Working out while sore

mjlong

What are your thoughts about working out when you are so sore? I have been pushing though it but today my body is taking a hit. Should I be taking a break so my body can recover or keep pushing? Thanks

MorgueBabe

I break. But I have a slew of chronic issues.

dorthymcconnel

Bump. I need answers too. I just started walking a week or so ago and had to cut my walk short this morning due to severe pain in my legs.

wnbrice

Soreness from a workout, I take it a little lighter but push through

Pain you take a break.

Pain is something firing telling you that it is not right. Sore just means that your muscles are not used to the workout and is trying to rebuild itself. It goes away eventually after workouts, usually within a week or two.

cwolfman13

Do you have rest days? Did you go from couch to 100 miles an hour over night? A lot of people go from doing nothing to trying to workout like they're a professional athlete overnight and they end up with injuries and what not.

It is important that you are appropriately planning your workouts to avoid injury and fatigue and that you are letting your muscles get their proper rest...this is where they really benefit from your workouts.

Also, rest day doesn't necessarily mean you're not doing anything. My official "rest day" is Sunday, but I'm still generally active...walk the dog, go for a bike ride with the kiddos, etc. I just don't have any intense or rigorous exercise planned. With my weight training, I usually take a whole rest week every 5th week or so to give my body a rest from progressively upping my weights each session...I'm usually pretty shot after 4 weeks or so and just need the rest to let everything heal up nice so I can pick up and keep on going with my linear gains. I usually take it easy that particular week and maybe run a few times per week, but just generally spend a god deal of time walking.

If you're a little sore, it's no biggie...I'm almost always a little bit sore...but if you're in pain, you need a rest.