Not having muscle pain does not mean that exercise is ineffective.

Muscle pain occurs when there is minor damage to the muscles during exercise or when waste products such as lactic acid accumulate. If you exercise at an appropriate intensity for yourself, you may not experience muscle pain. Even with similar amounts of exercise, the presence or absence of muscle pain varies depending on individual exercise capacity.

Professor Lee Ju-kang of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Gachon University Gil Medical Center said, "Just because there is no pain does not mean the amount of exercise was insufficient."

The longer someone has been consistently exercising, the less likely they are to experience muscle soreness. This is because gradually increasing the amount and intensity of exercise raises the threshold for muscle soreness to appear, and they also develop the ability to adjust the exercise intensity to a level that does not cause severe pain.

Professor Do Jong-geol of the Rehabilitation Medicine Department at Samsung Seoul Hospital said, "The muscles themselves adapt to exercise, so pain gradually diminishes," and "The system for processing lactic acid also develops."

There are specific exercises that tend to cause muscle soreness more easily.

Muscle pain is especially common when performing 'renal muscle contraction exercises.'

Isometric muscle contraction exercise is a type of exercise where the muscle contracts while resisting external force. A typical example is slowly releasing tension when a stretched rubber band is returned to its original length, preventing it from snapping back quickly. Additionally, the more intense and continuous the exercise, the faster lactic acid is produced, but the removal rate cannot keep up, leading to increased accumulation and muscle soreness. Conversely, moderate-intensity, high-repetition exercises result in less muscle soreness. In fact, a domestic study has shown that blood lactic acid levels decrease most significantly when exercising at about 40% intensity. Furthermore, aerobic exercise causes less muscle soreness compared to strength training.

However, if the goal is to enlarge the muscles, it is better to exercise until you experience muscle soreness to the point of stiffness. This is because muscle cells need to be damaged so that signals are sent from the muscle cell nuclei to produce proteins, leading to muscle hypertrophy.

Meanwhile, exercising consecutively when experiencing muscle pain can worsen the injury, leading to inflammation and muscle loss, which may result in long-term damage. In such cases, it is better to take appropriate rest rather than exercising. If severe muscle pain is overwhelming, activities such as post-exercise massage, stretching, or light aerobic exercise can be helpful. These promote blood circulation, helping to quickly eliminate waste products like lactic acid. When stretching, avoid using momentum and hold the stretch for about 10 to 20 seconds while keeping the muscle fully extended.

Counterproductive movements can actually cause more damage to surrounding muscles or tendons. Additionally, adequate hydration before and after exercise is essential. If muscle soreness persists for more than a week despite these efforts, you should consult a specialist for a diagnosis.

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If you feel fine the day after working out hard

Oh! Did I not work out properly yesterday? Have you ever thought like that?

I don't exercise much.

I've thought about that before.

Just because there is no muscle pain

You haven't not exercised, huh? Haha

Our staff members say that their muscles are so sore from strength training that they have difficulty walking the next day.

On such days, I should do even more than the day before.

They say the muscle pain is gradually going away.

That's also a correct method.