Working out while sore

bowbeforethoraxis

What are you supposed to do (working out wise) when you're sore?

I had a super intense session with my PT on Saturday (supersets working on shoulders and back, doing every set to exhaustion, then repeating with a lower weight to exhaustion), and on Sunday I was soooo sore. Yesterday, by evening, I was still sore, but everything felt under control so I went to a yoga class and now I am more sore than ever. I had trouble sleeping last night, and all day today the soreness has been bothering me.

I am planning on working out tonight, but I'm not sure if I should incorporate my full-body exercises (weighted lunges, burpees, bridges with weights, planks, et cetera) until my arms feel more normal and concentrate on just legs to give my arms a rest, or if I should just ignore the soreness?

whierd

Stretch and warmup properly, the soreness will dissipate for the most part. Also make sure you are getting an adequate amount of protein to help with muscle recovery, stretching after your workouts, and doing some active rest on your rest days.

bahls24

I find that just doing some type of cardio helps release some of that soreness....aerobic classs or running.

kirkor

Yep, work through it.

DOMS goes away after you've been lifting for a while.

VoicelessRide

I have been running several days a week exclusively....I just started mixing it up with 3 days whole body weight training and 3 days running....and my legs are sore all the time this 1st week....will it subside after a week or two?

Huffdogg

Lifting through the pain is usually the best way to relieve it for me. As long as its regular soreness training and not injury. Try to get in a lot of foam rolling and extra stretching.

FrauMama

I tend to not work the muscles that are sore TOO hard until they're mostly better, and some sort of cardio generally helps, as previous posters said.
As for DOMS going away after you've been lifting for awhile...well, hopefully it DOESN'T totally go away. It should get better and more manageable, but--as someone who's been lifting for about 20 years, I still get sore--sometimes more than others--and am actually a bit disappointed if I'm not at least a little sore after an especially strenuous or new workout. If you don't ever get sore, IMO you are not changing up your workouts or challenging yourself enough.
Stretching AFTER workouts helps, too.

cafeaulait7

I think it's fine to cut it back to twice a week if you just increased everything a whole lot. Do it again, sore or not, but you can have extra days to recover at first, lol. Or I do.

In about a week I don't get so incredibly sore any more, and I add in the other days I wanted to do it. I still get sore, just not that really intense muscle soreness that is too annoying for me to do more often than necessary

willdob3

Work through it. You'll live. Also, do not skip cardio because of DOMS. As mentioned, working out will help.

flashfangirl_102

i found that when i tried to go on the Stair Master i collapsed off of it because my legs gave out. The day before i think i pushed myself too hard and i had a lot of trouble sleeping because my legs were so sore. Ah well, guess no pain on gain, i just had a 2 hour walk so i think im okay >.<

JDubIsShrinking

Stretch and warmup properly, the soreness will dissipate for the most part. Also make sure you are getting an adequate amount of protein to help with muscle recovery, stretching after your workouts, and doing some active rest on your rest days.

^^^^ YEP

j6o4

Once you get the blood flow moving in your body, the soreness will stop for the time being.

Chelz2013

Stretch and warmup properly, the soreness will dissipate for the most part. Also make sure you are getting an adequate amount of protein to help with muscle recovery, stretching after your workouts, and doing some active rest on your rest days.

Agreed.

The 1st time I took LesMills BodyPump class, my thighs were on fire for 3 days due to all the squats. Pain subsided and after the 2nd class, a week later, it wasn't nearly as bad. I did stretch and take a Zumba class or two the same week.

Ke22yB

No pain no gain can be a crock sometimes if you have had recurring soreness after yoga you might need to rest the muscles. I workout if I am stiff and work into it slowly stretch out and continue and thats fine, but soreness to the point where its hard to walk or move maybe back off for a day. When you work that hard you are tearing the muscle fibers and they need time to heal that also is the manner in which they get stronger. Constantly tearing and not recovering and you will find you don't make as much progress or get much stronger. Did you ask your PT what you should do to recover?
Hopefully you will be doing this for a long long time a day of rest every so often is just that some rest

ohellotheresa

I will work out even when I'm sore, but I think it's really important to let your muscles recover too!

LilMissTalyn

I;m a bit of a newbie, so this is from experience alone, but some cardio USUALLY warms me up...there are days it's not though and on those days I start out with less weight...see how my body feels after a set of that, and IF i'm still super sore, i either give myself a rest, just doing cardio my muscles can handle, or I do my sets at the same lower level...but MOST OF THE TIME I feel a lot more capable after some cardio and lower level weights...so I can usually up myself close if not where I"m used to and finish out my work out. I sometimes don't do as many sets. TRUST YOUR BODY! Only you know! There is a major and quite noticeable difference between muscle fatigue and muscle strain...if you feel yourself straining painfully after one set, you know you need more time. I push through just about everything except for too much back pain...but there is nothing wrong with icing...having to ice, because eventually your body will get used to it and you will not need it all the time!

LurveTheDoctor

I'm coming into this knowing nothing. I have been super sore too and don't really know what to do about it.

bowbeforethoraxis

Thanks guys! Your replies really helped, and I've got a pretty good idea of what to do next time I'm in that situation.

The soreness was completely gone by the next day, I think I was getting worried over nothing.

Today I had a great core day with my PT, and have already planned on waking up early to get some cardio in with the dog before the soreness can really set in (and before I'm awake enough to feel it).

alyssa92982

Working thru it if I'm super sore I will still do scheduled workout the next day. Once I get going I don't notice the soreness