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You’re a gym newbie who’s just done their first workout

There’s a good chance you’ll be a wee bit sore for a few days after that first workout, but don’t panic! You haven’t injured yourself, it’s perfectly normal to be in potentially a lot of pain for a few days, it’s just muscle damage which is the natural byproduct of working out.

Weight training is effectively damaging our muscles, tearing the little fibres within the muscles. This process then prompts a repair and adaptation response, the muscles repair and then grow stronger and bigger to accommodate the new loads you’re putting on them, that’s how we get more muscle and stronger. So don’t panic!

After a few weeks of training regularly you shouldn’t experience any severe pain after workouts, in fact you might not experience any pain at all, this is because the body has adapted and is handling the stimulus of weight training much better.

A common mistake people make is thinking that you have to be very sore for days after a workout, every time, this is wrong. Severe post workout pain should only happen when you’re new to lifting or start a new exercise which the body isn’t used to. If you’re in severe pain after every workout you’re either pushing yourself too hard which is counterproductive or you’re potentially performing exercises incorrectly and actually injuring yourself due to things like poor form, lifting beyond your current ability or just doing too much.

So, expect some nasty pain when you’re brand new, but once you’re a few weeks in you shouldn’t be experiencing severe or any pain, so long as you’re pushing yourself in your sessions and feel like you’ve worked hard when you leave the gym then that’s all that matters and you will see progress.

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