Does Soreness Mean a Good Workout? No. Here’s What It Actually Tells You

Does Soreness Mean a Good Workout? No. Here’s What It Actually Tells You

  September 10, 2026    Pratik Bandagale

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Soreness is not an indicator of a good workout, and not being sore doesn’t mean your workout didn’t count.

That day-after ache (DOMS) mostly tells you that you did something new, not something effective.

Progress is more reliably measured in your training log: more weight, more reps, more control over time, sore or not.

Rachael (a reader and all-around amazing person) sent me a question about this so well-organized it came with multiple choice answers.

Is severe soreness in the following day or two [after a workout]:
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A) A sign that I did a really great workout, good job pushing myself to the limit?
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B) A sign that I really overdid it and should have stopped earlier?
​
C) Neither, just a matter of personal preference. If it bothers me, I can try to avoid it next time. If it doesn’t bother me, grin and bear it, but no extra fitness points for getting to a point of soreness?

I LOVE this question, because almost everyone who’s getting started (or starting again) wonders the same thing:

“If I’m not sore the next day, did that workout even count?”

What soreness actually tells you

Quick definition first. That achy, stiff, “why does it hurt to sit on the toilet” feeling that shows up a day or two after a workout has a name: DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

It usually peaks somewhere around 24-72 hours after you train.

Meet General DOMs. We made him a boss in our bodyweight workout series. He’s a jerk.

Severe soreness is NOT an indicator of a good workout.

It’s a sign that you did something new that your body isn’t used to yet:

• a new exercise program
• a bigger range of motion than you’re used to
• coming back after time off (that’s when I personally get the MOST sore)
• more emphasis on the eccentric portion of a lift (the down phase, which is known to produce more soreness)

So it’s not something you need to chase.

But it’s also not something to be afraid of, especially if you switch up your routine and are mildly sore for a day or two.

Your body is adapting quickly! And as you adjust to the new exercises, you’ll be less and less sore from it.

Are there any benefits to soreness?

So when is soreness helpful, if ever?
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Soreness can give us a useful signal that we worked a muscle we were trying to target and hadn’t felt before.

But if you’re SUPER sore? Like, can’t get out of bed the next day and have to waddle around like a newborn giraffe sore? That’s a sign the jump was bigger than your body needed.

And the real cost (beyond the discomfort) is that it gets in the way of your next couple of workouts. Either because your technique gets sloppy because everything hurts, or you’re so wrecked that you don’t want to show up at all.

The best way to lower your odds of severe DOMS is to ease into a new program slowly.

Start with fewer sets and lighter weights than you think you need, and build from there.

Wait, don’t I have to push myself?

Yes! You DO need to push yourself over time in order to make progress:

• lift a little more weight
• do another rep or set
• run a little faster or a little longer

That’s the law of progressive overload, and there’s no getting around it.

Sometimes adding that extra bit will make you sore. Other times, it won’t.

But it’s the underlying principle that matters: are you asking a little more of yourself over time? Not: did it hurt afterward?

The Minty Toothpaste Effect

So why do we care so much about soreness?

Here’s what I think we’ve fallen into with fitness in general.

We as humans operate really well with feedback. If we touch a hot stove, we get burned and know not to do that again.

The same goes for fitness.

We want to know, immediately after doing something, whether it worked or it didn’t.

And with strength training, you don’t feel stronger the next day. It takes time to build up.

So we reach for proxies that close that feedback loop.

“Did I get sore? OK, I did something.”
​

“Am I really sweaty? Great, that counted.”

It’s exactly like the story of minty toothpaste.

As the story goes, toothpaste manufacturers had a hard time selling their product until they added mint.

Suddenly, there was a tingly clean feeling you could latch onto. “Oh, this IS working.”

The mint doesn’t clean your teeth. But it’s associated with the thing that does, and it gave people something to feel.

That’s where soreness sits for me.

It’s not the REASON you’re getting stronger.

But it can be associated with the work you do, especially as a beginner who is new to exercise, so we’ve learned to chase the tingle.

What to measure instead

Measure your output:

How much weight, how many reps, how many sets are you doing?

Is it going up over time?

Do you feel more stable and controlled with the exercise than you did last month?

Then great! It’s working. Doesn’t matter if you never get sore.

And if you do end up super sore after trying something new, it’s not that you “failed”.

Just take it as a cue to introduce things more gently next time.

So, back to Rachael’s multiple choice question.

C is really close. But I’ll add an fourth option:

D) Soreness tells you what was NEW. Your training log tells you what’s WORKING.

No extra fitness points for being sore. No points off if you do end up sore, either.

