How sore is too sore?

I'm no expert, at all in the matter, but what I usually do is I work different parts of the body on different days, so they dont hurt all at once. Then, if it hurts all over, I do cardio instead. But I won't skip more than a day or two. I usually find the muscles don't hurt as much after they are all warmed up. And the hurt goes away pretty quickly in a few days.

Exercise actually helps with soreness, quite a lot.
Just take a day of rest, or light cardio. Do some push ups/body weight squats/lunges. Go for a walk. Loosen things up, get blood flowing.

The foam roller is basically made of magic, too.

If you're still sore on your next workout day, no problem. Do it anyway. You'll feel better for it.


You'll get over it quick, too. Eventually you won't get sore, and maybe wish you did.

If you are so sore you cannot workout for a couple of days, that would not be good. I look for a little stiffness, or some isolated soreness....

In my experience, exercising despite the soreness actually improves it! I can be aching like mad from head to toe, wincing when moving from sitting to standing and vice versa, but once I've finished the day's workout I feel great. You need to get blood flowing to the aching parts, plus get lots of protein to help them recover. Just don't give up and use it as a reason NOT to exercise - you'll feel so much better if you keep going and the aches won't last as long.

As long as it is just muscle soreness and you have not pulled or strained anything then I ALWAYS work thru my soreness. It definitely helps the following day. Have fun!

You're sore all over because you did to many exercises in one session. Full body workouts are fine but I would never do more than one heavy compound exercise at once. Your body needs time for recovery and you dont need to do so many exercises at once.

It can take me a week to recover from one session of heavy squats or deadlifts. I couldnt imagine trying to recover from squats, dips and bench press all in one workout. My recovery time would be painfully slow and I wouldnt want to workout at all!

If you are still sore its because you havent recovered yet. I DO NOT recommend strength training until your recover. This leads to overtraining. Give it a few days to rest, your body will thank you for it later by showing its become stronger. In the mean time, stretch and do some light cardio for the soreness.

Muscles are built out of the gym, not in it. R&R is extremely important.

You'll be fine. Nothing's broken or bleeding right?

Push through and you'll be happy you did. As was said above, your routine could be the issue too.

Wolf, what do you suggest for the routine? Which should I cut out? Rows, bench, squats or do you mean just do them on different days?

You should stick to body part specialization on different days of the week. If you are doing compound exercises with significant weight, dont hit them more than once a week. A common split is M-W-F where you hit back biceps (pulling exercises) on one day, chest and triceps (pushing exercises) another day, and legs (squats) on the third day. You can do cardio on two of the off days such as tues and thurs if you want, but no more than that. 5x a week is the most you should be working out, especially if you're rountines include strength training 3 of those days. You need the remaining 2 days for R&R with little or NO exercise.

I only train 3x week and I never do cardio. The training sessions are short, heavy and intense. I need the rest of the week for recovery.

As far as the routines themselves, I keep it to two or three exercises, not more than 10 or 12 sets total. With weight training its quality not quantity. Just make the sets count and lift heavy. As mentioned Stronglifts or Starting Strength are excellent starter routines and will explain these concepts in more depth.

The worst thing you can do is overtrain. Understanding your limits is important.

Yup I find it doesn't matter how much I hurt if I go again whilst I am sore it actually helps me to feel better in the long run. I guess it stops me from getting stiff. Good luck

probably not what you want to hear, but doing a light exercise will actually help the soreness to go away