Just to check in:

Either way, I'm so happy/proud of myself.

6. The more I stay strict the more having nuts or fruit becomes a treat. Along with taste, I think a big part of cheating is the "O my gosh yay!" feeling I get when thinking about or eating things I haven't in a while. It's special. So now that nuts and fruit have been no-no's, they're much healthier options to replace the other foods I used to eat. It's cool.

-Perspectives-

Today's WOD went well.

& ended up with me crying in my car.

All Hallow's Heave

10 Rounds

run 500m each round (a 5k all together) then,

odd- 10 pull ups, 10 push ups

even - 10 sit ups, 10 KB swings

My Time: 48:47.

Pretty much Even though I felt I gave it good effort and I upped my KB to 30lbs and went through my pull ups (on green band) super fast - I felt like I wasn't doing enough. I wasn't pushing as much as I could have or challenging myself. Granted, my hands were shaking while trying to write down my WOD but I blamed that on the cold. All I could see was that I was one of the last people to finish and that I should have done more.

This has been bothering me because I feel like I up

my lbs and try to keep momentum when I'm at the box. Should I up my weight more? Should I not rest at all and go as fast as possible? Am I already trying, but not hard enough?

Seriously, these thought's plague me while working out. It's getting really ridiculous and actually sucking all the fun out of this sport I've been loving up until the past few weeks.

Nate made me feel a lot better - consoling me in the car, helping me put things into perspective:

1. I am way too critical of myself.

2. The mind games should stop - I'm making huge progress in the gym - so let that speak for itself.

3. I came. I'm not sitting on the couch and sleeping in like I could have been; like I used to.

So basically, it's going well!! Could it be better? Maybe. But if I'm continuing to up my weights and push myself (aka, there's a di

fference between slacking and resting - haha I need to breathe!) then it's ok if my gradual progress isn't as steep as it could be or someone else's because it's still increasing. It's still going up - I'm not wasting my time. I'm getting better. I'm getting there. Just got to keep it up.

Some Progress to speak of:

1. Nate went to kiss me last night

and in an embrace he was like "Whoa! Your arm is hard" :D Felt great :D

2. My body comp is totally changing. Even if the scale isn't my friend right now, I look in the mirror and can't deny that I'm really enjoying what I see. Plus, comments from friends and family help so much. It's awesome to hear.

3. My thigh muscles! It's weird to look down and see them coming out, or to squeeze them and feel the hardness.

4. I saw this picture of my face taken last year around Dec/November where I look like Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks and also one that was taken recently.

So there I have it. And that second pic was taken a month ago. ; ) God, thank You for this gift. Teach me to appreciate this time and rejoice in You and my progress and fuhgetabout the rest. Show me how to love myself as I love You.

One of the MANY workout related questions I get asked on a regular basis goes a little this…

“My muscles used to always be sore the day or two after a workout, but lately I’ve had pretty much no muscle soreness at all. Does that mean I didn’t have a good workout? Was it all a waste? If I’m not sore the day after, does that mean I didn’t increase muscle or strength?”

Other times I get a slightly different version of this same question. Something like… “Why am I only sore after some workouts and not others? Were those workouts less effective than the others?”

Whichever way it’s asked, it seems that people tend to equate muscle soreness with workout effectiveness. As in, if you feel sore, you accomplished something good. But if you don’t, you somehow failed. Well, if you happen to be someone who thinks this way, you’re about to learn why you shouldn’t.

Does Muscle Soreness Mean A Workout Was Good or Bad?

Simply put… hell no! Muscle soreness is not an indicator of a good workout. Sore muscles the day after does not mean you had an effective workout or productive workout or a results-causing workout. It doesn’t mean you’ve built muscle or increased strength or lost fat or did anything “good” in any way.

On the other hand, NOT being sore the day after also does NOT mean your workout was bad, or ineffective, or unproductive, or useless. It doesn’t mean you failed to build muscle, increase strength, lose fat or anything similar. As far as effectiveness goes, muscle soreness means nothing.

Then What Does Being Sore Mean?

So then, what’s the deal? How come you only get sore sometimes and not others? How come you used to get sore every time, but now you hardly ever do? Well, in the most basic sense, here’s what’s going on.

Muscle soreness usually occurs when you make your muscles do something that they just aren’t used to doing. You know, like when some sort of change is made. Confused? Here’s the two most common examples of what I mean…

The First Change

Remember back when you first started working out? That is almost always when everyone experienced their most intense soreness. Forget the next day… your muscles were probably sore for the entire next week! And not just a little bit, either. You were probably sore to the point where you could barely move. Remember those days? Not too fun.

But then, as your body gradually got more accustomed to what you’re doing, your body gradually experienced less and less muscle soreness over time until it reached the point where you are barely sore or even not sore at all anymore the day(s) after a workout.

Your workouts aren’t any more or less effective, your body just got a lot better at adapting to and recovering from the stress exercise is placing on it.

