Extreme muscle soreness and/or DOMS
Replies
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How often do you eat beans, lentils or dried peas?
it's very easy to get enough protein with veggie burgers.0 -
How often do you eat beans, lentils or dried peas?
it's very easy to get enough protein with veggie burgers.
The carb/protein ratio of most of these types of things doesn't work for my diabetes control. I do better with more protein and lower-carb.0 -
Please don't take potassium supplements, they're dangerous! Just increase your intake of food that contains potassium. Supplements can increase the levels very quickly causing cardiac arrhythmias and life threatening problems. WHen I give them to hospital patients it's only ever for a few days.
As a nurse, I completely and utterly second this. It makes me very uncomfortable that people may do this.
Honestly it sounds like it's time to call your doctor. I'd guess that bloodwork will likely be done, but that will of course be your doctor's call.
Hope you're feeling better soon!0 -
You can design a program not using the same muscles day after lifting so intensely.
Try to keep the HR in the fat-burning zone, not for that purpose, but because that usually means you aren't putting a hard load on the muscles. That's the reason the zone is more correctly called Active Recovery zone.
So that would be a slower gentler workout. And if it seems to slow, view it this way - you are training your fat-burning aerobic system on that day, and allowing full recovery from the lifting to really get the biggest benefit from that too. Blood flow into muscles helps too.
Now, if you want better cardio intensity because you just enjoy pushing yourself hard, do it the day before lifting, knowing that the more intense you make it, the more tired the muscle will be, the less effort you'll be able to put into the lifting, meaning the less results from it.
Got pick your focus and desired results.0 -
Take a look at the science behind active recovery and why its better to reduce your exercise but not stop completely.
Also try getting some amino acids from the health food shop and up your protein intake to improve recovery.
I get doms and take painkiller to keep going, but I know if I stop its so much worse and my progress stops.
I hope you find the answer u need xx0 -
Very good answer.DOMS is just sore muscles. It doesn't involve weakness or fatigue.
^^^^ This.
What you are describing sounds more like overtraining or a medical issue than normal DOMS. DOMS is muscle soreness, also feeling stiff, and you may find it hard to walk, sit down etc, purely because the muscles feel sore and stiff, but feeling weak is not normal for DOMS.
My first question is whether you're giving each muscle group enough time to recover after each workout, you should leave 48 hrs before working the same muscle group again, otherwise your body does not get time to recover, and you end up not making progress because you never give your muscles a chance to repair and rebuild themselves after the workout. If you're already leaving 48 hrs, try leaving 72 hrs. If you're leaving 72 hrs or more between each workout involving the same muscle groups, then the next paragraph applies. Going to the gym 6 days a week is okay, but only if your workout is designed so each individual muscle group gets the right amount of rest between workouts.
I'm not a doctor so can't give medical advice, but if I was experiencing these symptoms in spite of ensuring that each muscle group got enough rest (48-72 hrs) before the next time I work out the same muscle group, and was also paying attention to good nutrition, i.e. enough calories, macros etc, then I'd go and see a doctor and find out what's going on.0 -
DOMS is just sore muscles. It doesn't involve weakness or fatigue.
^^^^ This.
What you are describing sounds more like overtraining or a medical issue than normal DOMS. DOMS is muscle soreness, also feeling stiff, and you may find it hard to walk, sit down etc, purely because the muscles feel sore and stiff, but feeling weak is not normal for DOMS.
My first question is whether you're giving each muscle group enough time to recover after each workout, you should leave 48 hrs before working the same muscle group again, otherwise your body does not get time to recover, and you end up not making progress because you never give your muscles a chance to repair and rebuild themselves after the workout. If you're already leaving 48 hrs, try leaving 72 hrs. If you're leaving 72 hrs or more between each workout involving the same muscle groups, then the next paragraph applies. Going to the gym 6 days a week is okay, but only if your workout is designed so each individual muscle group gets the right amount of rest between workouts.
I'm not a doctor so can't give medical advice, but if I was experiencing these symptoms in spite of ensuring that each muscle group got enough rest (48-72 hrs) before the next time I work out the same muscle group, and was also paying attention to good nutrition, i.e. enough calories, macros etc, then I'd go and see a doctor and find out what's going on.
