Is the saying "No Pain, No gain" actually true? Am I wasting my time in the gym if I'm not sore the next day? Are my workouts only worth the energy put into them if I can't walk afterward?
The simple answer: No, you don't have to be in pain to see gains from gym time.
The more complicated answer: No, but...
You do have to overload your muscles to see a positive response. Balancing overload with "pain" is the tricky part. It's easy to feel that you overloaded the muscle if you are sore the next day. It's not so easy to feel that you overloaded it without that soreness. However, it IS possible to do so!
I read a book called Huge in a Hurry by Chad Waterbury and after following his instructions in that book, I figured out the balance.
Here is his explanation for debunking the "No Pain No Gain" myth:
The problem with this myth is that it seems true. All of us, no matter how much education and experience we possess, use post exercise soreness as a sign of a successful workout. It means that we did something that was different from what we'd been doing before. It means we worked out harder or longer, or we hit some of our muscles in a new way.
But even though all that is true, as far as it goes, it doesn't mean that there is any actual connection between the degree of pain you endure and the amount of muscle you build. It is entirely possible to make the same gains, or even bigger gains, with minimal post workout suffering.
You can't avoid soreness entirely if you're doing an effective program. A good workout breaks down muscle tissue, which is the cue for your muscles to add new protein to those areas, resulting in a net gain in muscle size. But more damage -and the excess pain that comes with it- does not lead to more growth. If that were the case, you could add an inch to your upper arms in one day by doing 100 sets of biceps curls and triceps extensions. Your goal is to minimize this kind of damage, not seek it out. The more damage you do to your muscles, the longer it takes for them to recover fully. That's why excessive muscle breakdown is detrimental to your success."
Think about competitive athletes in any sport. Obviously they have been able to overload their body properly to make athletic gains in the gym. But does that mean that they are sore all the time?
How can it? Have you ever seen a football player hobbling through a game because he was sore from squatting the day before? I doubt it. Athletes don't work out to the point of feeling sore the next day when they have to compete. So how do they make gains in the gym during the season?
They find the proper balance. And they probably don't try anything brand new the day or two before a game. They save those things for the off season.
All that being said, delayed onset muscle soreness is not necessarily a bad thing if you are not a competitive athlete. As long as that soreness starts several hours after your workout (rather than during) and dissipates by 72 hours after that same workout, you are golden. But if you work a muscle group and soreness lasts for more than 72 hours or if you feel pain during your workout, you probably have an injury rather than just normal post exercise soreness. And if you are doing hard workouts 5 or 6 days a week to the point of being sore 24/7, your muscles probably don't have the time to recover and rebuild and therefore, you may not be seeing any gains at all.
So now you want to know how to Gain without Pain, right? I will get to that in my next post. Stay tuned!