All the points gently ramping things up over time, and showing up again next time.

-Matt

Quick recap

Is it bad if I’m never sore? No. If your weights, reps, or control are improving over time, your training is working, sore or not.

How long does DOMS last? It usually peaks 24 to 72 hours after the workout and fades over a few days. If you’re regularly wrecked for longer, ease the jumps in your program.

Should I work out while sore? Mild soreness is fine to train through, and easy movement often helps. If you’re severely sore, target a different part of the body, scale down, or take another rest day; what we don’t want to do is have sloppy technique because we’re SO sore we can’t perform the exercise normally.

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How Fast Do You Actually Lose Strength? Slower Than You Think

How Fast Do You Actually Lose Strength? Slower Than You Think

  September 10, 2026    Pratik Bandagale

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You lose strength much more slowly than you probably think.

A few days off changes basically nothing, measurable losses take roughly two to four weeks depending on the quality (muscle endurance fades first, maximal strength last).

Muscle memory makes rebuilding faster than building the first time, and maintaining takes a fraction of the training that building did.

Here’s the timeline, and how it can inform your training.

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Has this question ever crossed your mind:

How fast do I LOSE strength if I miss my workouts?

This was an awesome question that Charles sent my way. (Thanks Charles! )

When life gets crazy and you find yourself skipping workouts, there’s a voice that says:

“Is this undoing everything I just worked hard for?”

I had that exact thought the first time I had to take significant time away for a back injury.

And heck, just recently my kiddos brought home the “crud” from school and I missed a full week of workouts.

So, let’s look at what actually happens, and what it means for your training.

Strength is stickier than you think

Short version: a few days off doesn’t impact your maximum strength or muscle size basically at all.

Your muscles may look or feel “flatter”, but that’s because stored water and glycogen decrease, not because you are weaker.

And this “pump” comes back quickly once you start training again.

The first image that popped into my head when I thought: “the pump”

Here’s a rough timeline of when we start to see the effects of detraining:

• Muscular Endurance 1.5 to 2 weeks
• VO2 Max 2 to 3 weeks
• Muscle Size 2 to 3 weeks
• Maximal Strength 3 to 4 weeks

Highly trained folks and older adults will notice detraining faster than new or younger lifters (so they’ll sit towards the beginning of these timelines.)

But you don’t lose your progress in any meaningful way after a week or 2 away from the gym.

Your muscle remembers

And if you DO have to spend significant time away for whatever reason, I have good news for you, too:

“Muscle memory” is a real thing.

1) Your nervous system remembers how to do the movement.

The first session or two in the gym after time away may feel a bit clunky, but you’ll quickly regain the technique.

And a big component of strength is neuromuscular coordination (i.e. your brain and muscles firing together more efficiently, which improves rapidly.)

2) The muscle itself seems to hold onto some of the machinery it built, so it rebuilds faster the second time.

A general rule of thumb is about 50% as long as you were away (so if you were away for 12 weeks, it may take ~6 weeks to rebuild your strength.) Take this with a grain of salt as there is a LOT of variation here. This isn’t a hard and fast rule.

(And you don’t want to jump right back in at 100%. Use the 50/50 rule to get yourself going again.)

The point is, it’s generally easier to rebuild than to build the first time.

The work you did before still counts.

A little goes a long way

Building muscle and strength? It takes time and effort.

No one wakes up a day after a workout and has just magically put on 5 pounds of muscle.

But maintaining what you’ve built?

That takes only a fraction of the volume.

When you keep intensity the same (i.e. how hard the exercise is), doing 1/3 the number of sets maintains your strength for a loooong time.
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The point being: doing ANYTHING during a period where you aren’t able to consistently work out is still really really helpful!

Learning how to maintain progress is half the battle.

So what do you do with this?

Two things:

1) Keep a toe in the water.

When life throws you off track with your fitness goals, you’re not starting back from square zero.

And even a single session each week with a couple challenging sets is enough to hold what you’ve built until things calm down.

2) Get the work in now.

There’s that old saying that: “The best time to invest was 20 years ago. The next best time to invest is today.”

I think the same holds true for building up your fitness.

Every session you put in now is strength you get to keep later.

The effort is worth it.

This is exactly why we built our coaching program. Because having a coach makes both of those so much smoother.
​
We take the thinking off your plate so it’s easier to get going.