Maybe I don't know how to design a workout properly then. I don't understand how to not use the legs in virtually any kind of exercising one does. If I work my legs hard with the weights, how can I rest them up to 72 hours and do any other kind of exercises? That means I can't bike, run, hike, spin or do kickboxing for 3 days?
I get the vast majority of this feeling in my legs, especially glutes and hams. Sometimes the quads, but not as often, as I'm pretty quad dominant so I try to work the glutes/hams the most. If I get it on my upper-body, it's usually the shoulders. Very, very rarely do I get it in the core, back or arms.
I guess I just can't figure out how I can work out more than about twice a week if it means that I need to rest that much each time I work out. Can someone elaborate?
I put 72 hrs in case resting for 48 hrs wasn't enough. 48 hrs is enough rest for most people. However recovery times can be individual so you should adjust based on how quickly you actually recover.
Cardio, like running and hiking and kickboxing is a little different and you can do those during your rest time as they work the muscles in a different way (i.e. lower intensity, long duration, aerobic exercise). What requires the rest amounts I mentioned is really heavy stuff like squats, deadlifts etc, or anything else that's equivalent to weights workouts, i.e. highly anaerobic high intensity low reps kind of exercise. Sorry I didn't make that clear! Also, very intense kinds of cardio, e.g. HIIT or crossfit type stuff that includes cardio and heavy lifting or some other form of low rep, intense duration loading of the muscles along with the cardio may interfere with recovery.
Basically, when you work the muscles really hard (i.e. anaerobically/high intensity low rep type of hard) you break down muscle tissue. Your body then repairs what's broken down and when it does, it repairs it to be just a little bit stronger than before. This requires adequate protein and happens when you are resting, and usually takes 48 hrs, in some people it may take 72 hrs. (and recovery times can improve over time if you regularly work out) Your muscles respond differently to cardio as that does not cause the same breakdown in the tissue. You can do cardio every day (although it's generally recommended to take a complete day off once a week, and as you're having trouble with recovery, I'd definitely suggest that) but you can't do the same body parts with weights or an equivalent intensity to weights every day. If you're doing, for example, squats and deadlifts to failure every day, then your body will be in a constant state of muscle fibres being broken down, without ever giving them a chance to rebuild, which would cause a lot of the symptoms you describe.
As for designing workout programmes, if you want to do weights most days of the week, then break it into upper and lower body days and do e.g. mon wed fri - lower body, tues thur sat - upper body. Cardio you can do as well, but if you're doing a heavy lifting programme you do need to make sure each muscle group gets enough rest.
My schedule (I'm alternating bulking and cutting, my overall goal is to improve strength, increase lean body mass, and also gradually lower my body fat percentage from 23% to 20%) is that I do weights 4 times a week (2 upper body days, 2 lower body days) where I go really intense, i.e. 5-12 reps to failure and stuff like doing planks until I collapse), during my week I have 2-3 days of being active (stuff like carrying my toddler and heavy shopping bags up 2 flights of stairs to my apartment) but not doing any formal workout, or maybe walking on the treadmill or a low intensity workout video or something. I'm seeing results from that, in terms of good gains in strength and body composition improvements. Sometimes less can be more.
Lots of people do a lot more exercise than me and don't have a problem with recovery - but it seems that you do have a problem with recovery, which could be medical (you should check with your doctor), or it could be that you're not giving yourself enough rest time. If you want to continue with all the cardio on whatever day, then do, but maybe lower the intensity of it, and ensure that whatever weights programme you're doing is well designed so that no muscle group is being overtrained.0 -
This sounds like way more than muscle soreness like others have said. This amount of fatigue is not normal if you have been working out regularly minus a few weeks here and there. It definitely sounds like over training or an issue with your diet. I read through many but not all the replies but I didn't see your caloric intake?? How many calories are you taking in on a regular basis.
I would suggest getting a good physical and checking for anemia. Just bc you are post menopausal doesn't mean anything. I had a friend who was running regularly but completely worn out all the time and never could fully recover from the basic run. She had a physical and was so anemic she needed a transfusion and she was post menopausal so schedule your appt. And I ditto not taking supplements until you talk to your doc. Those aren't for everyone. Good luck0 -
You can design a program not using the same muscles day after lifting so intensely.
