Training

Here's a quick summary:

1. Participate in some type of competition and train with professionals for increased growth and training discipline
2. Master resistance training that does not include barbell training. Experiment with how your training program is organized and periodized.
3. Try increasing the amount of time you spend on squats per week and experiment with your deadlift training frequency.
4. Try to see support exercises as main exercises and vice versa. And then see which exercises your body responds to best.

You need to work on knowing what works

Most exercisers flock aimlessly to the gyms of the world without a plan, goal or strategy.
Most haven't experimented nearly enough with their training to have the slightest clue about what works best for them. They stick with the same training program all year long without making any significant progress. There is no universal best training system that is perfect for everyone. We are all different in terms of anatomy, physiology and psychology. We must continually strive to find methods and strategies that work best for our unique bodies. The only way to learn this is to experiment over time. It's impossible to know what's best for you if you don't put in the time and work to find out.

Here's a list of things every exerciser should try during their training career.

1 - Enter a competition

At some point in your life, you should muster up the courage to enter a competition of some kind - whether it's a strength competition or a competition in a physical sport. This process will teach you lessons that you will benefit from for many years to come. Your options are endless. When it comes to competing in a body sport, you can compete in bodybuilding competitions or competitions in the figure, fitness or bikini classes. When it comes to competitions in strength sports, you can take part in Olympic weightlifting, strongman, powerlifting or CrossFit competitions. In powerlifting alone, you will find competitions in all three disciplines, as well as bench press, squat and deadlift competitions - take part in competitions in different areas and broaden your horizons. Olympic weightlifting will build your quadriceps, teach you how to maintain proper upper body flexion, how to perform the lower range of motion on squats and also maximize your strength on overhead presses. Powerlifting will help you find the proper stance width, foot placement, grip width and training styles that will maximize your strength on squats, bench presses and deadlifts.

Strongman will build your spinal erectors, increase your grip strength and give your strength endurance a boost. Bodybuilding will teach you how to minimize your body fat, how to achieve maximum muscle growth in each muscle head and how to diet according to your goals. Participating in competitions will force you to really dig in and make the magic happen.

2 - Train with professionals

Train with professionals if you can. There is so much you can learn from competitive athletes and many of them will be happy to share their knowledge with you, especially if they see you working hard in the gym.

Find out where the serious strength athletes and bodybuilders train and sign up for a membership. There's bound to be a gym somewhere near you that specializes in powerlifting, bodybuilding, weightlifting or strongman training. Do your homework and then train there.

3 - Master multiple forms of resistance

We all love the barbell. If you're a strength athlete, this is expected of you. However, still take the time to master dumbbells, machines, resistance bands, kettlebells, weight cuts, weight vests, specialized barbells, cable pulls and more. Exercises are tools and a good carpenter has a big toolbox. Of course, you'll use your hammer more often than your Allen keys or chisel, but these tools can be extremely important aids at the right time.

4 - Tinker with your training program

Different training strategies maximize different variables. Here are four popular methods:

1. High-volume training (HVT) maximizes training volume per muscle group and is generally used in combination with a training split by muscle group.
2. High Frequency Training (HFT) maximizes frequency per exercise or muscle group. It is generally used in combination with a full body workout.
3. High Intensity Training (HIT) maximizes effort and involves performing a set to muscle failure as part of a full body workout.
4. Escalating Density Training (EDT) maximizes training density and is generally used in combination with an upper body/lower body split.

Give each of these systems a chance in due course. You will learn something from each system and can incorporate aspects of each into your training over the years. You will make the best progress if you combine the different training styles in your training. For example, if you have been doing high volume training (HVT) for several years, a 3 month HIT phase will be very useful for you. If you have never used high frequency training (HFT), then there are still a few gains waiting for you.

Experiment with each of these workout routines at some point:

• Training splits by muscle group include high volume with natural fluctuations in demands on the CNS throughout the week. For example, a leg training day is brutal, but a shoulder day is more or less a walk in the park.
• A full body workout allows you to train more frequently per exercise and involves higher metabolic demands.
• Push-pull and upper body-lower body splits are beneficial for strength athletes.

