used different repetition ranges in each of three training sessions a week for 12 weeks (5 reps on Monday, 15 on Wednesday, and 10 on Friday, for example), and found that their strength increased more than twice as much as that of men who varied reps only on a monthly basis.

Motivational Tip #3

Once again, I'm sharing from Kathy Smith's website. Since she already said what I'd say, why recreate it? Once again, note my bolded notes and italicized comments below.
Melissa

Find a Passion

Why is it that when we fall in love or are excited about an opportunity, we seem to enjoy boundless energy and can go for days with very little sleep?

The reason is passion. (Going to the gym isn't for everyone; nor is running, swimming or martial arts. However, find what you love and balance it with strength training, cardio and healthy eating.)

A few years ago when I was watching a PBS series hosted by Bill Moyers, it caught my attention when the great mythologist Joseph Campbell urged us to follow our "bliss." (or as Susan Ruth says, "do what feels good.") That's what I've done in my life. I follow my bliss, which I interpret to mean passion, and I encourage you to find and follow your own.

I once read a fascinating report on longevity that discussed a study of 100 people who were then in their nineties or older. The study's author said that he could find only two traits common to all 100 people. The first, that they'd eaten a consistent diet their entire lives, meaning that they'd had no extreme weight losses or gains. But it was the second trait that most captured my attention: All the old people were extremely interested in something outside themselves, whether it was religion, a hobby, or volunteering, etc. In other words, they'd found a passion.

In the early 1980s I began putting together everything I'd ever learned about exercise, fitness and health into teaching an aerobics class in Los Angeles. Though my pay was only about ten dollars per class, I considered myself incredibly rich and successful. Why? Because every day some woman, age thirty to fifty, would come up to me and admit, with tears in her eyes, that since reaching adulthood she hadn't moved her body the way she was doing in my class; she thought she'd forgotten how. But now, after sticking with it for several months, she'd begun to feel her entire life change. "I've decided I'm going to go out and get a job," was a common statement of joy. Others bragged that sex with their husbands had picked up again after a long layoff.

I could see that I was impacting these women, that their self-confidence had been raised and their well being improved. The first step had been moving their bodies, the next - well, who knows. (It's true that exercise boosts your self-confidence. If you've ever seen Vicki Virk teach bhangra (http://dholrhythms.blogspot.com/2008/06/classes.html), her passion and confidence emanate to all within her vicinity. It's contagious. Imagine your passion and how it would affect your daily life).

Later, I became the co-host of a USA Cable show called Alive & Well, on which I led a daily mini-class of exercise. Suddenly, I began receiving thousands of letters that echoed the sentiments of these women who'd come up to me in class. Heartfelt letters, describing the enormously positive changes they were experiencing. Eventually, with message boards and emails, the XX kept coming in.

To tell you the truth, the reason I continue to do what I do in my professional life is that I'm committed to helping, and inspiring the best in all people. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to hear that, for whatever reason, I've inspired someone to consider today the first day of the rest of her life.

I remember an appearance at a store in Minneapolis's Mall of America. A man and his nineteen-year-old daughter waited in line for an hour to tell me their story. It seems that, two years before, the daughter had decided to drop out of high school because of depression, feeling that her life was worthless. Distraught over his daughter's decision, about which he could do nothing legally since she was past sixteen, the father tried every form of persuasion, even bribery. Nothing worked. Then one day he happened to see a poster of mine that read, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. He bought it, along with one of my exercise videos, and brought them home to her. Resistant at first, she tried the video, and then hung the poster. Within weeks, she'd exercised out the depression and taken the slogan to heart. She stayed in school, graduated, and was, when I met her, enjoying her freshman year of college. Both father and daughter had tears in their eyes, and so did I.

Handing me both the poster and the video, the daughter said, "You made me believe I could do it, that I could do something with my life."

As we hugged and exchanged tissues, I understood the emotional connection between us: We both shared a passion for exercise, and she, like me, now understood that it had expanded her options by allowing her to notice more opportunities, and to take better advantage of them, which is exactly what it has done for me.

If she'd asked me to explain to her the cause and effect of exercise and its results, I would have said that, as scientific research has demonstrated, exercise has a healthy effect on the human mind and spirit, as well as the body.

Now, does exercise automatically lead to major life changes for everyone? No, probably not. (Certainly it does for most, but perhaps your passion is in model trains, blogging or cooking. Be passionate about something. Too many people let work rule their lives. Have a life outside of work and family. It's so important for you).

Personally, I've found that my thinking is often at its most creative when I'm working out - whether running, walking, lifting weights, spinning or hiking in the hills. It's a conscious choice, to use the time productively. I'm fully aware that a lot of people abandon their exercise programs because they get bored. They lose their passion.