Try to keep the HR in the fat-burning zone, not for that purpose, but because that usually means you aren't putting a hard load on the muscles. That's the reason the zone is more correctly called Active Recovery zone.
So that would be a slower gentler workout. And if it seems to slow, view it this way - you are training your fat-burning aerobic system on that day, and allowing full recovery from the lifting to really get the biggest benefit from that too. Blood flow into muscles helps too.
Now, if you want better cardio intensity because you just enjoy pushing yourself hard, do it the day before lifting, knowing that the more intense you make it, the more tired the muscle will be, the less effort you'll be able to put into the lifting, meaning the less results from it.
Got pick your focus and desired results.
Maybe my problem is that I can't seem to pick a specific focus? I've actually wondered about that. But I struggle with boredom and have too many varied goals.
I like to ride my bike and have done a few century rides and want to keep that up in order to do more century rides this summer plus a couple of short bicycle touring trips I'm planning.
I like to hike and am adding mountaineering via a class I'm taking this Jan-June which will include climbing and the need for more strength to carry a heavy pack up steep hills and the muscle endurance to do this. And I'm starting to do some more focused upper-body strength conditioning because we will be doing some climbing which will require this so I can pull myself up using ropes. My hand strength is fairly poor so I'm adding in various farmer carries especially pinching a weight-plate between my fingers and carrying them to increase hand strength.
I like to run....well, don't really like it but want to be able to do it. I've worked very hard to get to where I can do a 5k although I'll never be fast I just want to maintain my ability to go the distance.
And I like to lift because it makes me stronger in general and the other, many benefits of lifting.
If I had to give up any of these to focus on just one major goal, I would be sad. These are the things that make life worth living. I will never be the fastest or fittest cyclist or runner, or the strongest weight-lifter, or the best mountaineer. I know that and it's OK. I'm not working out for medals. But I want to continue to participate in these activities because they're fun.
So, yeah, I'm trying to juggle it all and I just might not be doing the best job of juggling.0 -
Maybe my problem is that I can't seem to pick a specific focus? I've actually wondered about that. But I struggle with boredom and have too many varied goals.
I like to ride my bike and have done a few century rides and want to keep that up in order to do more century rides this summer plus a couple of short bicycle touring trips I'm planning.
I like to hike and am adding mountaineering via a class I'm taking this Jan-June which will include climbing and the need for more strength to carry a heavy pack up steep hills and the muscle endurance to do this. And I'm starting to do some more focused upper-body strength conditioning because we will be doing some climbing which will require this so I can pull myself up using ropes. My hand strength is fairly poor so I'm adding in various farmer carries especially pinching a weight-plate between my fingers and carrying them to increase hand strength.
I like to run....well, don't really like it but want to be able to do it. I've worked very hard to get to where I can do a 5k although I'll never be fast I just want to maintain my ability to go the distance.
And I like to lift because it makes me stronger in general and the other, many benefits of lifting.
If I had to give up any of these to focus on just one major goal, I would be sad. These are the things that make life worth living. I will never be the fastest or fittest cyclist or runner, or the strongest weight-lifter, or the best mountaineer. I know that and it's OK. I'm not working out for medals. But I want to continue to participate in these activities because they're fun.
So, yeah, I'm trying to juggle it all and I just might not be doing the best job of juggling.
So just plan on doing lifting 2 x weekly.
Day after is your endurance training for whatever is coming up, so running focus or biking focus, or both. Down in recovery zone is just fine.
You can keep cycling or running legs in shape just once a week, because the cross training still helps. When event is coming up, you can do more of whatever is needed.
That's 4 days, that leaves 1 or 2 days with more intense cardio, done day before lifting.
If you need more specific training for an event, the lifting for say legs can be traded for hill sprints every other week. Or lifting can back off to 1 day a week, or upper only falling intense lower body usage.
And I'll say the lifting heavy for deadlift will help that grip too.