You'll never find out which training style works best for you if you don't give them all an honest chance. There are several ways to organize your training and it's worth the time to experiment with periodization:

• Linear periodization has worked very well for many powerlifters over the past few decades.
• The Westside Method uses the conjugate method.
• Daily undulating periodization has seen a surge in popularity over the last few years thanks to advocates like Mike Zourdos.
• Block periodization has helped numerous athletes increase their strength and power.

Westside, 5/3/1, Starting Strength, The Texas Method, Sheiko, Smolov are all tried and tested methods that are worth trying at some point in your training career.

5 - Perform 20 repetitions of squats

The old-school bodybuilders invested their time in 20-rep squats. This training protocol is legendary and it's important that you use it too. You'll learn to force 20 reps with a weight you've only done 10 reps with before by refusing to put the bar back on the rack and breathing deeply between reps. You'll increase the weight on the bar and build several inches of thigh girth and you'll never curse a normal set of squats or deadlifts again.

6 - Try instinctive training

Use pure instinctive training during breaks between planned phases of training. This isn't about wandering around without direction - it's more about listening to your body's cues and training based on how you feel, rather than sticking to a set plan. Let's say you've just completed a powerlifting competition and you don't have another competition on the schedule for the next 7 months. After the first competition, you could avoid any specific program for 3 months before starting serious powerlifting training again. Alternating between periods of planned training and unplanned training is liberating and refreshing.

Go to the gym with an open mind, listen to your body and perform 3 to 5 exercises with 10 to 15 total sets per training session. You don't have to stick to a 7 day calendar - if you want to train every other day, then do it. If you want to train 3 days in a row followed by 2 non-training days, that's fine too.

Maybe one day you train squats, kettlebell swings, push-ups and inverse rowing. The next day you might train block pulls, glute ham raises and standing shoulder presses. The next day could be tight bench presses, hip thrusts, pull-ups and ab wheel rollouts.

You could also choose to do classic squats for 6 workouts in a row. Mix low, medium and high reps with no apparent rhythm or reason. I think you understand what I'm getting at. You can easily maintain or even increase your strength and set personal bests during these phases of instinctive training.

7 - Find your ideal squat frequency

There is an optimal squat frequency that will build your thighs the fastest, but you have to find it yourself through trial and error.

Spend two months at a time using one of the following training frequencies:

• Squat training once a week
• Squat training twice a week
• Knee flexor training three times a week
• Knee flexor training four times a week

Stick to 3 to 5 work sets per training session.
Pay careful attention to your strength levels and how your body responds so that you can determine your ideal squat frequency.

If your anatomy is well suited to doing squats, then I would suggest that 3 to 4 squat training sessions per week is ideal for you. However, if your hips, knees or back feel sore after squat training, 1 to 2 sessions of squats will be better in the long run.

8 - Find your ideal deadlift strategy

There is also an optimal deadlift strategy that will optimize your deadlift performance, but again, it takes experimentation to find this strategy.

Take a few weeks and do the following:

• Train heavy deadlifts once every other week
• Train heavy deadlifts once a week
• Train heavy deadlifts twice a week
• Train heavy deadlift once a week and lighter, on speed on another day of the week
• Train deadlifts with moderate volume and moderate effort three times a week
• Try to avoid deadlifts completely

Some exercisers do best with specificity, while others get better results with variety and by focusing on supporting exercises. Experiment to find what works best for you, but also realize that what works best for you now may not be what will work best for you two years from now. This is what makes training with weights such fun (or such a frustration - depending on which way you look at it).

9 - Train with bilateral training only for a while and unilateral training only for a while

You may think that unilateral exercises won't give you the same results as their counterparts performed with both arms or legs, but can you really say that with absolute certainty? Expriment. First, measure the circumferences of your chest, arms and thighs. Then train for three months with bilateral exercises only. Note any changes in body measurements and any strength gains and pay close attention to how your body feels. Then do an unloading week and go straight to unilateral training for three months.

Only perform exercises such as walking or reverse lunges with a barbell or dumbbells, Bulgarian split squats, step-ups, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, single-leg hip thrusts, single-arm bench presses with dumbbells, single-arm dumbbell incline bench presses, single-arm dumbbell shoulder presses, single-arm lat pulldowns and single-arm rowing with a dumbbell. Again, note any changes in your body measurements and strength gains and pay close attention to how your body feels.