All Future Changes

Of course, this only explains the “why was I sore back then, but not now” question. What about the “why was I sore after this chest workout, but not my last 10 chest workouts” question?

Well, like I mentioned before, muscle soreness in the day or days following a workout is most often caused by your muscles just having to do something they aren’t used to doing. So, if your chest workout for the last 2 months has consisted of both the flat barbell bench press and incline barbell bench press, and this time you changed it to the flat dumbbell bench press and incline dumbbell flyes, there is a damn good chance you’ll be sore the next day.

Was it because this workout or these exercises were better or more effective in some way than what you were previously doing? Not at all. It was only because you changed something (in this case exercises), and in doing so you caused your body to do something it wasn’t used to doing. This is what would cause muscle soreness.

Similarly, you could have kept the exercises exactly the same, and just switched from 3 sets of 10 reps to 5 sets of 5 reps (or the other way around). You could have taken less time to rest in between sets. You could have increased the weight you’re lifting by 5-10lbs. You could have changed the order you performed the exercises in. Any change, big or small, could be enough to elicit some degree of muscle soreness.

In time, whatever you did to cause your muscles to be sore again will eventually cause less and less soreness until there’s barely any (or none at all) anymore. Is it because it stopped working or because your workout is no longer effective? Of course not… it’s just that your body has once again become more and more accustomed to the stress.

That is after all what the human body is built to do… adapt to its environment. When you change the environment (which in this case is your workout), the soreness starts again and the adaptation process starts right after.

Some Exercises Just Produce More Soreness Than Others

Now, while a change to your workout is probably the most common cause of all, another thing to keep in mind is that some people just get sore after certain workouts or certain exercises (no matter how long they’ve done them) and never get sore after others.

For example, exercises with a stretch component to them (like the dumbbell fly for the chest orRomanian deadlifts for hamstrings) tend to naturally be more likely to make you sore than other exercises for the same muscle groups. For me personally, I’ve done leg curls on and off for years and never felt any hamstring soreness. But, even light Romanian deadlifts will cause crazy muscle soreness the next day (or more).

Similarly, my chest is usually sore more often after dumbbell flyes than presses, my quads and glutes are always sore after split squats and lunges but never leg presses, and my triceps are always sore after skull crushers but never cable pushdowns.

Now, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think only those exercises were effective. But, like I explained earlier, muscle soreness is NOT at all an indicator of a good (or bad) workout. And this brings us to the most important question of all…

What Does Indicate If A Workout Was Effective?

So, if sore muscles don’t mean your workout was effective, what does? This one is easy… progress.

Are you getting stronger? Is the weight you’re lifting on each exercise gradually increasing at a realistic rate? If you’re trying to build muscle… is muscle being built? If you’re trying to lose fat… is fat being lost?

Your answers to these questions are what will let you know for sure if your workouts are actually working. Muscle soreness is just telling you that you changed something, did something your body wasn’t used to, or did an exercise that just so happens to make you more sore than others.

But in terms of effectiveness, it’s not telling you anything. Instead, use a workout log, a scale, a mirror, pictures, tape measure and common sense to judge whether or not what you’re doing is actually working. Those are the true indicators of progress.

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Warm Up: TC

Skill: Deadhang Pull Ups 3×10 (If you can’t do 10 do as many as possible, if 10 is too easy add weight, if you can’t do any do ring rows with your feet elevated)

WOD

• Prescribed & Intermediate
• 13 Toes 2 Bar (Sub Knees 2 Elbows)
• 46 Burpees
• 13 T2B
• 65 Double Unders (130 singles)
• 13 T2B
• 65 Double Unders (130 singles)
• 13 T2B
• 46 Burpees
• 13 T2B

kill: Back Squat 5×1 (92%)

WOD

• Prescribed & Intermediate
• Row 34 Calories
• 17 Push Press (115/75)
• 34 Double Unders (100 Singles)
• 17 Taters (55/35)
• 34 Burpees
• 17 Taters
• 34 Double Unders
• 17 Push Press
• Row 34 Calories

Warmup

WOD:

• 1300m Row (to be completed any time in any increment during WOD)
• 5 Rounds
• 13 Uneven deadlifts (at or near bodyweight with weight distributed unevenly on bar)
• 13 Medball walk over push-ups (do push-up on right of ball, walk hands up on ball and down to do push-up on the left side)
• 13 Rig climb pull-ups (this is a new one. Just you wait.)
• 30 Minute cut-off

For our money, this was probably in the top two or three most challenging birthday WODs ever. It was brutal, particularly, the rig climb pull-ups. Just wait until those hit store shelves near you!

We hope you have a great birthday, Connor! Your birthday WOD surely didn’t look all that bad. Boy were we all conned! Enjoy the day, buddy!

Testing The Trainers: Jamie Eason / The 12 Week Trainer Program