That may be varied, but that isn't too much variety there you can't benefit from whatever is done.0 -
Thanks for all the responses. :flowerforyou: In one sense, I pretty much knew what you all wrote but it was still very helpful to see it all in one place. I ended up taking all your good advice (except seeing the doctor, sorry, just not right now) and doing a bit more research.
I also ended up getting the best info from the wonderful Lyle McDonald at Body Recomposition. I should known to spend some time there first! He wrote a great 9-part series called "Overtraining, Overreaching, and all the Rest". If he has a 9-part series, then I know this is an important issue! Here's the link if anybody wants to read: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/overtraining-overreaching-and-all-the-rest-part-1.html
According to McDonald, there are seven symptoms of overtraining/overreaching:
(1) constant muscular fatigue and/or soreness, both muscle and joints
(2) lack of motivation to train/lethargy/fatigue
(3) higher incidence of illness
(4) depression, hostility, anger, just mood issues in general
(5) sleep disruptions
(6) impaired appetite (either up or down)
(7) increased resting heart rate and/or blood pressure (except in the case of B-type overtraining - read the article for more info on this)
Of these, I had:
1 - Oh, yeah! Just about everything ached constantly;
2 - Yup, the thought of exercise almost made me want to cry but, at the same time, the idea of not exercising also made me want to cry as I fear losing what I've worked so hard to achieve. Guilt and all that.
3 - Yup, a very low-grade cold that I just couldn't shake, nothing serious
4 - Oh, yeah! I've battled depression for several decades and exercise and better nutrition have helped eliminate it but I was starting to feel myself sinking into it and it was scaring me. I was definitely getting negative and I hate that.
5 - Yup, again. I was having severe insomnia for the last couple of weeks to the point where I was lucky to sleep for 2 hours at a stretch around the time I wrote the OP.
6 - Oh, yes! I actually ate within my calorie budget during the holidays but during New Year's week, I was going crazy wanting to eat everything in sight, felt myself getting out-of-control
7 - I never take my resting heart rate or blood pressure as mine have always been excellent (even when I was much heavier and totally out of physical condition) but I'll start paying more attention now to get a good base-line.
He also discussed how extra stress in the rest of your life negatively impact recovery. Again, something I know but something I was just hot applying to myself even though I should as my life is relatively stressful. I'm a class sandwich-generation person spread too thin in many ways so life is always going full-speed ahead and I always feel behind. Life is a constant juggling act. I'm sure many of you can relate. Anyway....
*** One of his comments that struck a real chord with me was "It's not how much training you can do, it's how much training you can recover from." To this he advises either pulling back from training or improving the recovery or a bit of both.*** (starred and bolded just because I feel this is extremely important advice)
After taking about 8 days off, during which time I ate at around TDEE and just did a couple of slow, easy walks, I have my oomph back. Toward the end of the week, I finally started sleeping more than 2-3 hours at a time so that made a huge difference! In fact, have gotten 8-10 hours the last few nights. Yay!
He relates some extreme cases where people needed a month or even multiple months to fully recover so I can't say that I'm fully recovered yet but I feel awesome compared to how I felt last week so I'm ready to dip back into training with some adjustments. I'll self-monitor better for overtraining symptoms and adjust accordingly.
For improving recovery, he suggests improving sleep, diet, possible need for supplements, foam-rolling, more stretching, and 15 minutes of active recovery/cool-downs after a hard work-out.
I'm working on implementing all as all are good for you anyway, right? For me, I think insomnia will be a good first clue for me to pay attention to as I normally sleep well and wonder if my infrequent bouts of insomnia....because when I do get it it's chronic and bad for awhile until it goes away...so I'm wondering if it's coincided with other bouts of overtraining. Will track that closer. While my nutrition is relatively good, it could always be better. Especially my protein consumption as I have a hard time getting in my 1g/#.
He also recommends:
(1) One rest day/week (at most, light walking)
(2) Limiting the # of intensive workouts each week to 2-3 days
(3) Do lighter workouts in-between the intense days
(4) Cycling your training. For example: 2 light weeks, 6 heavy weeks, 1 peak week, 1 week recovery)
(5) If you're feeling fatigue and aren't sure if you should work out or rest, at least do your warm-up routine. If you just don't feel like you have oomph after your warm-up, either go home and take a rest or just do a very light workout like a walk.