This is the only way to really find the answer to the question of how your body responds to bilateral and unilateral training. You'll learn a lot in the process, your strength on unilateral exercises will increase dramatically and you'll never refer to walking lunges with a barbell as a sissy exercise again.

10 - Treat supporting exercises like main exercises

Reverse your strategy regarding main exercises and support exercises for a few months. You still have a whole training life ahead of you. It won't kill you if squats, deadlifts and bench presses play second fiddle for a while. It might even be beneficial for you.

For 3 to 4 months, choose a few exercises that are usually referred to as "support exercises". You might choose dumbbell rows with supported chest, close incline bench presses, barbell hip thrusts, Bulgarian barbell split squats and glute ham raises with added weight.

Perform each of these exercises twice a week - once with 3 sets of 5 to 8 repetitions and once with 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions. Try to increase the weight over time, as you would with your main exercises. Perform these exercises at the beginning of your training session so that they can produce the best training effect. Then perform your squats, deadlifts and bench press variations with less focus as you do your supporting exercises today.

Pay close attention to the effects. Your body may respond so well to supporting exercises that you could start to think of them as core exercises.

10 Bonus Ideas

1. Use strict 3 second pause repetitions only on your main exercises.
2. Perform only three exercises three times a week with different repetition ranges (daily undulating periodization).
3. Refrain from any overhead training to see if: a. This affects your shoulder hypertrophy b. This has a positive effect on the health of your shoulders
4. Refrain from any arm training to see if this affects the growth of your arms
5. Avoid any stabilization training for your core to see if it a. Affects the aesthetic aspect of your core b. Affects your strength during squats and deadlifts Affect your strength in squats and deadlifts
6. Perform Nordic leg curls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRZcNx_C0A) four or five days a week at the beginning of your training sessions to bring the strength of your hamstrings up to the level of the rest of your body.
7. Include two grip strength sessions per week in your training and see if this has a beneficial effect on your deadlift and back training performance.
8. Perform two sets of lateral walks with bands (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjgGSPo7Chc) and two sets of hip thrusts with two dumbbells or a barbell before your squat training session and see if this has a positive effect on the way your hips feel during squats.
9. Use occlusion training (training that restricts the blood supply to the trained limbs) for biceps and triceps twice a week and see if this has a positive effect on the muscle growth of your arms.
10. Train like an athlete. Gradually add sprints, plyometric training, agility training and conditioning training to your workouts.

By Bret Contreras
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/10-things-every-lifter-should-try

It's time to debunk six popular and widely held myths about strength training for women that are very persistent.

There are dozens of these myths, but the six discussed below are the most widespread myths. It's time to dispel them once and for all.

Myth #1: Training with weights makes women bulky and muscular

Unsurprisingly, this is still the most common myth regarding women and strength training, but regular, progressive, heavy training with basic multi-joint exercises definitely does not make women bulky and overly muscular.

The real culprit that gives women (or anyone!) a bulky and out-of-shape appearance is excess body fat.

I can deadlift at 150 kilos, do pull-ups with extra weight, dips on parallel bars and squats at 1.5 times my body weight and not look bulky or unfeminine. All of my clients do progressive weight training (and of course I always use exercises that are appropriate for the woman in question and cater to her preferences) and not one of them has complained about getting too bulky during my 10 years as a personal trainer.

Many women are hesitant to move heavy weights because of this persistent myth, but after a few weeks they love the physical AND mental results they achieve in conjunction with other phenomenal strength training benefits.

Bottom line: Progressive strength training helps women build the body they really want. It also helps to increase self-confidence, which is a fantastic added bonus.

Of course, it's important to realize that not every woman wants to achieve the same body. Some women want to build as much muscle as possible, while others just want to look 'toned' but not too muscular. In addition, different women have different body types. For example, I have long limbs and a relatively short torso, so my body looks completely different to the body of a woman of the same height and weight who has the exact opposite build - short limbs and a long torso.

If your goal is to lose fat but not get too bulky and muscular, then you don't need to worry. Strength training will help you achieve this goal better than cardio alone. But you won't wake up one morning looking like the Hulk after a few weeks of training with weights.