"Don't you?" they ask.

Lose my passion? Never. First of all, I don't let myself get to that point, I cross-train, moving from one activity to another nearly every day. Second, I don't get bored because there's so much to think about when I'm exercising. Sure, the activity itself can be repetitive, but that very repetition frees the mind to go elsewhere.

Exercise initiates physiological reactions that also lead to subtle changes in thought processes. In the calm of an exercise-induced alpha state, I trust my mind to be more agile, so I tend to follow where it wants to lead me. During exercise, my mental state reflects the best of me from the deepest recesses of my soul.

Even when I don't need to solve a particular problem, I often use the time to take stock of my life. Am I being a good listener? Am I using my time wisely? Am I pursuing the things I want?

Other times, I spend my workout enjoying some detailed daydreaming such as getting lost in nature - enjoying the sights, smells, and sounds. And finally, I also brainstorm solutions to problems at home or work during my workout. Often this brainstorming will lead to some creative solutions.

Now all these years later, I still revel in my passion for exercise. Being connected passionately to one thing leads to other areas of passion, including one for life in general. You then naturally want to experience more, be more involved in life. You develop a healthier lifestyle, and that means not having to focus so single-mindedly on food, your weight, your body image, your finances, or whatever.

I encourage you to nurture a passion for fitness, and let that passion connect you to other dreams and other passions. From art to cooking to gardening to travel, let exercise be your guide.

Whatever your dreams, follow their trail. Go where they lead. Listen to your heart. Chase your passions.

How to Do Interval Training

By eHow Sports & Fitness Editor

Introduction

To tap into a new, higher level of fitness and fat burning, try an interval workout. The combination of aerobic and anaerobic training will give a real boost to your health and make the rest of your workouts seem easier.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Steps

1

Step One

Begin with 5 to 7 minutes of low-intensity work in your exercise mode. For example, walk or jog lightly to start.

2

Step Two

Stretch the major muscle groups, paying particular attention to the lower body.

3

Step Three

Exercise at a higher intensity for 10 minutes. Let your body continue to warm up and get ready for the workout to come.

4

Step Four

Start cycle 1: Exercise for 3 minutes at a pace you could maintain for the entire workout. Then for 1 minute push yourself hard, with a short burst of activity that you couldn't do for longer than a minute.

5

Step Five

Recover for 30 seconds or longer, but keep moving, and let your breath return to a normal workout level.

6

Step Six

Understand that the cycle is 3 minutes aerobic/recovery and 1 minute anaerobic (3-to-1).

7

Step Seven

Complete eight cycles, the first four becoming progressively harder, with the hardest cycles being four and five, then decrease the intensity with cycles six, seven and eight.

8

Step Eight

Keep moving for another 3 to 4 minutes or until you feel your heart rate coming down.

9

Step Nine

Stretch the major muscles again, this time more deeply and for 20 to 30 seconds.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use the first 30 seconds of the aerobic portion to recover and literally catch your breath.
• Think of the cycles as going up and down a mountain - as they ascend, it's hard and there's not much oxygen at the top, then the descent gets easier.
• Note that 1 minute may be too long for a beginner, so try shortening the anaerobic (without oxygen) cycles - even 10 seconds is an effective way to start.
• Notice that your heart rate is going way up and then way down; it should peak and valley quite a bit during interval training.
• Plan to interval train only once or twice a week.
• Allow for 48 hours of recovery between each session. It's OK to exercise during the 48 hours, but avoid strenuous exercise and anything high-impact.
• Drink lots of water.
• Please consult your physician before attempting this or any other strenuous physical activity. Listen to your body.
• This advice is not intended to substitute for advice from a physician, physical therapist or personal trainer.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6013_interval-training.html

Interval Training for Weight Loss

Source: intervaltraining.net

Do you want to lose weight, more specifically fat?

Do you feel paralysed after failing time and time again to lose those extra pounds?

Don’t you just get hopping mad when you do a ton of exercise and you really don't lose any weight at all? You may try and fool yourself that it’s ok but every time you look in the mirror, it doesn't lie. Are you finding it harder and harder to be motivated because you are starting to feel a little hopeless?

Well If I can show you a way to lose all your fat in weeks, are you willing to spend no more than 20 minutes three times a week achieving this? What would it mean to you if you could walk around in your costume and feel fantastic about it?

By the time you finish reading this article, you will know how to consistently lose 2 pounds of pure fat every week so you can actually fit into those fantastic clothes you just bought. You are about to discover a type of exercise that causes a chain reaction in your body to burn fat…a LOT of fat, for hours...…but first let’s talk about what doesn’t work.