He emphasized that just about everybody should plan a rest/recovery week every three months. That's part of #4 above and he seems to believe it's critical, even for the most fit among us.
If you're not familiar with McDonald's website, I suggest you take a visit there as it's always full of great information backed by research.
Anyway, what I'm going to do at this point is follow the training cycle and am now entering my two light weeks to ease back in and make some adjustments. I've switched to Stronglifts 5x5 but am going to limit it to twice a week for the time being so I can still get in a bit of HIIT as I really enjoy that. I'll also train my brain to let myself do less-intensive exercise in-between the lifting and HIIT days, like a long, slow jog or bike ride and not feel like I have to make every session some level of HIIT. I think that's my biggest area of over-doing it. So, basically, following a routine more like Heybales suggested. (Thanks!)
:drinker: Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. I think I was guilty of having the knowledge but being too stubborn to believe that it applied to myself.0 -
:drinker: Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. I think I was guilty of having the knowledge but being too stubborn to believe that it applied to myself.
Great synopsis.
Every time I get sick after 7 or 8 weeks of constant exercise, and this is with proper rest days and easy cardio days mind you, I realize just how difficult it is to apply to self.
With diet as additional stress, I try to do 6 weeks breaks, because far too many times, that's when I got sick after if I didn't take it.
Always interesting to come back stronger, just gotta be careful with that too.0 -
:drinker: Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. I think I was guilty of having the knowledge but being too stubborn to believe that it applied to myself.
Great synopsis.
Every time I get sick after 7 or 8 weeks of constant exercise, and this is with proper rest days and easy cardio days mind you, I realize just how difficult it is to apply to self.
With diet as additional stress, I try to do 6 weeks breaks, because far too many times, that's when I got sick after if I didn't take it.
Always interesting to come back stronger, just gotta be careful with that too.
Thanks. Hoping the synopsis helps anyone else having problems with this. McDonald's series was a very interesting read. Of course, he always is.
I really think he's onto something with his cyclical training to have the light weeks after the rest break to ease back into hitting it heavy again. Definitely something I'm going to track and use from now on. I'm guessing that a light week every 6 weeks would make good sense, too.
I have learned that you really don't lose that much when you take a break. Last summer, I virtually quit doing my heavy lifting routine as I was training for a 200-mile weekend bike ride and the time in the saddle, and energy it required, just cut into my energy for lifting. So I didn't lift regularly for almost 3 months. When I came back, I had lost very little strength. For example, I had to lower my row weight by 5# and could only do 4 reps per set instead of the 8 I was doing at the time. But it only took about a week to get it back and to make steady gains from there. From my understanding, sometimes people come back from a short break where they've either maintained and can go right back where they started or even find a strength gain has happened just because they've become fully rested and the muscles have had a chance to fully heal.
I also didn't ride my bike for about 3 weeks after my long ride...was kinda burned out and needed a break from it...but, when I got back on, could crank out 50+ miles like nada. Probably could have still hit 100 miles if I pushed myself.
Of course, a longer lay-off will probably have a bigger impact. I think especially for some activities like running. At least for me as running is my weak area so I tend to degrade with that the fastest.
I'm rambling. It's all interesting and helpful to keep in mind, I think.0 -
THANK YOU for this post and all the responses, particularly yours, Heybales.
I needed to read this today. I do 30 Day Shred and interval running 6 days a week and my calf muscle has been killing me and I've just been dealing with it. Even on my "rest" days I go for a 2-3 mile walk at a good clip. I'm not experiencing anything other than mega sore calf muscles, but I think it's time to back off a little, give myself legitimate rest days, and plan a rest week for myself some time after my 8k in March.0 -
THANK YOU for this post and all the responses, particularly yours, Heybales.
I needed to read this today. I do 30 Day Shred and interval running 6 days a week and my calf muscle has been killing me and I've just been dealing with it. Even on my "rest" days I go for a 2-3 mile walk at a good clip. I'm not experiencing anything other than mega sore calf muscles, but I think it's time to back off a little, give myself legitimate rest days, and plan a rest week for myself some time after my 8k in March.
