Anybody who has ever touched a weight knows the feeling…

It happens the first time you do squats or deadlifts…the first (and sometimes last!) time you negative-accentuated training where you’re focusing on the lowering phase of the lift…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 tells them they’ve made progress…that something has been achieved in the gym.

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 unique exercises and programs will 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 pain was the goal, there are much more targeted ways of doing THAT. Just drop a weight on your toe…you’ll have pain…lots of soreness, too.

The 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.

It is as 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 indicate that what you’ve done will cause muscle growth but there’s no absolute 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.

Even when I use an exercise I’ve never ever done before or used a program that is completely new to me, soreness is never the determining factor on whether I feel it’s a good program or not.

My results are…

I’ll give you a specific example. In a muscle-building program I’ve found called “Muscle Explosion - 28 Days to Maximum Mass“ there is a week where you perform ONE exercise 5 days in a row for more than 200 sets.

Without getting into the specifics of the program, the author says he gains about 5 pounds of muscle in this single week alone, just based on this style of training. And even with that HUGE number of sets, he rarely gets muscle soreness.

Yes, the nervous and muscular systems are pretty well trashed at the end of those 5 days but soreness? Not a whole lot to speak of.

I will say it again…soreness can indicate the potential for increase muscle growth…it’s 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 simply would not allow it.

Muscle does not have a brain. All it knows is when it needs to adapt to a workload greater than what it’s accustomed to. An increase in workload will usually result in increased muscle mass, when all other factors are taken into account (like nutrition, recovery, etc.).

So where does that leave the person who wants to build muscle?

Train to increase performance. Try new training techniques, exercises and programs.

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.