We direct your limited time and effort toward the stuff that actually moves the needle.
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AND when life pulls you away (sick kids, a work deadline, etc.) we help you maintain and get right back at it.
​
If that sounds like the kind of help you’ve been looking for, here’s how NF Coaching works.
​
-Matt

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Do you need a gym to get strong? Bodyweight vs weights, explained by a Coach

Do you need a gym to get strong? Bodyweight vs weights, explained by a Coach

  September 01, 2026    Pratik Bandagale

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No, you don’t need a gym to get strong.

Bodyweight training and weight training are both strength training, and both run on the same principle: progressive overload.

In a gym you add weight to the bar; at home, you change your leverage.

Each has real advantages. Bodyweight goes anywhere, needs little or no equipment, and is still highly scaleable. Weights make heavy loading and progression math simpler, and cover pulling exercises more easily.

Your progress is based on the principles of training, not a specific location.

Here’s how that works, and why one reader’s plan got derailed by a single sentence from a friend.

Enter Ant-Man

I was chatting with a reader a couple of weeks ago – let’s call him Ant-Man to protect his secret identity.

He’s been doing awesome with tracking his food and dialing in his nutrition. But on the workout side of things? He was feeling stuck.

So we decided to start off with a bodyweight routine at home.

Then he told a friend about it.

To paraphrase, his friend said something like:

“That’s kinda pointless. You’re gonna have to go to a gym eventually if you want to make progress.”

When I followed up with him, Ant-Man told me this:

“I feel kinda silly admitting this, but it really deflated me. And I haven’t been able to get myself to workout for the last month.“

First things first: it’s not silly to feel that way. That kind of comment lands hard when you’re already unsure about starting.

The real bummer is that these types of comments are rampant within the fitness industry as a whole – not just from friends, but from other personal trainers and strength coaches. “It only counts if you do it THIS way.”

And. It. Drives. Me. CrAzY.

It only puts more barriers between people and the thing that would help them.

It keeps folks stuck waiting for the “right” way instead of starting with the good way that’s available today.

Even if the claim that you eventually need to go to a gym were true, it’d be bad advice to give someone.

Lucky for us, it also happens to be untrue. Let me show you why.

Can you get really strong with bodyweight training?

Yup.

Here’s the thing that often gets confused about bodyweight training and weight training – they are BOTH strength training, and they operate on the exact same engine: progressive overload.​

Challenge your muscles, let them adapt, then increase the challenge.

With weights in a gym, you add pounds to the bar or the machine.

With bodyweight, you change your leverage. I.e. you put yourself at a mechanical disadvantage so your muscles have to work harder to perform the same task:

• Squat -> Staggered squat -> single-leg squat (you’re increasing the load that each individual leg supports)
• Incline push-up -> floor push-up -> decline push-up (changing the angle changes how hard your muscles have to work)

Same principle, regardless of where you train or what implement you use.

And the ceiling is much higher than people think. Look at gymnasts and calisthenics athletes – they are some seriously strong, seriously muscular humans built largely on leverage and bodyweight.

Or look at our client Jimmy – he trained at home, got strong, and cosplayed as his favorite superhero: Spider-Man.

Jimmy had the exact same concern when he started out – he didn’t enjoy going to the gym, had a packed schedule, and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make serious progress at home. 12-months later, and he was ready to swing around the Spider-verse.

Bodyweight training has it’s own set of superpowers:

Travels well (living room, hotel, park, etc.)

Minimal (or zero) equipment required

Highly scaleable based on your current ability level

OK, so what about the gym?

Let’s be fair to Ant-Man’s friend. Weights and gyms have real advantages, too:

• Simpler progression math. Sometimes it’s easier to add 2.5 or 5 pounds to a movement than to find your next leverage tweak.
• Heavier loading (especially for the lower body). If your goal is maximal raw strength, a barbell lets you load beyond what bodyweight alone can. You can still build an awesome foundation of lower-body strength and power with bodyweight exercises – a barbell just makes really heavy really convenient.
• Pulling exercises. If you’re going strictly no equipment, rowing exercises can be harder to perform at home. (Though a cheap pair of gymnastics rings or some creative towel set ups go a long way.)
• A separate space. For some people, the gym is where they step away from everything else and focus on themselves. That can be valuable in and of itself.

Some people love the gym.

Some people love training in their living room.

Some people do both, depending on the season of life.

It’s all good stuff.

The real deal about progress

Your progress, especially when you’re getting started, isn’t owned by a place or a piece of equipment.

It’s made of principles, and you can dial them up wherever you are:

1. Increase intensity – add weight, or decrease your leverage
2. Increase volume – add a rep, a set, a round, or an exercise
3. Introduce novelty – a new exercise variation, angle, or position can help if you’ve stagnated

So the question isn’t “which type of exercise counts?”