Just to rethink the interval running.
Pro's don't do more than 20% of cardio time in intervals. It's too hard on the system.
Just think about how the intervals work to cause improvement. Push hard, rest, hard, rest.
If the rest isn't long enough, you can't push as hard, right.
And where does the improvement come, if you can actually push harder.
So also on your weekly schedule. If every day is intervals and that means in general an intense day, where's the rest to actually allow getting stronger, so you can actually push harder and get bigger benefits for time spent.
4 weeks is plenty of time to put into place an improved program.
It's also plenty of time for your body to give up and get sick and lose a week of training, or get injured and miss the whole race.0 -
THANK YOU for this post and all the responses, particularly yours, Heybales.
I needed to read this today. I do 30 Day Shred and interval running 6 days a week and my calf muscle has been killing me and I've just been dealing with it. Even on my "rest" days I go for a 2-3 mile walk at a good clip. I'm not experiencing anything other than mega sore calf muscles, but I think it's time to back off a little, give myself legitimate rest days, and plan a rest week for myself some time after my 8k in March.
Just to rethink the interval running.
Pro's don't do more than 20% of cardio time in intervals. It's too hard on the system.
Just think about how the intervals work to cause improvement. Push hard, rest, hard, rest.
If the rest isn't long enough, you can't push as hard, right.
And where does the improvement come, if you can actually push harder.
So also on your weekly schedule. If every day is intervals and that means in general an intense day, where's the rest to actually allow getting stronger, so you can actually push harder and get bigger benefits for time spent.
4 weeks is plenty of time to put into place an improved program.
It's also plenty of time for your body to give up and get sick and lose a week of training, or get injured and miss the whole race.
I meant I do shred and running on alternating days. Forgot to clarify that! I'm thinking about working Mon-Sat and then giving myself a legitimate day off on Sundays. Also, my intervals are slowly shifting to distance running, because I'm currently working my way through CT5k. I started with one minute/one minute ratios (let me add here that it was a jog/walk, not sprints) and I've worked my way up to 5 minutes/2.5 minute ratio. What would you recommend for an improved training program? I still really want to get in 6 days a week, because it really helps my emotional health and is my "me" time. I'm a stay at home mom and get a little stir crazy if I don't do SOMETHING. lol0 -
I meant I do shred and running on alternating days. Forgot to clarify that! I'm thinking about working Mon-Sat and then giving myself a legitimate day off on Sundays. Also, my intervals are slowly shifting to distance running, because I'm currently working my way through CT5k. I started with one minute/one minute ratios (let me add here that it was a jog/walk, not sprints) and I've worked my way up to 5 minutes/2.5 minute ratio. What would you recommend for an improved training program? I still really want to get in 6 days a week, because it really helps my emotional health and is my "me" time. I'm a stay at home mom and get a little stir crazy if I don't do SOMETHING. lol
Ah good, I call that jog / walk intervals. Great for a long run where you want a little relief.
Those are still good and stick to it in the program.
And alternating is just fine, those running days are actually easy enough then.
Just misunderstood and with 6 days a week of what sounded pretty intense, I knew where that was going.0 -
Please don't take potassium supplements, they're dangerous! Just increase your intake of food that contains potassium. Supplements can increase the levels very quickly causing cardiac arrhythmias and life threatening problems. WHen I give them to hospital patients it's only ever for a few days.
What she said ^^. Skip the supplements and eat foods rich in potassium. Sweet potatoes, potatoes and a variety of foods have higher amounts of potassium than bananas.0 -
What about taking a week or two completely off before starting your new program?
Also, are you eating enough calories full stop? If you're only getting bits of meat in some veg, and shakes, I'm wondering..
Also, broccoli, for potassium
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Wow this thread is exhausting! You need to see a doctor if this is going on as frequently as you say. Don't self medicate, at this point you don't know what's going on with your body (it's trying to tell you something) and your best bet is talking to your doc. Weigh your options....pay the doc a small bit or continue working out with this undiagnosed problem and self medicate and cause more problems and a bigger bill. And did I mention: don't self medicate! Pills aren't always the answer. And they often just mask the symptoms. Good luck.0
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Please don't take potassium supplements, they're dangerous! Just increase your intake of food that contains potassium. Supplements can increase the levels very quickly causing cardiac arrhythmias and life threatening problems. WHen I give them to hospital patients it's only ever for a few days.
