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Is Muscle Soreness Necessary For Muscle Growth?

That's the question...do you need to be so stiff and sore you can hardly move or scratch your nose in order to get maximum muscle-building results? Find out here.

Anybody who has ever touched a weight knows the feeling... It happens the first time you do squats or deadlifts...the first time you do negative-only training...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's an indication that they've made progress...that they've accomplished something 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 I'm personally known for creating unique exercises and programs that 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 I wanted to dole out pain, there are much more targeted ways of doing THAT. Cripes, just drop a weight plate on your foot - there's pain for you...lots of soreness, too.

My 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.

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 be an indication that what you've done will result in muscle growth but there is no 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.

Heck, the most soreness I EVER experienced in all my life didn't even come from weight training! It came from running (and walking) a 20 km race without training for it (back when I was 16 years old and crazy). I was sore all over before I even FINISHED. Two hours later I could hardly move. And I can promise you, I didn't gain a pound of muscle from THAT experience.

I'll be honest with you...I've been weight training about 18 years and I very RARELY get any significant muscle soreness anymore (i.e. the kind that makes you walk funny or have a hard time scratching your nose). It takes a LOT for me to get even mildly sore. All those unique exercises and programs I've done over the years have resulted in muscles that have pretty much seen it all.

Even when I perform an exercise I've never ever done before or done a program that is totally new to me, soreness is never significant.

Yet, my results ARE.

I'll give you a specific example. In my Muscle Explosion muscle-building program (the link below), I've included a week where you perform ONE exercise 5 days in a row for more than 200 sets (I like to use deadlifts). --> http://www.fitstep.com/muscle-explosion/explosive-muscle-building.htm Without getting into the specifics of the program, I generally gain about 5 pounds of muscle in this single week alone, just based on this style of training. And even with that extreme workload, I RARELY experience ANY soreness.

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

I'll say it again...soreness is an INDICATOR of the potential for muscle growth 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 wouldn't permit it.

Muscle has no brain. All it knows is when it needs to adapt to a workload greater than what it's accustomed to. A targeted increase in workload will (generally) result in an increase in muscle mass, when all other factors are accounted for (like nutrition, recovery, etc.).

So where does that leave the trainer looking to build muscle?

Train to improve your performance. Try new techniques, programs and exercises.

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.

Secret Training Tip #221 - Hip Flexors AREN'T Evil...Do They Hold The Key to Faster Running Speed?

If you believe the magazines, you want to do everything you can to eliminate the hip flexors from your abdominal training. But can this bit of advice actually be HURTING your speed?

Training Equipment Review - The Football Bar

Does this unique bar design hold the key to bench pressing without shoulder pain? Plus, find out what OTHER exercises this bar can be used for - you'll be surprised!

When you hear the name "Football Bar," the first thing that pops into your head is probably a drinking establishment with big TV's on every wall with football fans everywhere.

Well, this is NOT that kind of bar...

The Football Bar is a barbell designed with a very specific purpose in mind...to make it possible for football players with all-too-common shoulder injuries to bench press again.

The bar itself looks like a regular straight bar with two "bubbles" (sort of loops in the bar). These bubbles have three short diagonal bars in them in a pattern that looks like this:

The angled bars change how the shoulder joint functions during the bench press movement. It results in a more neutral grip, which is designed to be easier on the shoulder joint during the bench press movement.

DOES THE FOOTBALL BAR WORK?

Now, I read the excellent testimonials on the Football Bar site and was very impressed with how players who thought they'd never bench again were able to find a groove with this bar and really make progress on the exercise.

Having somewhat bad shoulders myself (not through injury but through anatomy - they're just not put together all that well), I wanted to test the Football Bar to see how it would feel on my shoulders.

When I do regular flat barbell bench press, I generally don't get shoulder pain right away - it generally happens only when I do it too much or push it too hard. In fact, my whole first year training, I was unable to flat barbell bench at all - I would feel a sharp pain in my shoulder whenever I unracked the bar. I did dumbbell bench press instead so my shoulders could find their own groove.

So I set up the Football Bar in my rack to test it out.

Here's the thing...for me, I actually found the angled grip to be MORE painful on my shoulder joints than the standard grip. This is totally contrary to the experience of almost everybody who has used this bar.

I played around with the grip and grip width a little to see if I could make it feel better but was unable to. For my particular (and no doubt bizarre) shoulder anatomy, the neutral grip didn't work well.

What I DID find, however, was that when I lightened up the weight and focused on really feeling the pecs work, I actually got MUCH greater pec activation with the Football Bar than I could with the straight bar, especially in the inner pec area.

There was still some tension in the shoulder joints for me, but the increased tension on the pecs was substantial.

Now, just to be clear, I actually DO believe the bar would be good for most people with shoulder injuries. A neutral grip SHOULD allow for reduced tension and torque in the shoulder joint. For me, that doesn't seem to be the case.

I don't want to slant your opinion of the usefulness of the bar based on my own messed-up structure (to give you an idea, when I hold my arm directly out to the side and rotate it, I can hear and feel continuous grinding and popping...and this is without any injury to the area).

So to give the Football Bar a fair test, I moved from bench pressing with it to seeing what other exercises could be done with it.

HERE is where the Football Bar REALLY shines, in my opinion.

The creator of the bar mentioned to me that it works very well for Front Squats. So I set it up in the rack and got myself under the bar for Front Squats.

And let me tell, it worked GREAT for Front Squats.

Those bubbles and diagonal bars sit right on your shoulders, creating a wide base of support for the bar. It eliminates any tendency for the bar to roll and really helps distribute the weight over a great area, making the exercise more comfortable (it can only be used for the crossed-arm setup, just fyi, if you've ever done Front Squats).

Next, I tried it for Barbell Curls. The position your hands end up in will be more of a Reverse Curl but let tell you...GREAT again. You can focus on different aspects of the upper arms depending on which direction you hold the bar.

I set the bar on the floor and lay down in front of it, reached back and grabbed it for Lying Tricep Extensions. LOVE it for this exercise. The angled bars allow for a neutral grip in this exercise, which really targeted the long head of the triceps. I felt this one VERY strongly - my triceps were like Jello after a few sets.

These are just a few of the exercises I used it for - there will be a link at the end to a page with all the exercises I tried out with the Football Bar.

Two exercises I wouldn't recommend the Football Bar to be used with would be Deadlifts and Shrugs, though. The structure of the bar (with those bubbles I mentioned), means you have to keep the bar a few extra inches away from your body, will can put extra torque on the lower back.

The bar itself is constructed EXTREMELY well. It has a very solid feel to it and will be able to support more than enough weight for whatever you use it for (rated to 500 lbs).

CONCLUSION:

The Football Bar, while not working great for ME on the bench press, I believe has great potential for those with shoulder injuries. The diagonal structure of the grips allow for more neutral positioning in the shoulder joint, which SHOULD be easier on a normal shoulder joint.

The Football Bar is also very versatile which, for me, more than made up for the small shoulder discomfort I experienced with it. The range of exercises that are actually better when done with the bar makes it a good investment.

To see the Football Bar in action, click on the following link:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue65-bar.htm

WHERE GO I GET A FOOTBALL BAR?

To get yourself a Football Bar and to learn more about it, click the following link:

http://www.repsdirect.net

Just fyi, they're not cheap ($300) but if you've got the money and are interested in a very versatile and effective piece of equipment, it's a good investment.

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