Skip to the programs

interval training for weight lossFor years, we've been told low-intensity aerobic exercise is the best method for burning off our extra body fat. Research also indicates that the lower the intensity of the exercise the more percentage of fat is used as fuel for muscles, so in low intensity aerobic activity the body operates in a ‘fat burning’ zone which burns more fat than at higher intensity. Unfortunately according to modern research, this just doesn't seem to work very well.
In fact tens of experiments have all concluded that aerobic exercise does nothing for large scale fat loss.

So unfortunately, like you, there are thousands of people trying desperately to lose weight by doing some work on the treadmill or something similar. And for the most part, all of these people are not going to lose any fat. (If you want some proof go look at a local fun run, these people are fit but are they shape you want to be?)

Not too many benefits for all that work… So what to do? Well, there is an exercise routine that apart from speedy fat loss has a multitude of benefits which include:

* Losing at least two pounds per week and I am being conservative with this figure…
* Getting a toned, athletic look - don’t just lose weight, mould your body into a shape that will be turning heads;
* Tons and tons of energy - Imagine having energy for a full exciting life, you will have more energy than you know what to do with;
* Super fitness - having a lot more cardio endurance and fitness than the guy who spend two hours on the treadmill each day;
* Chase away disease - this exercise does wonders for lowering blood pressure and staving type 2 diabetes away; and
* Automatically as you body loses weight, you will become aware of extra energy and vitality

How would you like it if you had dozens of people desperate to find out your weight loss super secret while they still were failing? Get used to it, it will happen a lot.

And think now what will you do with that new toned body, take it to the beach, buy new clothes or shake it on the dance floor.

Ok, enough trying to motivate you, the secret to this wonderful metamorphosis is a type of interval training called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Study after study has proven the incredible fat burning effects that HIIT can have on the body, in fact in the first bit of research that set interval training as the benchmark for fat loss; the participants lost 9 times as much fat as those doing standard aerobic exercises.

Skip to the programs
It works so well because of a process called EPOC

interval training for weight loss 3EPOC occurs in the body after intense exercise drains muscles of their inbuilt energy source. This has to be replenished in the body, and it can take up to 48 hours to happen. During this time your body has no alternative but to draw and burn up your fat reserves. So for the next two days while you sit at work, watch TV or have that peaceful nap, your blood cells are rushing around that belly or those thighs, grabbing as much of the fat as it can and taking it away to use it as energy, without you having to do much...

And EPOC is only the immediate benefit; over time your body’s ability to convert energy directly into the muscle increases. The muscles ability to store energy increases so your demands for fat release go up, and interval training starts convincing the body to funnel new energy to the muscles instead of sending them to your fat stores. All of this increases the more you do interval training, so as you can see the better you get at this, the more of a fat burning machine your body turns into.

The good ole Food Pyramid....
(by Melissa McPeters, Personal Trainer & Nutrition Consultant)

The first is the one I grew up on, and the second is what the United States Department of Agriculture tells us today is the best way to eat.

You see it's changed since you were a kid, haven't you? Yes, instead of 6 building blocks from big to small, you see that it has vertical stripes instead. What do you think of this change? Is there anything missing? Does anything look wrong to you?

It says we need to eat more grains and less beans and meat. Hmmm. This seems to be connected to the United States' ongoing reliance on grains. Grain is fed to our cars, livestock and us! What do you think about this? Grains are great. They are rich in iron and vitamin B, but should it really be a mainstay in every meal?

Looking at the new pyramid, I see that we can limit our intake of fruits and increase our intake of milk and dairy. In fact, we're to eat more grains than even vegetables.

I never liked the original food pyramid, but this one is really making me crazy.

Before, we were told that we should even have sweets and fats in our diets, but to limit them. Ok, where are our sweets and fats in the new pyramid? Do you miss them? Isn't chocolate a food group to many?

Ok. Ok. So, the government has decided that our diets need to change. That is a fact. However, is this really the way? Is increasing our grains and decreasing our fruit going to help?

The bottom line is that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture will regularly change what they deem as acceptable foods needed for our good health. It's nice to know they're looking out for us.

Truthfully, we should eat primarily fruits and vegetables with the rest of the food groups (chocolate included) as side dishes to our delicious vegetable main dishes and fruit salads.

You can view the new food pyramid here: http://mypyramid.gov/ (sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture)

This is just a nutrition reminder...

The best way to eat fruit is by itself and on an empty stomach. You will absorb all of the vitamins in the most efficient way possible.

Happy fruiting from Ultra Fit SF Nutrition Consulting!!