DOMS should I just work through it?

Mungzta
Mungzta Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
Well after many months/years of not taking care of my body, I decided to start jumping right into the deep end with some body weight training. Everything has been going good, but I always feel like I drag *kitten* the following 1-3 days, I know that I should take a "Rest" day in between, but what if I'm still pretty sore after the rest day, should I just push through it? I'm not totally sure that I'll be able to meet/make as many reps as I usually can, and I read somewhere that if you aren't making progress, then you aren't gaining muscle? Anyone care to shed some light on this for me? Googling this just leads to many "Disagreements". I wanna do this the right way, and I'm not afraid of a little hard work. But I don't wanna put work in if its not gonna be productive to my end goals (Gaining Muscle)

Thanks!

Replies

  • tonynguyen75
    tonynguyen75 Posts: 418 Member
    DOMS is your muscles response of doing something unfamiliar. If you're sticking to a legit program you should follow the program protocol regardless of DOMS. DOMS will subside within 2-3 weeks if you're working out on any decently frequent program.

    Do not mistake DOMS for actual signs of over training/injury though. If you're injured you should be resting until the injury is healed.
  • fit_rox
    fit_rox Posts: 83
    I don't work through DOMS. The main reason is because if you're particularly sore with certain muscle groups you may not be performing the exercises with proper form, thus setting yourself up for injury. Are you eating enough protein/having a post-workout shake?
  • bostonwolf
    bostonwolf Posts: 3,038 Member
    If you do a VERY thorough warm up you should be able to work through mild soreness, but if it's really bad I'd say give your body the time it needs to heal.

    If you are just getting started, I'd suggest easing off the weight and intensity and then slowing ramping it back up. As your body gets used to what you are demanding of it the DOMS will lessen.
  • Mungzta
    Mungzta Posts: 6
    I follow an extremely "Primal" diet (Paleo). 3-6 meals a day with a piece of protein at every meal. Any snacks I do eat are mostly in the form of nuts, jerky, pepperoni/meat snacks, hard boiled eggs, berries(Just a few examples, but you get the idea). The program I am following is super similar to the startbodyweight / you are your own gym. As for protein shakes, its something I've been wanting to try/get into but with only so much money and multiple people in the house it kinda gets ranked low on the priority shopping list.
  • levitateme
    levitateme Posts: 999 Member
    When I first started squatting I had DOMS in my quads so bad I couldn't walk down the stairs for 2 days. The first couple weeks of stronglifts, I was pretty sore without fail from about 5PM the day I worked out til my next gym day. I foam rolled/tiger balmed and kept going back, MWF. I don't get sore like that anymore, and neither will you if you keep up with training.

    Now I get minor DOMS, like my traps are sore right now because I did OHP and Lat Pulldowns yesterday. Just foam roll it away :smile: .
  • Staniel_2013
    Staniel_2013 Posts: 120 Member
    Diet is going to be a major part of this, need to make sure you are eating the propper types of foods and enough protein.

    fit_rox has a good question about the protein shakes. The second I started having a shake immediately after working out made a HUGE difference in my recovery even though I was already eating ample amounts of protein.

    Not sure what your entire goal is. You put build muscle but part of me is guessing that losing weight is apart of this too since you are on MFP. Might be able to clarify a little more for you if we have a little more detail.
  • tonynguyen75
    tonynguyen75 Posts: 418 Member
    I follow an extremely "Primal" diet (Paleo). 3-6 meals a day with a piece of protein at every meal. Any snacks I do eat are mostly in the form of nuts, jerky, pepperoni/meat snacks, hard boiled eggs, berries(Just a few examples, but you get the idea). The program I am following is super similar to the startbodyweight / you are your own gym. As for protein shakes, its something I've been wanting to try/get into but with only so much money and multiple people in the house it kinda gets ranked low on the priority shopping list.

    If you're doing bodyweight exercises, I would be inclined to push through the DOMS, but don't be too concerned if you can't get as many reps as you wanted to. Frequency adds more volume over time than a rep here or there anyways.
  • Mungzta
    Mungzta Posts: 6
    Hey Saniel_2013- Sorry I didn't elaborate more, I've already dropped my weight. I'm 5'11 I went from 240 down to 160. Unfortunately that left me as a bag of bones with a crap load of loose skin. So overall I'm just trying to tone up everything I do have, I wanna make sure that if I'm put in a position where I need to use my muscles, that they don't let me down. Not to mention after being bigger my entire life and being this size now it just makes me feel so damn good about myself, I don't wanna stop that feeling. I just wanna keep improving if I can, keep striving for that next plateau.

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