no burn?
 

If I am not feeling the burning and swelling feeling in certain parts of my body after workouts, does that mean I am not doing enough? For example, if I did pullups till my shoulders where on fire, but never felt any soarness in my back really, what is that telling me? Or is that completely meaningless?

it doesn't mean anything.

Alright, awesome...i was a little concerned because I never get that feeling in my chest or back which are two areas I want to improve on the most.

is your form correct....or are you still using all machines?

right now what I do is I'm slowing start to pick up the free weights and learn proper form and get comfortable with it, but yes, I am still on machines, I can't stop working out though...I am too addicted.

The point is to get bigger and stronger, not to "feel" the burn. Some workouts will make you sore, some won't. Don't base your training success on soreness.

Yeah, of course its to get bigger and stronger, but I was originally wondering if the burn had any relation to how effective my workouts were

The burn - or more commonly "pump" - is the result of microtears in the muscles you've worked. So in essence, yes, the harder and longer you work a muscle, the more it will 'burn', and the more you will be sore in the following days. This isn't necessarily a good thing, however; it only indicates that you've worked a muscle longer, not that it will grow bigger. If you're eating properly for tissue regeneration, then by all means, go for the burn...but chances are you'll only ever get "the burn" through volume training (which, to the lay person, is many sets of many repetitions {generally nauseating work, and not conducive to prime growth}).

In summation, the burn doesn't indicate growth, it indicates damage done to the muscle. The growth will take place immediately post workout and in the following days, depending on what you put in your body and what you do with your time.

...bitch.

That is one theory for DOMS not burning.

The burning is a result of anaerobic glycolosis. Specifically fast glycolosis during periods of low oxygen availability to the muslces.

Glycolosis the anaerobic breakdown of carbohydrates to produce ATP for the muscles.

In this case of the burn it is specifically fast glycolosis (as opposed to "slow" glycoloisis).

This results in lactic acid as an end-product in the muscles. Eventually this lactic acid is convered to lactate which is itself used as an energy substrate. But when the production of lactic acide outstrips the buffering and utylisatioin of it it builds ups in the muscle along with an increase in hydrogen ions.

It is thought (just a theory) that the hydrogen ions are responsible for the burn and that this acid directly interferes with muscle contractions and aslo by decreasing the PH which messes up the energy systems.

The pump is simply the buildup of the waste products in the muscle, including blood, which is why people refer to it as a 'blood pump' sometimes.

This whole process is LOCAL. Meaning specific to the muscles that are being worked.