Working out while sore

sassy15241

Hello!
Monday night I took my first ever boot camp class and I am still sore from it this morning! I haven't done any workouts since because I am sore, but should I be? I know you're supposed to give your muscles time to rest but right now doing daily things I struggle with because I'm hurting.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Sharon

rileysowner

If the soreness is the delayed onset muscle soreness from starting a new workout, you can workout with it. A somewhat lighter intensity would be advisable. If you keep waiting until it is all the way gone to workout again, you will just go through the soreness again. If you had a day of rest after the workout, then that would be sufficient, then get back to it. After a week or so of workouts 3 times a week you likely won't experience soreness at all.

Also, a side benefit of working out when sore is once the muscles are warmed up, it helps the soreness go away, at least that has been my experience.

SephiraRose

If you're not up to working out you can do Yoga or stretching.

sassy15241

Thank you both!

Mauthos

Can definitely agree with both suggestions made. In my experience when I returned to the gym it was my triceps that were just really hurting me for several days after training, but as mentioned once warmed up through training the pain went away and now when I train, i only occasionally have slight aches if at all and I pretty much train something every day.

fallingtrees

I try to vary my workouts, so at least it's a different set of muscles aching each day.

thomaszabel

Here's my take. Any time I'm coming off of a "couch potato" phase, whether it is a year of inactivity to a few weeks of inactivity, the key is to get into it slowly. If your first day of exercise pushes you too hard, you will be sore for days, and that affects your motivation to exercise the next day.

For example, 3 weeks ago, I decided to take up running again. It has been a brutal winter, and I haven't been able to get outside for runs since September. In September, I was running 4-5 miles a day. Now I joined a gym, and can use the treadmill.

I started out the first day simply running 1 mile at a decent jogging pace. The next day I was a bit sore, but not bad, so did it again. I did about 4 days of that, then upped it to 1.5 miles. I did 1.5 miles daily for 3 days, then upped to 2.0 miles, did that for 4 days, then 2.5 miles, etc. I'm now up to 3.0 miles, and am about to bump to 3.5.

No matter if you are doing biking, running, boot camp, etc. Do not start out trying to keep up with the people that have been doing it for months or years. You first need to get your body used to the movements and using those muscles. It's like weight lifting when you start. Low weight, high reps.

So bottom line, don't go all out at the beginning. You will be in incredible pain, and you will not want to continue. I would suggest skipping the boot camp for a few weeks, and get into boot camp shape by doing some running/biking/weights/situps/pushups for those couple of weeks, gradually increasing the amount you do. Then when you go back to the boot camp, your body will already be used to moving and exercising. You will still probably hurt after the boot camp, but not as bad as if you are going into it cold.

fallingtrees

My go-to exercise for resting injuries is swimming. Or water jogging, if you don't swim.