It’s: which one works for you, consistently, in your life right now?

For Ant-Man, that’s a bodyweight routine at home.

For his friend, that may be the gym.

Both totally cool.

So if you’ve found yourself thinking, “It doesn’t really count unless I….”

W’ere here to help.

You got this.

-Matt

Whenever you’re ready, here are the ways we can work together:​
​
1) If you’re where Ant-Man was, ready to start but no gym in the picture, grab our free Bodyweight Adventures Workouts. They are scalable, progression-based, and doable in your living room with little to no equipment. [Snag the workouts HERE]

2) We’ve helped thousands of nerds build confidence in their fitness.  This video shows the exact systems we use.

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“I feel like a T-rex when I try push-ups”

“I feel like a T-rex when I try push-ups”

  September 01, 2026    Pratik Bandagale

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Push-ups are rad.

Like, legitimately. I get excited just talking about it.

But if you’ve struggled to conquer the push-up, you may see them in your workout and think, “Ugh.”

It doesn’t feel good to keep doing an exercise that makes you feel weak or awkward!

And that’s exactly how a reader was feeling last week when they emailed me:

“How do I finally get my first push-up!? I feel like T-rex when I try to do them.”

Don’t worry, I’ve got you!

Let me be your guide and make a case for the humble push-up as an absolute S-Tier exercise – and how to progress them so you can bust out a few push-ups whenever you want!

Are push-ups the best exercise?

Hear me out:

They adapt to nearly any strength or ability level. There’s a push-up variation that most folks can do right now, today, no matter where you’re starting.

They go anywhere. No gym membership. No equipment.

They work multiple muscles at the same time. Chest, triceps, shoulders. Plus, you get some isometric work for your core, glutes, and quads.

They squeeze into real life. A couple off the countertop after you brush your teeth. A few while the coffee brews. One or two on the floor before you queue up Netflix. They all add up.

That last one matters a lot. During busy seasons, fitness is often one of the first things that gets dropped. The push-up is one of the best “everything is crazy but I can still squeeze this in” movements I know.

We often use them in our coaching program as a Next Available Win to get right back on track.

So let’s walk through exactly how to get started with what we lovingly call “earth downs” – and how to make steady progress towards that first full push-up.

Step 1: Pick Your Progression

This is the basic ladder, from easiest to hardest.

1. Wall push-ups
2. Countertop push-ups
3. Elevated push-ups (hands on a lower surface – a couch, a chair, a bench, the stairs, etc.)
4. Knee Push-ups
5. Floor Push-ups

Pick the rung where you can do 5 controlled reps to start.

Some people will tell you “if it isn’t from the floor, it doesn’t count.” Those people are wrong. And probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. All these progressions count as push-ups.

As evidence, right out of college, I had just moved to Japan. I was by myself, in a totally new place, and within the first week of being there I severely sprained my ankle. I couldn’t walk right for MONTHS.
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Knee push-ups were one of my only options for strength training, and I got really heckin’ strong doing them. You’re pressing basically 50% of your bodyweight! That’s cool!

This was the path I walked to rehab my ankle. The view wasn’t too shabby.

Step 2: Know When to Level Up

Here’s a simple system you can use.

Work in the 5-10 rep range. Each week, see if you can add one rep.

Once you can do 10 reps and feel super strong doing them -> try the next progression on the ladder.

Not quite there yet? No problem. Go back to your current rung and:

• Add another set, or
• Add a few more reps (up above 10), or
• Add a pause at the bottom of each rep (the bottom is where most people get stuck, so building strength there pays off big.)

Then try the next rung again in a few weeks.

Step 3: Dial in Your Technique

Quick form check: from above, your body should look like an arrow – upper arms at roughly 45 degrees from your torso – not a T with elbows flared straight out to the sides.

This puts you in a better position to push from!

I actually filmed a short video about this exact thing. Two of my coaching clients were stuck moving from knee push-ups to full push-ups, and one cue helped them get unstuck. I think it’ll help you too (and might change how you think about push-ups):

​[WATCH: the technique tip]​

Step 4: Programming

If you’re working towards you’re first push-up, I love 2-3 workouts per week where the push-up (or an equivalent movement like the Bench Press) is featured near the beginning of your session for 2-5 sets. So you’re getting at least 5-10 total sets per week of your current progression (that “challenging but strong” feeling.)

And in between? Sprinkle in skill drills: a few reps here and there throughout the day, not pushed to exhaustion. The goal is to practice the technique and feel strong and confident doing it.

(This is exactly the countertop-while-the-coffee-brews move. Your secret weapon.)

