Is exercising while sore ok?

live2dream

The day before yesterday I worked out and then did a long photo shoot carrying around probably 100 lbs of photo equipment for 3 hrs. I was sooo sore yesterday- legs, back, arms, that I skipped my normal lunch workout and felt really guilty about it. Now today, I'm still really hurting, but I hate to miss my workout again. But I don't want to make it worse.

Then I was thinking about people that are on really intense exercise regimins. I'm sure they are sore as hell, but keep going. Is that what I should do- just suck it up? Maybe it will feel good to stretch out my sore muscles. Today is spin class though. Wonder if that will kill me. I feel like I'm making excuses, but I am really sore.

fasttrack27

i'm no expert, but I'd say if something is extremely sore or possibly injured then a couple days off is best. If its more tolerable general soreness then a mild workout and stretching would probably help.

vickiw22

I do Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred and when i first started i was in horrendous pain i couldn't walk down/up stairs it hurt so bad! but i kept with it and did what I could completing 10mins of DVD rather than full workout and each day it got easier! other wise every time you restart the pain comes back!

NightOwl1

Since your heavy exercise was two days ago, and you rested yesterday, I'd say that as long you don't think you injured anything, you're good to go for today. Make sure to stretch yourself out well before your workout. If you have access to a steam room, going there a few hours before your workout would definitely help (make sure to leave yourself ample time to rehydrate if you do this).

However, you know your body best and you know how it feels. If you really do feel that you're too sore to have a productive workout, consider taking another day off.

pftjill

Were you muscle sore? You can still do cardio. You are just never suppose to work the same muscle groups 2 days in a row. There is something called delayed onset muscle soreness. Sounds like you were feeling that. Two days is more than enough time. Also it isn't going to kill you to work the same muscle groups, but your muscles do need time to heal, but again as I said before cardio is still okay.

LMac423

I am sore almost every day! I have an extremely intense workout everyday and its always one part of my body that is sore. Now a nagging pain or something that seriously doesn't feel right, definitely get it checked out before resuming workouts, but, the normal soreness (that is usually worse two days after a big workout) is normal and is ok to work through. It'll be uncomfortable at first but will eventually go away. Good luck!

ETPPaul

actually there is a growing community of people that advocates this. It is called hypertrophy training. Basically the idea is that if you exercise while mildly sore you will gain more lean muscle mass. So I would agree with most people. If you are too sore then rest, if you are slightly sore you are probably doing it right and building muscle.

celesalk

Agree. If you are incredibly sore, take it easy! No injury is a good injury.
However, if you are mildly sore or sore from a couple of days then some light to moderate exercise along with stretching can actually help the soreness go away.