How sore should you be after a workout?
There seems to be a strange belief in the fitness world that a workout only counts if walking down the stairs the next morning becomes a legitimate challenge. If your quads aren't screaming when you sit on the toilet, apparently you didn't work hard enough. Soreness has somehow become the receipt we use to prove that a workout was successful, which is a pretty terrible way to evaluate training.
Some soreness after a workout is completely normal, especially when you introduce a new exercise, increase your training volume, or do something your body isn't particularly accustomed to. Your muscles are adapting to a new stress, and some delayed soreness can come along for the ride. That doesn't mean, however, that more soreness equals more progress. In fact, being so sore that you have to alter your normal activities, compensate during your next workout, or question whether you can safely sit down probably isn't something to chase.
Good training should challenge you without making you feel like you were hit by a bus. There is a difference between feeling like you trained and feeling like you need to file an insurance claim against your own workout. The goal is to create enough stress to stimulate adaptation while still leaving you capable of recovering and training again.
So, how sore should you be?
Honestly, there's no magic number. Some days you might feel nothing more than a little stiffness, while other workouts may leave you noticeably sore. Neither automatically tells you whether the workout was good or bad. Pay more attention to whether you're getting stronger, moving better, recovering well, and consistently showing up. If those things are happening, you probably don't need your hamstrings to remind you that you exercised every time you get out of your car.