So, according to most experts, real muscle growth requires pushing the muscle nearly to failure, which then stresses and tears the muscle fibers so they will respond by repairing themselves and building new muscle.
Well, this sort of behavior tends to leave one sore as hell the next day, at least, it does so when you are new to it. Which leads me to my question: are serious weightlifters sore all the time? And if you are not sore, why are you not sore? If you are pushing your muscles to failure so that you can build more muscle, that should cause soreness, why doesn’t it with you?
When you start lifting generally you are sore as all anything. Painfully, can’t get out of bed sore. Within a month or so the level of soreness goes down.
It also depends on what your goals are. If you are looking to build muscle then there will always be a level of soreness. I have found that when I am trying to lose weight, by doing circuit training, a lot of cardio, and generally not going “heavy” that I am either not sore the next day or not nearly as sore as when I’m trying to pack on mass.
Also the reason you aren’t sore as much is because your body gets used to it, which means it becomes harder and harder to put on muscle and to “punish” yourself as your original did.
With 20 years of weighlifting to my credit (I’m 37), my experience (or, rather, my memory) is that the worst pain occurs during the first 2-3 weeks of weighlifting–or with any major change/hiatus in a lifting schedule.
During the first couple of weeks, some newbies feel like hell, thinking that they’re falling apart. The good news is that the pain eventually subsides/diminishes.
These days, sure, I feel sore from time to time, but it’s a good pain and I enjoy it, though it can’t compare to the joy of a real severe foot cramp. Love 'em!
The phenomenon in question is delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS for short). IME, it’s pretty bad for the first month or so when you first start lifting (or restart after a long hiatus), but after that, you’ll only be a little sore. Your body needs time to adapt to the stress you’re putting on it, but once it adapts, there’s not too much pain.
And I’m about to go back to the gym again after almost two months off…geez, I’m gonna be sore…