I know soreness is not an indicator of progress, but what if i was following a routine for several months, made progress and never felt too sore but suddenly im getting major DOMs, is this an indication of anything? maybe that i pushed myself harder this week?

It could be an indicator of many thing, such as you worked harder, you didn't stretch enough, your warm-up/cooldown wasn't good enough. All I say is...enjoy 'em. DOMS are great.

It could be an indicator of many thing, such as you worked harder, you didn't stretch enough, your warm-up/cooldown wasn't good enough. All I say is...enjoy 'em. DOMS are great.

it could be any of those things.. but it could also be that you didn't drink enough water, didn't get enough sleep, didn't get proper nutrition, etc... the list could go on and on

one question for you Morte... do you keep track of what you do in the gym? how much you lift, how many reps, etc? and when I say "keep track" I mean do you write it down? because then you could SEE if you had increased your weight a lot or got more reps this time around, etc. I keep a small notebook with me in the gym and write down everything becasue I know that while I vaguely remember what I did last time, I don't remember the exact number of reps and sometimes I forget if I increased amounts or not... but if I write it down, it's there for me to check back too next time I work that particular muscle group

it could also have something to do with how hard you were concentrating on your mind/muscle connection... if you were really concentrating on the movement and the muslces that you were working instead of getting distracted you could easily have worked more muscle fibers than if you spend half your workout checking out people in the gym :nod:;)

yea i keep track of wat i do on my cellphone, it has a nice little program that lets me input weights and reps for each session. So i guess soreness just has too many explanations to rly mean anything?

maybe the mind/muscle connection thing, i actually havent started doing that until recently. Sadly there arent that many ppl to check out at my gym, or at least at the times i go =(

It could be an indicator of many thing, such as you worked harder, you didn't stretch enough, your warm-up/cooldown wasn't good enough. All I say is...enjoy 'em. DOMS are great.

I never stretch or warm up, except for 5 minutes of cardio before lifting. Sometimes on very heavy lifts I'll warm up with 20% of the weight and less than half the goal reps. Otherwise it's a waste of time for me.

There are lots of people who don't. It isn't necessary, but if you enjoy it then by all means do it!

That said, any change in your routine can do it. I induced some mild doms by simply increasing my tempo from 404 to 102.

It could also be what you eat.

According to Randy Couture, sugary foods cause muscle stiffness and soreness.

Not enough water will also do it.

Fish oil capsules are said to reduce DOMS.

Free radicals in the body will contribute to DOMS

You might want to try Grapeseed extract (potent anti-oxidant)

Vitamin C is also good.

Any junk-food pastry (white flour) can contribute to muscle soreness also, I have read in meanderings around the 'net.