A good workout
I have been reading and learning a lot of valuable information from this website. I do have a basic question about working out. I always been athletic and very active. I am very motivated and want to build a better physique. I am 38 years old and want to create a healthy body and mind through working out. My question is how do you know when you had a great workout with an awesome muscle pump? Is it when you feel sore and your muscles are tired the next day? I have been dedicated to working out 4-5 times a week since November 2007. As I progress with my workout month after month, I don't feel that muscles are sore the way the used to be when I first started. So I was wondering if I am not working out harder. However when I am in the gym I workout hard and keep it under 75-90 minutes. I would really appreciate all the feedback. Thank you in advance.
First of all, it's normal
First of all, it's normal that you have less muscle soreness npw then u used to have when you just started working out. This is because when you started your muscles were not used to weigh training. However, while workout out you would defenitly want to feel a good pump in the muscles you are training. This means you are actually working the muscles you want to work.
It is possible that your pump and/or soreness the next day is much less then usual because you might have had the same routine for a longer amount of time, or you might have hit a platteau or stagnated in your workouts.
This could be overcome by adding different ecercises or replacing them with others, also... trying a complete different way of training might help you to get through your stagnation. Some exam[ples might be to start training in a higher or lower amount of sets and/or reps while increasing the amount of weight, or decreaseing it when you chose for higher reps. Also you might try some advanced training techniques (read my blog for some examples).
Bit still. Don't believe that just because you don't have a lot of soreness the next day your morkout might have been for nothing. This is not true. Muscle soreness the day after your workout only happens when you worked your muscles in a way thats new to them and stimulates the muscles to adapt to the other way of training.
Muscle soreness does not always means growth! Muscle soreness might also be a sign over-training, espessialy when it last more then 36 hours after your workout ended.
Try to remain motivated by looking at your bodystats such as BMI, weight, bodyfat and of course by looking in the mirror!
Hope i have informed you enough.. any questions? just ask ok ?
Good Luck!
"Eat Like A Horse, Train like An Animal, Sleep Like A Baby And Grow Like A Weed"
Thank you oddball91 for an
Thank you oddball91 for an informative reply. I will try to incorporate some of your tips and I will definitely read your blog as well. Here is my workout routine every week.
Everyone in the forum are welcome to give me some feedback
3 -day free weights and 2 day cardio. On Sundays I play sand volleyball as a recreational sports.
1 week - 2 session of upper body and 1 session of lower body
following week - 2 session lower body and 1 session of upper body
This gives me ample time to recover from my workouts.
Upper body - Bicep Curls, straight bar bisep curl, Decline bench Press, Incline dumbbell press, Traps, tricep press, lats pulldown and bench press
Lower Body - Squats, seated calf raise, standing calf-raise, leg press, deadlift, and hamstring curl.
Cardio - Treadmill 25 minutes or 25 minutes of biking. Also 5 sets of Ab Crunch on the fitness ball.