Myth #2: Working out with weights is not the best way to lose fat & achieve that "toned" look

If a woman's primary goal is to lose body fat and get leaner, then she just needs to do cardio, right?

Absolutely wrong!

The only way to achieve that "toned" and shapely look is to build some muscle and lose excess body fat. That's why a well-planned workout with weights is the ultimate way to achieve the body you want in the shortest possible time.

Myth #3: Training with weights is too time consuming

No, it's not, you can do an effective workout with weights within 30 minutes a few times a week. As long as you use multi-joint exercises and challenge yourself (use enough weight) and improve your performance, you won't need much time.

You can achieve excellent results with just two training sessions with weights per week.

The most important thing, of course, is that you focus on the quality and not the quantity of your training. Work hard with a few excellent exercises, increase your performance whenever possible and be consistent.

Myth #4: You need a lot of equipment

This is also not the case. Do you need a fully equipped gym to build a strong, lean and healthy body? No!

You can build the body you want regardless of what equipment you have or don't have. Do you only have your body weight to work with? That's all you need.

What if you only have your own bodyweight to work with? Can you only build a great body with exercises that use your own body weight? No problem. You can find numerous programs for this on the internet.

Conclusion: Whether you can only train at home with your own body weight or you have access to a fully equipped gym, you can build the body you want.

Focus on what you can do with the equipment you have at your disposal.

Myth #5: Strength training is dangerous.

Everything is dangerous if you do it incorrectly. Strength training is no exception.

As long as you take the time to learn the correct form for the basic exercises and always have a training partner (who can help you with heavy weights) or additional safety features (e.g. squats in a rack with safety racks), training with weights is very safe. There is not much more to say about this.

Myth #6: The right way for women to train with weights is to perform many repetitions with light weights.

This is a common recommendation (which is sometimes meant to be derogatory). Women should only use very light weights and do lots of repetitions (usually 15 or more) - or so the myth goes.

While high repetition exercises may have their place and benefits in a strength training program, they shouldn't be the only thing you do and they shouldn't be what you do most of the time.

I like to encourage women to challenge themselves and discover what their bodies are truly capable of. I want them to recognize the physical strength they have and not make their self-esteem dependent only on their appearance. Of course, this can't be achieved with tricep kickbacks using a soup can as a weight - not even with the family size.

If you're not using a weight that challenges you, then you're probably not providing your body with sufficient training stimulus to adapt to. For example, if you've worked your way up to absolutely perfect push-ups with 10 or more reps per set, then you'll get those sexy arms you're after. A soup can won't be able to do this, as the weight never changes and super high reps with baby weights won't be a challenge for your body.

In addition, moving heavy weights (primarily with 6 to 12 reps) will lead to increased confidence, which is just one of many reasons why women should train with weights. As long as you haven't experienced this phenomenon yourself, you'll just have to take my word for it. I have seen this happen with every single one of my clients. Do you think you will feel strong and confident after vigorously attacking the weight of your shake for 5 minutes? I don't think so.

By Nia Shanks

Source: http://www.niashanks.com/myth-buster-6-female-strength-training-myths-that-wont-die/

Here's a quick summary:

1. Experiencing severe muscle soreness after a workout with weights doesn't necessarily mean you had a good training session that will lead to gains.
2. You can stimulate muscle growth without experiencing extreme muscle soreness. But apart from that, you should feel something after a hard training session.
3. Most people experience more muscle soreness when they diet, but that doesn't mean they build more muscle.
4. To reduce muscle soreness and build or maintain optimal muscle during a diet, you should reduce your calories during most of the day, but increase your calorie intake before, during and after your workout

A love-hate relationship

Should you train a muscle group or exercise if you still feel sore from your last training session? If so, should the workout be different?

If you don't feel sore muscles after a training session, does this mean that the training session was useless? Or is muscle soreness a bad sign, as some trainers claim? For us strength athletes, getting sore muscles is something we have learned to love because we associate sore muscles with a productive training session. But soreness is also something we hate because it can hinder our training. I could write a super scientific paper right now that goes into detail about the specific physiological phenomena that occur when you get sore muscles, but let's keep this article practical. Here is my opinion based on my experience and the experience of my athletes and bodybuilders.

