If I'm not in agony the next day after a workout I consider it a failure. But it's taking me four to five days to heal after a workout. How long does it take you?

Update. It's no longer taking me that long to recover. Because I've figured out what was causing it:- doing cardio after weights.

I am a Bodybuilder, currently I just won the New York state middle weight class for female bodybuilders, which is my third 1st place win in the last year. I was born in Russia I lived there for 14 years, but I lived in Minnesota for 6 years. I'm 21 years old and trying to find a gym partner or guy that I can hang out with, and possibly be in a relationship with. My goals in life are to be a full time Bodybuilder and Personal trainer around Minnesota, but also travel around the country to compete in bodybuilding competitions. My personal goals are to get out of the middle weight class and go to the heavy weight class, by going on a strict protein diet and having body fat/muscular pills. I'm trying to become a 200lbs bodybuilder and have 7-9% body fat, which will help me win more competitions. I also club around Minnesota with some friends and do fun activities around the area too, but I like watching movies and possibly casual dates with people. I am a young, sexy, and confident female, and I also am payed, which is around 25,000-35,000 a year, which shows I can take care of myself and I have my own apartment in Minnesota. I started training to become a bodybuilder because I was never a confident person through High School because of the transition from Russia to America, which was devastating for me at first, but now I'm fine with living in this wonderful country. I also don't have any siblings, which makes me feel even lonelier, but my parents went back to Russia last september because my Dad retired. I visit my family twice a year, but I need some family in America or at least someone I can share a life with or just talk to. I prefer to have a man that workouts and has a decent job I don't need you to be a bodybuilder even though I look intimidating and big, I will be getting bigger and much bigger so prepare, but I want a guy to be comfortable with me. I also have a nice personality and I hope the guy I'm looking for has the same personality. In Summary, my main facts about me are my name is Caitlyn and I'm currently attending NYU, but I come back to Minnesota any time I can. I also have one more year of college studying Kinesiology, which is the study of muscle weird enough, and I also got a internship at the Kinesiology Department in Minnesota, which I will be working a part time job after I'm done with college can't wait to explore new men, and possibly start a new life with someone.

Welcome newbie, nice post but maybe that should be in your profile....anyway I hope you find what you are searching for...stay safe and join in.

Ultragirl, what you need is one of those giants from Scandinavia who compete in the strongman competitions because you are huge for a woman. Five foot three and two hundred pounds of muscle! Hahaha! I'm five ten and I weigh 190 pounds. And I'm quite muscular.

Well first, no pain no gain is utter bs, you can gain a lot and never leave your comfort zone.

It's more a mentality. In reality you never have to train so hard that it's really tough on your body. Maybe it's an obsession of sorts driving you? Training hard can be beneficial but when done right.

Me I do mostly endurance sports and if you train too hard everyday you pay for it haaard.
Most of the time it's moderate effort.

You have to train smart, not hard just for the sake of training hard.

So OT I recover quickly most of time.

Now that I am middle aged 1 to 3 days for a workout, 4 or 5 for a hangover.

I'm telling you man, if you're not in pain the day after then you're not training hard enough. Bodybuilding is all about tearing the muscles down so they can rebuild. That's what makes them grow stronger and bigger.

I was saying that in general. Because there used to be a belief that somehow if it didn't hurt there was no progress.

You're talking about getting maximal gain, not just a good gain or great gain.
And you exercise each muscle group once a week so you have time for recovery.

I don't know if it's necessary to train to the point of pain in your sport but it's probably more demanding than in many others.

minnesota eh? im trying to move there and possibly become a trainer. i'm into fitness and health. off topic but, watch any hockey?lol

on the topic of no pain no gain. it depends on what kind of pain your feeling, suffering, enjoying, etc. joint pain, noo good. muscle pain, just give proper rest. I also think its good to do a burn out set on sore muscles the next day to break up built up lactic acid. (just gym talk, im not trying to be a know it all.lol)

It really does work. I've been training for six months now and I've been in pain almost every day. As soon as I recover it's back to the gym. The hard work is starting to payoff now. I'm seeing spectacular results.

Best exercise to burn calories is to have alot of sex.

Blondey, can we see on here a pic of that sculpted bod. I'm sure all the guys here would stand by me Just being cheeky!

If your goal is to gain weight and get bigger pounding on your muscles is usually bad and inefficient. I wasted a few years on stuff like that. It's also a lot more work ironically. If you want to get bigger do a low intensity 5x5 program or a starting strength program and watch your calories. Approx 2500 excess calories relates into 1 lb weight gain. Basically eat to get big and lift to get strong. You may also want to skip cardio especially if you are young, an ectomorph, or live a busy lifestyle. After about 60-80 lbs of weight gain you might want to start cardio again since the extra weight puts a load on your heart. You will also plateau after about a year or less usually then any gains will be harder to gain. Working out with less weights and not to failure can actually produce good results every once in a while. Body sculpting may be what you are looking for.

That's what is called injury.
Give your head a shake before you mess yourself up.
I'm 51, 6'2", 225 pounds. Strong as a bull.
And have pain every day from being stupid.
Which quite frankly, is what you are being.

Good luck

No need to worry about me old boy I know what I'm doing. I don't lift more than I can handle. There are guys at the gym that like to lift big but they only do one or two reps. If I can't do at least eight reps, four sets then I'm not interested. Once I get comfortable with the weight I start doing ten reps, and so on until I reach twelve reps and then it's time to increase the weight. It takes months.

Honeyfly, you're right, it is very good for you. I love having sex, I wish I could do it everyday.

It makes me laugh when I see women out jogging in the morning, if they want exercise they should come and see me, I'd give it to them! It would be much more enjoyable with me. Jogging is boring and it's bad for your joints as well. Women, I don't know.

Are you taking any supplements / shakes when in working out?

Just curious.