A Personal Trainers Goal Is Not To Make Your Sore

​This might surprise you, by my goal as a personal trainer is not to make you hurt.
 
It is to make you hurt less.
 
I do not get a buzz when you cannot walk down the stairs and my goal is not to make you "FEEL IT".
 
That soreness you get after a training session is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS.
 
It is the result of your body reacting to unaccustomed training or exercise and it is determined by the type of training you do, the intensity you do it at and the length of the session.
 
What this means is that anything different to your current routine will make you feel a bit of soreness and pain for a day or two after.
 
Making someone sore is not the purpose for training. Making your muscles grow and get leaner is.
 
Arnold said that "no pain = no gain". He was correct in a way because the very things that make you sore can also signal the body to build more muscle and improve your capacity to train better.
 
If you are someone who wants to get lean muscle or even build more muscle then you need some mechanical stress, some metabolic stress and some muscle damage - BUT - all this can occur without soreness.
 
Yes, I want to know if you are sore or not but I will not give myself a high five if you are or you tell me that you cannot feel your legs.
 
Your soreness or lack of soreness will tell me if you are reacting or recovering from your training properly.
 
It will allow me to adapt a training session if you feel you cannot work that body part that day.
 
It will show me how you recover and react to certain training styles as your BODY IS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TO MINE.
 
You may need more rest between sets or you may need to take an exercise out of the program.
 
My aim is to help you get STRONGER, LOOK AND FEEL BETTER AND FUNCTION BETTER in the absence of pain.
 
When you are not sore after every workout you can train more frequently and be less miserable.
 
I once overheard a conversation in a fitness locker room. The guy taking the call was a personal trainer. His client on the phone was in agony and complaining that he couldn't even lift a glass of water to which the trainer replied "that is how I roll (name)", I told you we would challenge and push your body".
 
I wonder how long that client stayed with that trainer if he couldn't even lift his glass of water. Do you think he was motivated to go to the next session?
 
I will save my personal High fives when you drop 5% body fat, fit into your new dress, sit down without your shirt buttons popping out or walk up the stairs without getting out of breath.