What is muscle soreness?

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is generally considered to be localized pain in a trained muscle caused by muscle damage that occurred during training.

Delayed onset muscle soreness begins 12 to 72 hours after exercise, depending on the individual. This discomfort is accompanied by swelling (the muscle looks almost inflated), stiffness in the affected joints and a possible loss of strength and flexibility - and therefore reduced mobility of the muscle.

In other words, the generally accepted theory is that when you train with weights, you induce so-called microtraumas in the target muscles, which are basically small injuries that lead to inflammation and pain/sensitivity.

Methods that cause the most muscle trauma - emphasizing negative repetitions, impact absorption, moving very demanding weights on multiple attempts - will result in the most muscle soreness.

While this is true for the most part, the issue is a bit more complex than that.

Muscular without ever feeling muscle soreness

I train an IFBB professional bodybuilder who has never felt muscle soreness in his biceps - and he has very large biceps. The first time he got sore muscles was when we used an occlusion workout with very light weights and no emphasis on tempo.

Training with weights without emphasizing the eccentric (negative) phase of the movement or abrupt stops of the movement with subsequent changes in the direction of movement should not cause much muscle damage. The mechanical load itself is low. But still, it was the type of training that gave him sore muscles in his biceps for the first time in his life.

Similarly, many bodybuilders experience more muscle soreness in the latissimus when they perform a light workout with constant tension and a maximum contraction at the highest point of the movement than when they train the latissimus with heavy weights. So even though microtrauma can indeed cause muscle soreness, a simple stimulation of the catabolic-anabolic process can also cause muscle soreness regardless of the actual muscle damage.

Basically, your body will make a muscle faster or stronger if you stimulate that muscle sufficiently or with the right form of stress. Inducing muscle damage through heavy training is an obvious way to do this, but it's not necessarily the only way.

Slow eccentric repetitions, for example, can stimulate growth via activation of the mTOR pathway even when using light weights. Occlusion training, where the blood supply to the trained muscle is restricted, can also stimulate growth via an accumulation of metabolic products within the muscle and depriving the muscle of oxygen - two things that lead to an increased local release of growth factors such as IGF-1. In both cases, you can initiate the muscle-building process without causing microtrauma. And with both of these methods, the exerciser will experience muscle soreness. Muscle soreness is more than just pain associated with a physical injury to the muscles. Muscle soreness is something your body feels during a post-workout protein breakdown and protein buildup (muscle gain) when the amount of work you've done has exceeded what your body is used to.

I have sore muscles! Does this mean I had a good training session?

Most of us have learned to love sore muscles. We believe that a sore muscle tells us that we have done something that will lead to growth or progress. This perception is reinforced by the fact that the phases during which we feel the strongest muscle soreness are usually also the phases during which we can record the strongest muscle growth. For example, if you have just started training, the simplest training session can put you out of action for days. In fact, I've had clients go to hospital the day after a training session because they thought they'd injured themselves!

The same thing happens when you start training again after a break: You get more sore muscles than normal, and you also build muscle faster at the same time (although this is primarily muscle that you lost during the training break and are now building back up). This can also happen if you switch to a completely different training style, which can also lead to rapid gains. But is muscle soreness necessarily an indicator that you will build muscle? And is a lack of muscle soreness an indicator that your training session was a waste of time?

The answer is "no" in both cases.

Here's a quote from Matt Perryman on the subject: "It just means you've exceeded your body's current work capacity - be it in intensity, duration or both." If you're a beginner or starting to train again after a break, the more you train, the better your body gets at tolerating training. So in these cases, muscle soreness doesn't mean you're stimulating new muscle growth - it just means your body isn't used to dealing with that amount of physical stress. This leads to a biological state where your body mobilizes its resources to fight to maintain its balance. The same is true to a certain extent when you move on to a new training program or exercise. It could be that your body is not used to this type of stress. Therefore, your body is not efficient at dealing with this strain, which is why you feel a little more muscle soreness than normal.

