I'm trying to start working out. How do I know when that muscle is worked out enough?

Question

I just need to know how you know when it is worked out enough. Soreness?

Answer 1

Good for you for challenging yourself during your workouts! The initial soreness you feel, that "burn", is just lactic acid from exerting the muscle. It flushes out of the muscle within a few minutes so it's not a true indicator of the overall workout. Besides, some muscles, like the quadriceps and calves build up a LOT of lactic acid when worked. I would say, pick a weight that you can do 8-12 reps without holding your breath, but challenge you right at the end. The last 2-3 reps should require some effort. If you feel sore the next day, great. But you don't HAVE to feel sore. Every week add a little more weight...soon you'll be adding 10 pounds to your bicep curl and wonder how you ever got that strong! Good luck!

Answer 2

you can tell my how sore you are or by how much you have worked it. You want to avoid working the same muscles every day and if you can't walk then you know that you have worked your legs enough.

Answer 3

As a general rule: You should keep lifting until you can't lift it anymore. If you're doing a strength workout, you should do no more than 7 reps before you increase the weight. If your doing an endurance/toning workout 12 reps is enough.

As soon as you reach either 7 or 12 reps, you need to increase the weight the next time you workout.

Answer 4

Well you can usually tell when a muscle is getting worked by feeling a burning sensation, but sometimes you cannot really tell if a muscle is getting a good enough workout, even though it really is.

Answer 5

do 3 different exercise for each muscle. for instance, chest exercise. flat bench press, incline, and decline. do the same with bicep, tricep, shoulder,squat,calve. 2-3 warm up set and 3 heavy set. to prevent soreness get 5-7 day rest before go to back to same muscle again... (note) start off with light weight and work your way up.

Answer 6

Your last two reps should feel like they are nearly impossible and when you're done your muscle should feel a bit shaky and weakened.

Answer 7

You should just push yourself slighty past your comfort zone, when your muscles get warm and you have to grunt a bit to to make "just one more rep."

If you're nearing muscle weakness you've gone too far.

Answer 8

you should try to train all your muscles