Muscle soreness after 30 Day Shred!

justdance06

I just started the 30DS yesterday .. I found it challenging but definitely not impossible. The hardest part was doing all those pushups! However, today my muscles are really sore .. while I would like to do the 30DS again today (and every day), I just don't know if it will be possible to do the exact same exercises day after day. Perhaps modify some exercises or take days off? Any tips?

JayMri

30 Day Shred is one of my favorite workouts and I've done a few rounds of it. What I have found is that pushing myself into doing day 2 usually helps with the muscle soreness. A lot of the time it's my shoulders that are sore so I may do a couple less reps the second day, or do a few with out weights. If I am sore after the third day I take a break.

MinnieInMaine

My personal opinion is that it's not a great idea to do the same routine if you're really sore. You'll likely have bad form and may cause an injury if you push yourself too hard. Also, it is important to give your muscles time to recover.

A lot of sources say rest is important to muscle recovery but I don't think that means you have to just sit on the couch. Active resting and recovery is possible by doing something less intense (like going for a walk) and then stretching really well afterwards, or doing yoga which covers both angles.

For instance, I started a new circuit training routine a few weeks ago and was really sore all over for the following two days. So I went to some old standards and used the elliptical and stationary bike and did some stretching. By the fourth day I was ready to do the circuit training again and only had to take 1 day to recover. So this first week, maybe you can only do 30DS 3 or 4 days but next week you could do it 4 or 5 days as your body adjusts and gets stronger.

deksgrl

I did two days, then I took a rest day. I had to since I could hardly walk, nevermind do anything else.

carrieous

this is why i quit it after the first session.

DoingitWell

I was very sore.

JennKie1

Jillian is evil. I think the reason she claims you'll get such wonderful results / weight loss from 30DS is because after the first day you're so sore that you can't even crawl to the refrigerator.

Honestly, I've never made it past a few days because it got boring doing the same thing every single day. Other people have had great success with it though. I think it's just a matter of personal preference.

_Tara_R

I'm currently on Day 14 of the Shred. I was sore in the beginning as well but I will pass.

tararocks

i by no means am saying that I have any idea what I am talking about...but here goes anyway...i just read an interview with her for her new book and in it she says 30 day shred was a marketing gimic, that what she really envisioned was 2 days of shred, a day of cardio, 2 days of shred, a day of rest...rinse repeat. this seems smart to me. I started it last Thursday...it killed me...i posted here that it almost killed me....i was so sore, i pushed myself to do it again on friday, knowing i was not doing it on saturday due to literally not being at home for 24 hours...i did it friday...saturday i was so sore i couldnt bend down to pick something off the ground, i listened to my body, i let it rest another day on sunday, by monday i was feeling mostly better but bad decisions got in my way and i didnt do it monday....i did it again last night so it took me from thurs-tues to do three days...im not near as sore today, i didnt have to quit at all last night, my form probably got sloppy towards the end, but it was an improvement and again...sore enough today that i know i worked it, but not so sore that i need my husband to help me up....thats my experience for what its worth:)

BettyBlueEyes

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is a natural part of strengthening exercise. It's usually worst around 1-2 days after a workout, as your muscles are repairing after doing some microdamage through exercise you're not used to. However, it's this that makes your muscles eventually stronger as they start to bulk out; don't give up! Sure, if you can't do it due to pain then "active rest" as already suggested is fantastic. Be assured though, that next time you do it, it won't be so painful afterwards, and eventually you won't be able to feel anything after. If this is the case, you need to step up your routine, go to the next level on the DVD, as DOMS is a necessary part of getting stronger! It won't always feel like this though, a gentle ache is the norm if you've worked hard. Enjoy it

justdance06

Wow, thanks for the quick responses everyone .. what I was thinking of was doing cardio (walking/running) today and hoping by tomorrow I will feel well enough to do it again! But as someone mentioned, sometimes the soreness gets worse day 2 after exercising, so we'll see ..

Rhonnie

It's up to you if you chose to do 30 day shred or not, but you REALLY want to do something the day after your first work out or else you will be even more sore the following day - you want to warm up and stretch your muscles.

As for being tired and sore after 30ds - what did you expect? How do you expect to get in better shape without at least a little 'pain'? Maybe you need to ease into it a little bit slower, but just quiting or thinking it is to hard because you are sore will not get you were you want to be. Don't quit, you do not fail until you quit. You got this!

JezzD1

muscle soreness is actually caused by the muscle tears caused from working the muscle during strenuous workout. If you are super sore it is better to rest that muscle and allow it time to repair.

allowing the muscle time to repair actually helps it create more muscle fiber so you will be a bit stronger for your next workout.

A lot of people mistakenly believe that muscle soreness is caused by lactic acid but in truth cellular respiration rids the muscle of all the lactic acid built up from a workout within one or two hours after the workout. so the real cause is torn muscle and the only cure is rest and allowing your muscle fibers to repair.