Diet and muscle soreness

If you've ever dieted hard to get super lean, then you know that when you significantly reduce your calories and nutrients, you tend to get more muscle soreness than normal and that this soreness will also last longer. Does this mean that you will build more muscle while dieting? Of course not! It means that your capacity to handle a physical load has decreased due to the reduction in calorie intake. For the same reason, inadequate nutrient intake in the time window around your training session can exacerbate muscle soreness by making your body less 'equipped' to withstand and cope with the physical work. If you want to reduce your muscle soreness, it is therefore very important to make sure you are getting enough nutrients.

Now, if your goal is to lose fat, then you will probably have no choice but to maintain a calorie deficit. In this case, it becomes even more important to invest in a proper pre-, intra- and post-workout nutrition and supplement protocol. This will ensure that you have the necessary nutrients and electrolytes to cope with the stress of your training session during the time surrounding your workout.

What should I feel after training?

Perception has a powerful effect. It's easy to make connections that aren't really based on what you're experiencing. If you are more advanced, then you will tend to feel less muscle soreness. A lot of very advanced athletes and bodybuilders almost never experience muscle soreness after training. Their bodies are so used to training that they very rarely traumatize - i.e. damage - their muscles enough to cause the stress response that will lead to killer muscle soreness.

As you gain experience, your body becomes desensitized to the sensation of pain. Therefore, the degree of muscle soreness you feel does not necessarily represent the gains you will make. Similarly, a lack of muscle soreness does not mean that you have not stimulated optimal gains.

However, the day after a good training session you should have slightly swollen muscles that feel a little tighter and harder and you should be more aware of these muscles. If a muscle that you have trained feels normal or even 'flat' the day after your workout then in my experience this means that you have not stimulated it properly or that you have not given it enough nutrients to grow optimally.

The disadvantages of sore muscles

A few months ago I did a crazy complex that consisted of the following:

• A1.Accentuated eccentric speed squats with 295 pounds on the bar plus 90 pounds of chains and 120 pounds of weight releases during the eccentric phase.
• A2.Jump squats with 135 pounds
• A3.Depth jumps

I performed 6 rounds of these.

I really thought I had done something solid. But the problem was that I got so much muscle soreness in my legs that I couldn't even do a quarter squat movement without weights for 7 days! And after 12 days, my leg strength had not yet returned to normal. In this case, the soreness had a negative impact on my training - both because of the reduced range of motion and the reduced strength. I couldn't do any lower body training or my Olympic weightlifting exercises! It even affected my push presses and standing shoulder presses, as even just standing up with a weight was painful.

This is an extreme case, but even if it doesn't reach this level, excessive muscle soreness can affect your training. This is especially true for athletes who need to move freely and quickly.

Sometimes muscle soreness can prevent you from assuming the correct position during an exercise, making the execution of an exercise less efficient. And performing an exercise with poor form can lead to bad motor habits. Even though muscle soreness can be a pleasant feeling for a hardcore workout junkie, I try to minimize muscle soreness so that my overall workout quality can be increased.

So there is no doubt that muscle soreness can hinder your training. If you are a bodybuilder who uses a split by muscle group, this will be less of a problem than for an athlete who trains at least half of their body during each training session or uses full body exercises.

Sore muscles: live with it

Taking extreme measures to relieve pain, such as using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin, is a bad idea. These drugs have been shown to interfere with the rate of recovery after exercise by masking some of the signals that initiate the rebuilding and repair process. I am also against the use of recovery measures...at least initially. By this I mean ice baths, contrast showers and the like. Once you've reached a fairly advanced state and you're well adapted to training, it's fine to use these. However, if you are still building up your capacity to tolerate stress, then you should not use many aids that artificially speed up recovery. Force your body to become good at coping with and recovering from physical stress!

In terms of training, the more often you train - and the more often you train a muscle - the quicker you will become good at tolerating training stress. By training more often with less volume, you will be able to train more often without getting sore muscles.

Flexibility training at the end of a training session is also a good idea. By this I don't mean stretching exercises, but dynamic flexibility training. If you have the time, I would recommend the following a few hours after training: Walking, cycling or performing moderate physical activity to increase blood flow to the muscles. This is particularly effective if your blood is overloaded with nutrients (a good post workout product would be a good option at this point) as these nutrients will then be channeled into the muscles that need them for repair.

Can I train a muscle where I still feel soreness?

