[SketchySeaBeast]

In my experience it's an indicator if I'm doing something enough or not. If I regularly perform an exercise it won't cause soreness. Squat 3x a week, one of those sessions being heavy? No soreness. Squat once a week? Definitely getting DOMS afterwards. Same with running. If get sore after a run I probably took time off before it.

[voisin]

I’ve been doing StrongLifts consistently since Jan 1 and so 3x per week I am doing squats. I still feel soreness despite 3x per week because the weights are semi-consistently increasing. So I think to modify what you are saying, I think frequency is one vector, but another is volume. Or maybe I am still just a beginner and eventually I’ll be able to lift increasingly heavy weights week over week without any soreness!

[SketchySeaBeast]

Interesting. I was lifting for nearly ten years, did starting strength, texas method, 5/3/1, and I found that the soreness largely went away unless there was a marked change in intensity or program.

[cthalupa]

This has been my experience with a sustained period over years of lifting in my early to mid 20s and several periods of restarting since then. Even when regularly adding weight, after a few months I stopped being particularly sore.

I could still feel that I had worked out the day before, sure, but as long as I was getting enough protein, getting enough sleep, doing warm up sets, etc., the soreness was incredibly minimal. Missing any of those things could cause a pretty significant increase in feeling it the next day, though.