It’s a common mistake to think that muscle soreness, also known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), is a good sign that your training is working, but the evidence shows no direct causal link. DOMS is caused primarily by stress on your connective tissue, not by the muscle fiber damage that's actually essential for growth. Studies have demonstrated that hypertrophy can occur completely independently of soreness. For instance, training protocols that use only concentric movements can yield gains similar to those using eccentric movements, but without causing significant DOMS. While the initial swelling you might see after a session as a novice does correlate with later hypertrophy, chronic damage doesn't enhance growth and can even get in the way of your recovery. If you want sustainable muscle growth, you need to focus on progressive overload, not on chasing pain.