Exercise

clayfield0813

I’m struggling with exercise- my muscles hurt when exercising- any suggestions? It feels too intense and I want to quit or not start at all.

L1zardQueen

Take a day off.

serapel

Take it easy. Do something you enjoy like biking, dancing, etc.

sijomial

Don't quit - moderate your exercise to a level you can recover from.

Two ways to think of the upper and lower limits of a sensible and personally appropriate exercise:
Minimum effective training load to improve.
Maximum training load that you can recover from.

Take a couple of days off from whatever exercise is hurting you and have a rethink about the level of intensity and duration that is appropriate for you right now. Over time that level will increase - if you don't make the process so unpleasant that you quit. Exercise really doesn't need to hurt to be beneficial.


PS - only you know what exercise you are doing so if you want specific advice sharing that information would help.

mylittlerainbow

Don't dive in at longest intervals/highest intensities, but build up gradually. Work to fatigue, not to/through pain.

Rotate exercises - do different things each day - if I use resistance bands one day, I'll run the next and lift weights the next.

MAKE SURE to warm up in the beginning and cool down/stretch at the end! Can lead to injuries or at least pain if you do not.

SnifterPug

You've had good advice already, especially from the 2 posters just above.

There may come a day when you are so into exercise that you welcome the muscle burn, or at least are prepared to tolerate it because you are chasing another aim (e.g. going for a PB on weight lifting). You may even come to vaguely like the feeling of DOMS so long as it is not too severe.

But it takes time to get used to how your body reacts and how it informs you that you are in trouble. Not all "pain" is a danger signal but it's best to err on the side of caution at first. Besides which, you want to enjoy what you are doing if at all possible, at least for most of the time you are doing it.

It may be quite easy to tweak what you are doing to make it more enjoyable - but as @sijomial has pointed out, you have not told us what you are doing, so we can't make any suggestions on that front.

age_is_just_a_number

Start slower.
Try FitOn. It’s a free app that has a wide variety of workouts. Various intensity, length, without equipment. Find something you enjoy and don’t over do it.
Slowly build up. If you go too fast, you risk injury.

elisa123gal

Lighten up on what you're doing. The same thing holds true when fixing your eating plan. If you go too extreme .. it is too hard and a person could quit. Make small changes ..move a bit more.. lift a few weights.. but don't kill yourself. .. then add on as you feel like it.. With the food cut down in ways that don't hurt..swap out and trade high calorie foods for similar lower calorie foods.. and get on your path.

mrmota70

Making assumptions so excuse in advance. If your on the heavier side stuff is going to hurt period until your muscles adjust and some weight comes off. Especially in the beginning if your going from a somewhat sedentary lifestyle to trying to dive into the deep end of the exercise pool.... things will hurt. I'd recommend you learn to walk.. walk walk... Trying to do it all from the very beginning is to much for your body. As weight loss is good to be slow steady exercise should be also something that you start slowly and build up. However I know it varies for folks and a lot tend to get bored so they want to change it up. Some stick to it, but from what I've seen often is they injure themselves or just quit because things hurt or they don't feel they're getting the rewards for all the effort. This shouldn't be for you to get to a # and then say I'm there. This should be another thing that you should stick with forever as like taking a bath, brushing your teeth etc... Being extremely heavy I knew that weight had to come off before I would start introducing other pieces and really go all out on work outs. I've seen my old entries in MFP where I would walk at 2 MPH. I remember even at that slow pace things would hurt. Your nutrition also needs to go hand in hand. Slow and steady will get you there....

kenyonhaff

clayfield0813 wrote: »

I’m struggling with exercise- my muscles hurt when exercising- any suggestions? It feels too intense and I want to quit or not start at all.

What sort of exercise program are you doing?

If you're hurting when you are working out, it's usually because it is:

* Too intense too soon
* You are doing it wrong (bad form, not warmed up enough for example)
* Have an underlying condition (if you are very obese, running might be too hard on your joints at the moment)
* Have improper equipment (You need better running shoes, your stationary bike hurts your back)