Here's what we know so far:

1. The amount of muscle soreness you feel is not necessarily an indicator of the quality of your training session.
2. Even if you don't feel sore muscles, it doesn't mean that your training session wasn't optimal.
3. If you don't feel at least a slightly tighter/tougher feeling in the muscle you worked out, then it's possible that your training session wasn't as effective as it could have been.
4. Excessive muscle soreness can cause performance issues by reducing your flexibility and/or strength. Excessive muscle soreness can affect the productivity of the following training session(s).

But now the question is whether we can train a muscle where we still feel soreness.

First of all, there are several degrees of intensity of muscle soreness. Sometimes a muscle can feel a little sore, but there is no muscle swelling. The muscle just looks and feels a little harder than normal. It may be a little sensitive to pressure, but there is no real loss of flexibility or strength. At other times, muscle soreness can be so extreme that your mobility and strength are seriously impaired. In this case, the soreness will hinder your training, so it would be a mistake to train the muscle hard again. Now, if the soreness is not so intense that it hinders your capacity to perform at an adequate level, it is perfectly fine - and even advisable - to train with exercises that use the affected muscle. Why? Because increased blood flow and nutrient transportation to that muscle can speed up recovery. Performing a training session aimed at such increased blood flow and nutrient transport the day after an intensive training session is very effective.

By such a training session, I mean performing a pump workout for the muscle where you feel soreness - a light workout that focuses on the quality of the contraction and generating a pump. This training will not further damage the tissue, but will increase the speed of recovery and repair by increasing nutrient uptake and protein synthesis (and a host of other benefits that include cytokines and the repair process). I like to perform heavy strength training with a basic exercise on one day and isolation training for the muscles involved in that exercise at the beginning of the next day's training session.

Training with enhanced feedback (enhanced feedback training)

One area where you can use muscle soreness to your advantage is so-called enhanced feedback training. When it comes to being able to stimulate a specific muscle group to grow, the first step is to learn how to maximize the recruitment and involvement of that muscle group in exercises.

I see a lot of beginners asking where they should feel a specific exercise when they perform it. Often, they don't really feel the muscles that are doing the work - they don't feel the hard contraction that is used to produce tension and force. And if I can't really feel a muscle, then I can't make it grow - at least not to its maximum potential.

The same is often true for more advanced exercisers who can't feel one of the muscles involved in a multi-joint exercise working. For example, they might feel their front shoulder muscles and triceps during the bench press, but not their pecs. In this case, learning to feel the "weaker" contraction of that muscle while performing the exercise is the first step on the way to compensating for a weakness that is holding them back.

One of the benefits of muscle soreness is that you become more aware of the affected muscle. Even at rest, you will feel it more strongly. It is therefore not surprising that you will clearly feel the sore muscle while performing an exercise. This is something that will improve the mind-muscle connection and therefore represents an investment in future gains that you can stimulate due to this improved mind-muscle connection.

Will training a muscle where you feel soreness interrupt the repair process?

That's a fair question, but the answer is "no."
Studies have shown that a second training session for a muscle group (before the muscle has fully recovered) does not disrupt or interrupt markers for the repair process, including protein synthesis.

Muscle repair is not something that occurs over a specific period of time. Your body is continuously repairing and changing its structure. It's not like: destroy the muscle during training, repair it during the following training break and when the repair/growth process is complete, the overall process ends. No, there is a continuous process of building and breaking down protein in your muscles. Think of repair as something that happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The body is continuously "working" on its muscles. Training a muscle where you feel soreness does not stop or delay the repair process - it simply changes the tasks that need to be performed during that repair process.

Of course, it's obviously best to rest a muscle in which you feel very sore...almost. Some light physical activity will speed up recovery. Even brisk walking will help. Think of this light physical activity as a way to increase blood flow and transport nutrients to the muscles.

Stay objective and grow

A lot of people use muscle soreness to judge their exercise performance and they continually strive to achieve extreme muscle soreness. If they don't get sore muscles, then they train even harder and more intensely, often resulting in training loads that exceed what their body can optimally recover from. This leads to stagnation and frustration. Understanding muscle soreness a little better will help you stay more objective in your training.

By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/truth-about-soreness