You know that the over the counter potassium supplements only contain 3% of the daily value, right? That's not going to make or break someone, and in some cases can help out quite a bit....0 -
Please don't take potassium supplements, they're dangerous! Just increase your intake of food that contains potassium. Supplements can increase the levels very quickly causing cardiac arrhythmias and life threatening problems. WHen I give them to hospital patients it's only ever for a few days.
What she said ^^. Skip the supplements and eat foods rich in potassium. Sweet potatoes, potatoes and a variety of foods have higher amounts of potassium than bananas.
I noticed that my multi-vitamin already has potassium in it. While I don't eat much in the way of potatoes or bananas as they raise my blood sugar levels too much, I will try to choke down a sweet potato now and then. (Gack, really trying to become less of a picky eater but this might be a tough one for me.)0 -
What about taking a week or two completely off before starting your new program?
Also, are you eating enough calories full stop? If you're only getting bits of meat in some veg, and shakes, I'm wondering..
Also, broccoli, for potassium
I've tried different calorie settings during the time I've been on MFP. I started, like so many, at 1200 and not eating back exercise calories. Then 1200+exercise calories. Then my BMR of 1450+exercise calories. Then pushed it to 1600+ exercise calories. Then TDEE-15%. Then TDEE-20%. Then 4 months not tracking at all doing a full metabolic reset just eating whatever I wanted, within reason, I didn't gorge. Then....well, so you can see it's been all over the place.
And I notice no difference in fatigue and/or soreness no matter what I'm eating or how many calories. Eating too low of protein, getting my 1gram per pound of LBM, whatever in-between. No difference.0 -
To all the funny pictures: Funny to read but not funny to live. Seriously, about 15 months of extreme soreness all the time has gutted me. I feel like I've been stoic long enough.0
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Wow this thread is exhausting! You need to see a doctor if this is going on as frequently as you say. Don't self medicate, at this point you don't know what's going on with your body (it's trying to tell you something) and your best bet is talking to your doc. Weigh your options....pay the doc a small bit or continue working out with this undiagnosed problem and self medicate and cause more problems and a bigger bill. And did I mention: don't self medicate! Pills aren't always the answer. And they often just mask the symptoms. Good luck.
Well, I took a week off and have come up with a plan that seems to be working better for me. I believe it's been a combination of too much intensity by doing HIIT and heavy lifting too many times per week. I've dropped heavy lifting to once every 4 days and the same with HIIT and I am no longer sore all the time nor exhausted. Here's what I'm doing as my rotation:
L = lifting = Stronglifts 5x5
C = cardio = a run, a walk, a hill hike carrying a 15# pack (I'm gearing up for scrambling), bike ride, Zumba, or cardio-kickboxing. All basically just cardio and I refrain from making it a HIIT-style workout (as hard as that is for me). Whichever of these I'm in the mood for.
H = HIIT by running on hills (fartlek-style usually) and/or stairs, or an intense spinning class
C = cardio day again, same as above
L = Stronglifts again
And the cycle continues.
I'm not scheduling rest days but, rather, just taking one when I need one. There's been a couple of times when I've taken 2-3 days off in a row. I don't want to make that a regular thing but I'm just listening to my body and trying not to push myself quite as hard. This seems to be working well so far.
I'm thinking I don't need to see the doctor because my performance hasn't diminished at all when I do these things. I'm just not sore and fatigued in-between workouts anymore. So, yeah, I think it was simple over-training.
I think I have to remember that I'm 55 and have several decades of not exercising much at all so I probably need more recovery at this point than if I was younger or if I had kept in shape all along. At least that's what I'm thinking at this point.
As I quoted from Lyle McDonald in an earlier post, "It's not how many workouts you can do, it's how you can recover from the workouts" (paraphrased) So I'm letting that be my new motto. Thanks everyone and hope this helps somebody else.0
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