I agree don't quit, work a different set of muscles and as soon as the soreness goes away get back to doing JM.

Also be sure to stretch before and after. I feel the stretch session after that JM does was not enough so I did extra whole body stretching. Stretching promotes healing so it is very important. Do not skip stretching.

MorgueBabe

I do M-F and a different routine on Saturday, and REST on Sunday.

I use Epsom Salt baths
Those hot pack things at the mall Kisoks Natures Comfort heating pillows
And Little Moon Magic Muscle Oil


I have a bad ankle, knee, and wrist ALL on the same side.

justdance06

See below

justdance06

It's up to you if you chose to do 30 day shred or not, but you REALLY want to do something the day after your first work out or else you will be even more sore the following day - you want to warm up and stretch your muscles.

As for being tired and sore after 30ds - what did you expect? How do you expect to get in better shape without at least a little 'pain'? Maybe you need to ease into it a little bit slower, but just quiting or thinking it is to hard because you are sore will not get you were you want to be. Don't quit, you do not fail until you quit. You got this!

It's not that I didn't expect to be sore, it's that usually when I'm sore I can take a day or 2 off and I thought the whole point of the program is to do 30 continuous days. It's not like this is my first time working out, I lead an active lifestyle and am basically on here to tone up..

twelfty

eating extra protein really helps with aches, a high protein meal after your workout will give your body plenty to work with repairing while you're asleep (this is when it repairs best) meaning after 8 hours sleep you should feel much better with alot less aches

justdance06

Also, I never said anything about quitting or giving up .. I asked specifically for tips on quicker recovery from muscle soreness so I can continue doing 30DS as soon as possible.

justdance06

Thank you everyone for the tips, I really appreciate it!!

tigersword

Movement cures muscle soreness. When you do the workout again, the soreness goes away.

EmmaJean7

I have found for me alternating 30ds with a cardio day works best. So I do 30ds every other day and on the "off days" I go for a run/walk for 30 mins. It's helped my soreness tremendously

ninerbuff

My question is why would Jillian have pushups done 30 consecutive days in a row?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

twelfty

i'm not sure what the effects of creatine are on women, it works really well for me, i find recovery rate is up a noticable amount since using it, as well as increased reps per set, might be an idea to have a read up and see if it's for you, imo it's a very good supplement, and not even a shred of evidence it has draw backs

and considering at my size i only need a teaspoon a day it's easy to keep on top of

crabbok

Doing the exact same exercises everyday sounds ridiculous. I'd assuming she is having you do light intensity workouts? Pushing the exact same muscle groups to failure every day is begging for injury and poor form.

Hadabetter

Just remember that working out doesn't make you stronger. Recovery AFTER working out is when you get stronger, so don't short-change yourself on recovery days.

ladybuggprincess99

Jillian is evil. I think the reason she claims you'll get such wonderful results / weight loss from 30DS is because after the first day you're so sore that you can't even crawl to the refrigerator.

Hilarious!

justdance06

Just to clarify, the 30 Day Shred is a circuit program of three 22-minute programs of varying intensity. You are supposed to spend 10 days on each level before progressing to the next one. Level 1 includes pushups, but it's not like you do pushups the whole time - probably around 2 minutes total. I'm not sure if Levels 2 and 3 also include pushups.

lizlkbg

I take every 6th day off.
I was very sore at first, in fact, it was hard to take my shirt off! But I got stronger quickly!
I just took ibuprofen and kept going.
This is not advice, just sharing what I did.

Jasmine_James

I listen to her podcast and she has mentioned that you should always have a rest day, and she recommends only doing Ripped in 30 five days a week. So, I think she has changed her mind since the time when she created 30-Day Shred. I think it would be good to take one or two days off a week. You'll get just as good -- if not better -results.

MagicFeather

I'm doing day 30 tomorrow. That means it will have taken me 33 days to finish the 30ds. I took one day off in the beginning due to poor planning and 2 days off in the middle due to being just too sick to work out.

I was pretty sore the first couple of days at the very beginning and then again at the beginning of level 2 and 3 but it always faded and doing 30ds again the next day always helped.

I did it every day as a way of getting myself into the habit of working out every day and to see how my body would look after 1 month of solid commitment (frickin' awesome btw) but if you're already in the habit of working out regularly there's no reason why you couldn't switch up 30ds with cardio only days.

Whatever you choose, as long as you're moving, you're doing it. Good luck! Jillian is a fierce taskmaster.

Mommy4812

I am on Level 2 of 30ds and according to the groups I am involved in for 30ds it seems most people aren't as sore by day 4-5 and I would recommend taking a rest day. I've taken more than I probably should have and am getting great results so far as far as losing inches goes.