—-

You’re rad. Push-ups are rad. Let’s get you that first one.

You got this.

-Matt
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​P.S. Here are a couple of other ways we can help:​
​
1) Snag our full push-up guide, including a dedicated push-up workout HERE.

2) We’ve helped thousands of nerds build confidence in their fitness. This video shows the exact systems we use.

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“How do I start lifting with a barbell?”

“How do I start lifting with a barbell?”

  July 27, 2026    Pratik Bandagale

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I just got an awesome video question from a reader named Dale – and it got me so fired up, I had to share it with you.

Dale’s been working out at planet fitness for the last couple of years, but in the last 6-weeks, she’s made it her mission to start learning how to strength train. (HECK YES!!!) She’s watching Youtube videos and trying to figure the whole thing out.

Here was her question:

I want to know how to transition to the other things that I’m intimidated by using, like the barbells and stuff like that. I don’t know if I’m quite ready or not – how can I get ready and where do I start?

I know exactly how it feels to stand in the gym and see the free weights section and feel like “What am I even supposed to do over there?”

Heck, when I first started lifting weights in high school, the only guidance I got was “add more weight” and “go deeper”. (Literally, they strapped this little device around one thigh that “beeped” when it sensed it had tipped below parallel. The rep didn’t count unless we heard the beep – regardless of proper technique. )

Getting started with barbell training is something we’ve worked with on with thousands of folks over the years.

Here’s how I’d break it down so you can step up to the squat rack with confidence.

​WATCH VIDEO​

Step 1: Give yourself permission

This is going to sound counter-intuitive, but I mean it: the best way to start barbell training is by giving yourself permission that you never have to pick up a barbell if you don’t want to.

There are so. many. ways. to. get. strong. Bodyweight training. Dumbbells. Kettlebells. Sandbags. You get the idea.
​
The last thing I want is for you to feel like you HAVE to barbell train to get stronger, or that you’re missing out on some super secret technique. (Cue the FOMO!)
​
Sure, barbell training is super fun, challenging and rewarding, but if you decide it’s not for you – no sweat!

And the funny thing is, by giving yourself permission to never pick up a barbell if you don’t want to, it actually makes it easier and more fun to learn. Who knew?

Step 2: Build your confidence

A barbell typically weighs 15-20kg (or around 33-45lbs) – the most common being the 45-pound version.

Before you step up to the bar, it’s a great idea to build up confidence in bodyweight and dumbbell movements that mimic the ones you’ll do with a barbell.
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You’ll get stronger and learn the technique at a lower weight, so when it comes time to grab the bar, it’s mainly about adjusting to the set up – not a question of whether you can safely perform the lift!

Because you are only moving one item (the bar) rather than two (each dumbbell independently), barbell lifts actually feel slightly EASIER even if it’s the same total weight!

Some example progressions (level up when you can do 5 to 10 reps of the exercise with confidence)

• Bodyweight Squat -> Goblet Squat (15#) -> Goblet Squat (25#) -> Dumbbell Front Squat (40#) -> Barbell Back Squat (45#)
• Wall Push-up -> Countertop Push-up -> Dumbbell Bench Press (30#) -> Dumbbell Bench Press (40#) -> Barbell Bench Press (45#)

Step 3: One rep at a time

My third important tip: treat barbell training like practice time in the beginning.

It’s not about doing a ton of reps. Or adding weight.

It’s about mastering the technique with the bar.

So come in to the gym, get a good warm-up in, then before your main workout, practice your barbell technique.

• How to un-rack and re-rack the bar safely.
• How it feels to perform each lift well and with confidence
• What to do if you need to bail

You likely only need a couple of sessions like this, but it will go a long way to helping you feel confident under the bar. And you learn best when you are fresh (hence add it to the start of your workout.)

Once you’re feeling good moving with just the bar, you can slowly adding weight until you find your sweet spot.

Bonus: Avengers, Assemble!

One final thought I’ll leave you with. Depending on your gym, there are likely staff, trainers, or even other members there who would love to spot you so you can perform your first barbell lifts with confidence.

Especially if they are wearing a Nerd Fitness shirt or unicorn rainbow shorts (looking at you Alek) – I can guarantee they’d be ecstatic to help out.

I know not all situations are the same, so only do what you feel comfortable with.

I’d love to hear from you:

Have you tried barbell training yet?

If so, what was your experience like getting started?

If not, what other questions do you have about it?

You got this!
​
-Matt
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P.S. Coach Drew is someone who excels at teaching barbell training and technique. Earlier this year, his client Steve hit a 200lb overhead press…for a triple!

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