Lifting weights

mrsmammahunter

I usually do body weight workouts for strength training i recently started doing free weights and machines. My lower body is never never sore. After the workout i reel if in my legs but goes away. Does that mean im not doing enough? On the other side of things i have been doing upper body workouts as well and it never hurts during the workouts i know correct form and i go slow and steady. 6 to 8 reps per set 3 sets. I lift enough weight to where its uncomfortable to lift but not unbearable. But the next day its excruciating painful muscle pain i know im not pulling anything i can tell its muscle pain. Last night it even woke me up at 3 am i had to use my foam roller on my back and put arnica on my chest and shoulders to go back to sleep. Advice and recommendations?

mrsmammahunter

*feel it* sorry im on my phone and was in a hurry so prob has misspellings and grammer problems

sammyliftsandeats

Muscle soreness is not an indicator of whether or not a workout is good.

Because you were doing bodyweight workouts, maybe your body is just used to the exercise by now.

As for your upper body soreness, if you weren't doing a lot of upper body work with your bodyweight workouts, then it's just Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). It comes from using muscles in a new way and goes away with time.

Advice? Stretch, foam roll, and work out again. It will go away.

jessiefrancine

samanthaluangphixay wrote: »

Muscle soreness is not an indicator of whether or not a workout is good.

This exactly. A better indicator of the quality of your program - are you making progress? This could be that you're adding more weight each workout (even small amounts count as progress) or that you are adding volume progressively (adding more reps to your sets).

Anyway, good for you for tackling the weights. Many ladies are intimidated by them.

mrsmammahunter

I do the same routine 2 a week and this was my 4th one. I have been doing chest press, tricep dips, and high pulls. So its not like im doing anything crazy. So should i keep doing what im doing and hope it goes away soon? Or lessen it or change upper body workouts im doing?

mrsmammahunter

jessiefrancine wrote: »

samanthaluangphixay wrote: »

Muscle soreness is not an indicator of whether or not a workout is good.

This exactly. A better indicator of the quality of your program - are you making progress? This could be that you're adding more weight each workout (even small amounts count as progress) or that you are adding volume progressively (adding more reps to your sets).

Anyway, good for you for tackling the weights. Many ladies are intimidated by them.

I havent added weight or increased reps but i feel like every time i do them its less uncomfortable. Thanks i get a little nervous in the weight room but it helps that i google and read up on every move im going to try so that im confident lol

chocolate_owl

mrsmammahunter wrote: »

I do the same routine 2 a week and this was my 4th one. I have been doing chest press, tricep dips, and high pulls. So its not like im doing anything crazy. So should i keep doing what im doing and hope it goes away soon? Or lessen it or change upper body workouts im doing?

Stick with it. Decrease the weight or drop a set if the pain is that bad. Once your body gets accustomed to those lifts, you can ramp up to your working weight again.

jessiefrancine

You might experience less soreness if you switch to a program that focuses on compound movements (that involve many large muscle groups) as opposed to the one you're doing now that seems to focus more on isolation movements of small muscles. Possibly? I'm no expert, but I've played one on TV (not true).

If you aren't sure about your program, you might check out a beginner's program like Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength or Ice Cream Fitness. There's a super fab ladies' Stronglifts group on MFP with lots of great info about the program. You can find that here.

Stronglifts (or similar) might be a good fit for you, because you start with very light weight (just the standard bar, or even less if that's too much for you), then you add small amounts of weight every single time you do the moves. Personally, I have found this gradual weight progression to produce less soreness than other things I've tried.

psuLemon

mrsmammahunter wrote: »

I usually do body weight workouts for strength training i recently started doing free weights and machines. My lower body is never never sore. After the workout i reel if in my legs but goes away. Does that mean im not doing enough? On the other side of things i have been doing upper body workouts as well and it never hurts during the workouts i know correct form and i go slow and steady. 6 to 8 reps per set 3 sets. I lift enough weight to where its uncomfortable to lift but not unbearable. But the next day its excruciating painful muscle pain i know im not pulling anything i can tell its muscle pain. Last night it even woke me up at 3 am i had to use my foam roller on my back and put arnica on my chest and shoulders to go back to sleep. Advice and recommendations?

A lot of the is genetic too. I don't get DOMS in my upper body. I get bad DOMS in my lower body. I would also suggest following a structured program focused on compound lifts. This will maximize the amount of muscles that are engaged.


http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

mrsmammahunter

I tweaked a few things today fingers crossed its successful.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

What kind of leg workouts are you doing? Are you using enough weight for legs?

mrsmammahunter

I do a ton of squats and lunges easy stuff. And the leg press i can do 250 3 sets of 8 idk if thats good or not