I did a search but couldn’t find the question.
How should you feel in the hours and days after a workout? Or more importantly, does it matter?
Will your muscles let you know if you’re training right or will they just grow arbitrarily regardless of how you’re feeling?
Every one is different, we got smashed when i was in the army they hammered us 6 out of 10 pt sessions we did and i was never sore the next day or the same day but some times i was sore a 2-3 days latter.
Some guys were never sore and some were sore about 10-15min in.
I think it goes with seeing results and knowing what your body can handle.
I personally have really bad recovery (probably a sympton of being out of shape as well) if I dont keep a constant stream of exercise up.
From a break of longer than a week it takes at least two sessions to avoid constant aches and pains afterwards.
The main problem I have (after discovering T-Nation) is next day energy levels suffering.
If you maintain form throughout the exercise, as well as following a plan then you should grow whether you are sore or not
If you have a hard workout or train hard, you will usually feel some form of DOMS either the next day, or in the days following.
It’s not easy to build muscle, you have to force them to grow. If you are taking long to recover or feeling run down / low on energy the next day, then maybe your nutrition is not up to scratch, or you are not sleeping enough.
It’s different for everybody, I think. But, generally, when you first start any rigorous program, almost everyone feels the pain for a week or two. After that, your body adapts.
For me, my first two weeks getting back into lifting were hell. Now, with 6 weeks in, I feel a little sore after a workout, but I usually don’t REALLY feel it until that night, or the morning after. Right now, the muscles in about 90% of my body are quite sore. But, I LOVE it. I wouldn’t trade the feeling for anything.
As RSG said, if you are feeling low on energy, or run-down, then check your diet.
For me, it depends greatly on the lifting program. With strength and hypertrophy programs, I typically have much greater soreness than with metabolic/fat loss programs. I do think nutrition plays a big role as well. On a fat-loss phase, decreased energy intake + more metabolically taxing work makes me a bit more tired the next day. When eating above maintenance and lifting for hypertrophy or strength, I generally have better energy levels, but, as I said before, I get more DOMS.
Proper post-workout nutrition has really helped my immediate recovery, to the point where I don’t feel like I’m going to pass out driving home from the gym.
You should feel pretty good about yourself because you just made some PRs.
You can’t gauge progress based on how destroyed you feel after a workout. The only short term measurement you have is the amount of weight you moved. If you squatted 205 for 4 sets of 8 for your last workout and you felt destroyed, and then you squat 205 for 3 sets of 12 easily you made progress because you did 4 more reps total.
Your muscles will tell you if your making progress by getting stronger. If you’re not getting stronger, than you’re doing something wrong with your diet, training, recover, sleep, stress level, etc. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out which one is holding you back once you objectively recognize which factor is the weakest.
As a beginner, strength gains should be your primary concern no matter what your goal. Even if you’re not concerned with strength and your main goal is aesthetics, beginner bodybuilders will be better off if their focus is on strength. Maybe not absolute strength, but improving your 10RM on Dumbbell Bench Press will get you bigger than murdering your chest with 7 different exercises in an attempt to get a good ‘pump.’
It doesn’t matter how you feel after a workout.
If you’re consistently getting stronger, or leaner, or bigger, you’re progressing. These are all measured either IN the gym, or by some once-a-week measurement (for leaner/bigger).
I never pay attention, unless I feel like I’m going to vomit or pass out. Those are the only times I really ever question if I worked out too hard…other than that you can feel pretty much any way you want.
[quote]Otep wrote:
It doesn’t matter how you feel after a workout.
If you’re consistently getting stronger, or leaner, or bigger, you’re progressing. These are all measured either IN the gym, or by some once-a-week measurement (for leaner/bigger).[/quote]
Thanks.
I should have added a preface: I already know how NOT to feel after a workout, (DOMS, CNS burnout) and exactly how that is bad, I wanted to know what feeling is GOOD so you know your progressing.
As I had feared, there really isn’t. 
I’d agree with Otep about it not really mattering how you feel after a workout, but it’s nice when you feel just a tiny bit sore.
Just enough that you feel bigger and your muscles feel tight.
Doesn’t mean anything, but it’s nice to feel that way.
Sometimes when I’m driving away from my gym after deadlift day, I feel like I have no clue what the hell is going on. It’s easily more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol, but perfectly legal. It’s like I’m slowly drifting into space while drinking a whey chocolate shake. Then I get home and eat as much food as I can before taking a nap.
[quote]son of liars wrote:
Sometimes when I’m driving away from my gym after deadlift day, I feel like I have no clue what the hell is going on. It’s easily more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol, but perfectly legal. It’s like I’m slowly drifting into space while drinking a whey chocolate shake. Then I get home and eat as much food as I can before taking a nap.[/quote]
I was in a small corner of the locker room at the gym a while ago and after a really hard lower body day I felt like that.
felt like i was high on something.
also as far as DOMS I never ever have them the next day.it always hits me 2 days later then I am toast for a few more days.
unless i take a big handfull of bcaa after words then I noticed there not so bad.kind of weird.
[quote]Otep wrote:
It doesn’t matter how you feel after a workout.
If you’re consistently getting stronger, or leaner, or bigger, you’re progressing. These are all measured either IN the gym, or by some once-a-week measurement (for leaner/bigger).[/quote]
Which is exactly why I say if your goal is STRENGTH… then your guide should be your logbook. If the weights are progressively increasing every time (doesnt have to be every session though… putting more and more weight on the bar ultimately has a point of diminising returns) then youll know your on to something.
Typically for me, nowadays the only time I get sore is if I up the volume considerably or add a new exercise in the mix I havent done in awhile or at all.
[quote]son of liars wrote:
Sometimes when I’m driving away from my gym after deadlift day, I feel like I have no clue what the hell is going on. It’s easily more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol, but perfectly legal. It’s like I’m slowly drifting into space while drinking a whey chocolate shake. Then I get home and eat as much food as I can before taking a nap.[/quote]
yeah , I’ve had this too .
WTF is that ? feels great , dont get me wrong . just curious if it’s some kind of chemical/horomone dump going on .