Should weight trainging hurt??

I have done very little excercizing in my life so this is all still very new to me. I am 14 months post-op and down 150 lbs. The last 50 lbs are hanging on for dear life! I joined a gym last month, and am going 4-5 times per week. 2 of those evenings I work out with a trainer. I do 30-40 minutes of cardio, then another 30 minutes on weight training. When I am working out with my trainer, he really works me! He pushes me so much that it is acutally painful, but in a good way. I had always heard "no pain, no gain" but then I thought the thinking had changed a bit. I am very sore for a few days after he works me out. My question is; "Should the weight training be hurting this much?" By the time I do the last set of leg presses, I am grunting and groaning like the "big boys" in the gym. I usuallly think I can't possibly do the last few becuase my muscles fatigue and hurt so much, but my trainer won't let me give up and somehow I make it. Thanks for any help. Teresa ps. This morning I weighed in at 201. Only 2 lbs from Wonderland! Waahoo.

Teresa; After weight training it's normal to have some soreness, but you need to share with your trainer that you're having pain for a few days. That leads me to believe you're pushing too hard and are possibly setting yourself up for an injury. Maybe discuss taking the amount of weight you're using down and increasing reps.

Hey Teresa, You're doing great. Congratulations. There is some pain involved in training, but like you said "in a good way". There are different kinds of pain. DOMS = Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is normal if you worked hard. If it's crippling to the point you can't function in every day life, you pushed too hard. Many hardcore trainers actually seek out this pain as a gauge on how hard they train. I think most people know what bad pain feels like. The sharp pain of a broken bone or pulled muscle. If you feel this pain, even a little twinge, stop immediately. Personally, I don't think you have to push this hard "all the time." But I do occasionally. I always leave 1 or 2 reps in the hole or stop short of muscular failure. "Train don't strain." is an old saying. I can't risk injury at my age and I have to earn a living. I can't compete in a track meet if I can't walk from the squat workout I did 2 days earlier. Just depends on what your goals are and how dedicated you are. Some young, gung ho trainers don't know how to train any other way. A 20 year old can get away with it more often than an older person. You might want to talk it over with your PT and ask him to push you (that's what you're paying him for isn't it?) but maybe back off a notch. Good luck. Keep training. Post your workouts in the Weight/Resistance Training message board or  just stop by and say hi. Earl

Hi Teresa, Great question. I have been wondering about this too. I saw lots of people in my gym working out really hard with partners, making lots of noise and clanging things around, and I wondered if I was taking it too easy :-) So I asked my trainer about it at my last session, and she explained it to me like this: If you are working to build muscle mass, bulk up, then once you are fairly well conditioned, you want to start using "intensity techniques" to get even bigger. One intensity technique is called "forced repetitions". You will see competition weightlifters doing these, with their partners/spotters helping them the last few reps. They are forcing their muscles to the point of fatigue, and beyond with the help of their partner, assisting on the last few reps which they would not be able to complete with good form otherwise. Since I was curious about it, my trainer demonstrated this with me at the end of a few of my sets during my workout. It made me feel like a real Incredible Hulk, and I did find myself making some most indelicate sounds :-) I enjoyed it. As another poster said, and as my trainer explained it to me, this is  not something you want or need to do all the time, unless you are a competition weightlifter or bodybuilder or something. It is basically a way to add intensity to your workout. As it was explained to me, if you are looking more for fat burning and muscle toning, you want to do more reps at lower weights. If you are looking to build muscle mass, then you would do fewer reps at higher weights, and use forced reps & other intensity techniques. I am always sore the day after my weight sessions, but rarely longer. I work a different muscle group each session, except I do some ab work in every session. Maybe you could talk about this with your trainer, and be sure you are both clear about what YOUR goals for working out are. If you are working out this way in every session, it sounds like like you and your trainer might be on different pages in terms of what you hope to get from working out. This is just my opinion, my two cents' worth based on my very limited experience. Your mileage may vary! Kathy