Very sore muscles

tjthegreatone

I have been lurking on these forums for some months - this is my first post!

I am a bit of a gym fanatic and a greedy cow, so I tend to exercise to eat.

I only joined MFP about a month ago. I live in the UK.

I am 175cm (5'9) and currently weigh 72kg (158lbs I think). When I first started this crazy fitness/weight loss battle in late 2010 I weighed 86kg (190lbs). I successfully went down to 68kg (150lbs), but at this weight I was constantly hungry,stopped having periods, and binged/exercised excessively to compensate. So I am aiming for something more realistic this time.

Sadly my peanut butter and granola obsessions are sabotaging my goals. I keep telling myself that I am not overweight and I'm only aiming to lose a tiny amount of weight so I can eat what I like...until the guilt sets in. Over the last two weeks as it dawned on me that MFP lets me eat more when I exercise more, I've been working out almost daily. I used to do mainly cardio - I'd run 5-7 miles a day comfortably, until Nov 2012 when I fell off the wagon. In the last month I've started running again (3-5 miles a day), but I'm also doing some aerobics classes and weight training.

However, in the last few days my muscles have been killing me! I'm as stiff as a board despite stretching. Everything hurts. I could barely do the Pump class on Monday, as my upper body hurt. Today, my quads felt like they were made of lead and I could hardly move.

I'm just knackered and in agonies. Even lying in bed everything feels heavy and tingly. Unfortunately I'm too scared to take a break as I need to feed the peanut butter and granola habit...

Does anyone have any suggestions for other exercises to consider? I would love to take a day off but scared that I'll balloon up...(I currently eat maybe 2000-2500 a day, sometimes more).

ejwme

Sounds like you need weight training to keep your granola habit. Three things:

1. New weight training will hurt, your first few weeks will be uncomfortable even if you're doing it perfectly - it's "weakness leaving the body". The pain should slowly get better in time, until you're just "comfortably sore" after workouts (you know you worked, but you can walk and move like a normal person). It will really hurt if you suffer from the Terrible Toos: Too heavy, too often, increased too soon. Take it slow, stretch it out, take your rest days for muscle groups you worked (muscle is built when you're NOT stressing it).

2. Honestly, your pain description sounds like me when I have the flu. In the states we're in the middle of a mini flu pandemic, so keep an eye on your temperature and the rest of your body and other symptoms. It's not likely, but it might be unrelated to your exercise.

3. Is it seriously worth eating PB and granola to hurt yourself? 150 doesn't sound like a starvation weight for you, so maybe look in to WHAT you eat when you do eat. Maybe you can keep the PB and granola, but get in more veggies to fill you up so you're not so hungry?

ItsCasey

You are in desperate need of a recovery routine, and I would ditch the daily exercise. Some people say it's okay to do light cardio on rest days, but I think you need at least one day a week in which you don't do any intentional exercise.

Recovery ... the basics would be taking rest days, getting plenty of sleep, and making sure your diet provides enough fuel for your workouts. The next level would be doing some static stretching and joint/spinal mobility exercises (ideally you would do this every day as part of your warm-up and cool-down process, but this adds an extra 30 minutes to my training sessions, and not everyone has that kind of time). Then there is soft-tissue work like foam rolling, deep tissue massage, etc. (I foam roll every day and get a massage roughly once a month). But it is also important to have a 'deloading' week every 6 to 8 weeks, in which you do your normal routine but at a lower volume and/or intensity. For instance, if you normally run 3 to 5 miles, do 1 or 2 miles and call it a day.

What a lot of people who train really hard all the time don't understand is that your body improves while it is at rest, not while it is active. If your body never has time to rest, it will stop improving, and you plateau, which will inevitably lead to you adding even more volume and intensity, and the cycle continues.

Nicks_scotland

1. New weight training will hurt, your first few weeks will be uncomfortable even if you're doing it perfectly - it's "weakness leaving the body". The pain should slowly get better in time, until you're just "comfortably sore" after workouts (you know you worked, but you can walk and move like a normal person).

^^^ This

When I first started exercising again after a year of doing nothing (thank you herniated disc) I thought I'd damaged myself. My butt and quads were soooo sore, sitting down and getting up from my desk at work was hilarious (for others to watch). Now a couple of months in, I'm at the "comfortably sore" stage and I love the feeling! I do take 2 rest days per week to allow my muscles to recover. So far so good.

tjthegreatone

Thanks for all the advice!
Don't think I have the 'flu but will keep a watch-out...
I guess it's a sign of good things - I haven't lost much weight but I *think* I'm getting more toned and defined. Just wish it didn't come with so much pain :sad:
The comment about stretching/rolling (sorry I haven't learnt how to 'quote' people) sounds good...I guess in most cases we seem to do a max. 5-minute stretch at the end of workouts and most people are racing out of the door.
Part of the reason why I'm scared of taking a rest day is that I'll lose motivation again, or something will come up on a planned exercise day....but this is meant to be a realistic lifestyle change.
So, I will take a rest day, opt for more veggies and less junk to fill up and see how it goes over the next few days.
Thanks again to you all!

Linda345

Ensure sufficient recovery time for each muscle group and ensure you get enough sleep each night. Recovery time is when your muscles repair themselves and get bigger.

Get enough protien each day and make sure you also get some carbs also after a weight training session.

Stretch.