I recently returned to lifting, and one thing I have noticed is that I rarely get even a little bit sore. 20+ years ago, soreness was a regular occurrence, and perhaps misguidedly, it was one of the ways I judged my workout. Fast forward, and after 3 1/2 months of active strength training, it seems I just don’t get sore. Considering my age(58) and a more than 20 year layoff I find that pretty surprising. I’m pushing as hard as I can go at this point, for example, back squat at 275 4x10-12 followed by leg press 450, 3x15. I get a terrific pump, and feel a bit wobbly when I’m done, but 1-2 days out almost never even minimal soreness. I’m making pretty decent gains in both strength and body composition, so I don’t think my workouts are ineffective. One aspect that is different today vs. being in my mid-30’s besides age is nutrition. Years ago, I didn’t pay much attention to diet. I ate pretty much whatever I wanted and grew bigger and stronger and didn’t get fat. These days, I’ve really cleaned up my diet, almost no refined carbs, no dairy, lots of lean animal protein and whey isolate supplementation, good natural fats and lots of fresh vegetables. I supplements with magnesium, zinc, vit. C, fish oil and 5gr. creatine monohydrate daily. Could diet and supplementation be a factor? Anyone else have this experience?
You could try stretching before the workout and during the workout.
(Im 16 and getting sore is generally pretty easy)
I stretch both dynamically and static well before workout, and I am pretty anal about a slow cadence and making the most of the eccentric/negative portion of the rep, always have so I don’t think that’s it. I mean, I’m not complaining so long as my training is effective. I just find the lack of soreness to be…unexpected.
I wish.
I have to do something incredibly stupid to get sore. I have very little soreness.
I’m the same way. It’s very weird and people o tell say I must be doing something wrong. I worked out legs so hard the other day I fell walking up the stairs… 30 minutes later I felt like I hadn’t even worked out that day and had no DOMS. I kinda miss being sore lol
How is your mind to muscle connection? Are the muscles you are working getting the pump or is it others? If I do my typical 6 sets of 8-12 reps on 3 different machines or weights per muscle group I have to wait a minimum of 48 hours. If you aren’t sore the next morning you are doing something wrong. When I was young I could grow on heavy weights 3-6 reps but not now.
Yeah, my targeted muscle are pumped, and I am seeing both strength and mass gains, but little to no soreness . It’s weird. For example, my upper arms went from 15" to 17 1/2" in 2 1/2 months. I can beat the shit out of my biceps or triceps and there is very little soreness. I am wondering if it is just an increased tolerance/indifference/numbness to pain or if it is something else, and if it is age related.
You may be on to something there. Now at 65 I tolerate a lot more pain and feel very little compared to my 20’s
I have been on TRT for over 4 years now and my sensitivity to pain has increased since I go my hormones back up to a normal level but it is still not the same as my 20’s.
Have you had your hormones tested? I have to assume with the gains you’ve reported your male hormones must be at a good level.
Haven’t had my T levels checked, but yeah, I don’t have a problem building muscle, my gains are coming faster than I expected when I resumed training and I’m hornier than a twin-peckered billy goat so I don’t think I have an issue there.
Your seeing progress so what’s the issue?
As you said, soreness isn’t necessarily a good indicator of an effective program. I like getting sore because it’s feedback that I hit the right areas when I train.
If you feel like you’re missing out then try some lactic threshold training. Throw two plates on each side of the ol leg press and go for 2 minutes straight.
Also, do Tabata squats. Just use the bar and squat for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds and repeat for eight total rounds (should take 3:50). Aim for at least 15 reps on each round.
Like I said, I’m not complaining about the lack of soreness, rather, I expected to be REALLY sore when I resumed training due to age and being out of shape. I’m just curious if other, older lifters have encountered the same phenomenon and what might be the reason for it. Progress is good, I feel good and I’m seeing results that are, honestly, better than I anticipated.
Ok I see now so not a true concern just something that has you slightly perplex.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a workout where I’m not sore…I’m jealous…
This is absolutely not true.
I think diet/supplementation is a huge factor.
20+ years ago people were afraid of fats and nobody (well, me) had ever heard of magnesium or zinc. Also people were cronically dehydrated. Remember how strange it was to see people carrying around bottles of water? Remember how many athletes (especially college football, week 1 games) used to get cramps? Or worse.
red medicine
Drop the fish oil and magnesium for 2 weeks and see if you feel like you used too.
ralphie cat,
what’s your fat and electrolyte intake like?
Lets see here… usually my macros are split 33% for fat/protein/carbs. I take very similar supplements as red (minus creatine). Also I don’t really shy away from salt or anything. I don’t know if it helps I usually cycle between heavy and medium blocks. The type of training I usually do is clusters and rest pause.
I’ve been taking D3, ZMA, fish oil and “feeling” good, but I don’t know for sure if it’s all mental. I don’t have a good way to compare.
Anyway, training talk is cooler than diet talk. How do you set up and use the clusters? I just recently got familiar with Rest/Pause in the last few months. It was cool and useful. Have I been missing out on the clusters?
Think of clusters just like rest pause with less reps. They really shine in your heavy/basic lifts. So if you were doing them for squats… then work up to a heavy single where you are not grinding… then rest 15 seconds and repeat until the weight slows 
lots of volume with heavy weight… and your CNS doesn’t get crushed.