Should I have worked through soreness?

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WhoIsAmber
WhoIsAmber Posts: 161 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, yesterday I exercised for an hour for the first time in a long time and today my back and arms were very sore, stiff and hard to move.

I rested today and somehow feel as though I should have grit my teeth and worked through it, but on the other hand, I'm glad I rested. I feel like I'm going to still be sore tomorrow too.

I guess my question is; is it a good idea to exercise while you're very sore, like limited range of motion sore?

Replies

  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    Listen to your body. If you need to rest, then rest. You don't want to risk injury.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    Listen to your body. If you need to rest, then rest. You don't want to risk injury.
  • BebeStyles
    BebeStyles Posts: 7
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    It's never a good idea to exercise through pain when your body is telling you not too. It's okay to get a little sore WHILE your working out, but you shouldn't START a workout feeling sore. If you end up injuring yourself, you're not going to be able to exercise for a hell of a lot longer.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    Just doing something very light normally eases my soreness.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    So, yesterday I exercised for an hour for the first time in a long time and today my back and arms were very sore, stiff and hard to move.

    I rested today and somehow feel as though I should have grit my teeth and worked through it, but on the other hand, I'm glad I rested. I feel like I'm going to still be sore tomorrow too.

    I guess my question is; is it a good idea to exercise while you're very sore, like limited range of motion sore?

    You should probably try to do some light stretching later today if you can...

    The trainer at the gym made me a BIG believer in the power of stretching. About 4-6 weeks ago I started working with barbells, and the first few weeks my legs were SORE. The second week was particularly bad--about 3 or 4 days of pain with every step. So I went in and asked him if the burning in my thighs would ever stop. He found out that I wasn't stretching and all but took me by the hand and drug me over to the stretching area and pointed out the posters with stretches on them. I have been stretching religiously after my workouts and haven't had any pain since!
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    There is a difference between being sore and being in pain and its a fine line figuring it out. It will take time but you'll figure out after working out more over time when it's ok to go forward. Are my legs sore after leg day? Yes. Do I do nothing for days until they feel better? No. In fact I recover better and faster when I run or do something active the next day to help loosen them up. Stretching, a walk etc will help relieve the soreness. No matter what I give myself 1 day a week of complete rest to help avoid soreness or fatigue.
  • Beethoven1827
    Beethoven1827 Posts: 102 Member
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    I'd echo the advice to make sure you stretch properly at the end of every workout. If you do that, you shouldn't get anything like this level of soreness in the future. (Can you tell I'm not the kind of personwho judges the value of a workout by the residual pain? :wink: Apart form anything else, it makes it much easier to keep to a regular schedule if you 're not immobilised for days!)
  • vanessa40
    vanessa40 Posts: 328 Member
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    I would do some light stretching or yoga but if you feel any pain i would stop.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Often working muscles that are sore will actually make it better. The more you sit around the stiffer you get. There's a difference between muscle soreness and injury. If you rest every time you have a muscle ache you'll end up spending most of your time on the couch.
  • nomercy101
    nomercy101 Posts: 2
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    You can def work out through muscle soreness.. I could barely walk for the first four days of ripped in 30, but it didn't bother me during the actual workout. Don't use soreness as an excuse. My shoulders are screaming right now, but that's not gonna stop me from working out today. No excuses! Suck it up and work out!
  • John2347
    John2347 Posts: 336 Member
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    You can def work out through muscle soreness.. I could barely walk for the first four days of ripped in 30, but it didn't bother me during the actual workout. Don't use soreness as an excuse. My shoulders are screaming right now, but that's not gonna stop me from working out today. No excuses! Suck it up and work out!

    ^^this
  • meg7399
    meg7399 Posts: 672 Member
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    after a day with weights I am always sore then next day. Thats usually the day I will go for a couple mile walk. Its gets some cardio in and the walking is easy enough that it helps stretch sore muscles and makes me feel good!
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    I always just do some sort of exercise that doesn't involve the sore parts. For example, I'll do an upper body day at the gym and my arms will be killing me the next day, so I'll just go running. I have my whole workout routine planned so that I basically never put strain on the same body parts two days in a row. And of course, I take a rest day each week, because your body does need time to recover!

    So never be afraid to take a rest day, just in the future maybe break up your workouts a bit differently.
  • lncgurley
    lncgurley Posts: 37 Member
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    My take...I think it depends on your goals. My goal is at least 20 mis of excercise 6 days a week. So, the day after I kill myself doing something, the next day I'll do a stretching session (you can look up online stretch yoga poses for soreness), or a walk. I couldn'd consistently do the power wahtever type excercises...I did one p90 then didn't excercise for months...so I just do what I can, now I do daily weights (switching muscle groups every day so I don't do one two days in a row). But I did cardio only for 4 mos prior to that. Bottom line is...what is your goal, to get ripped, stay healthy, do both? If you want to be ripped and do it quick...yeah, work through the pain, if you are shooting for healthy/fit lifestyle..maybe stretching or a walk...good for you for posing the question
  • HypersonicFitNess
    HypersonicFitNess Posts: 1,219 Member
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    I agree; if you are in serious pain probably shouldn't do too much. If you are just SORE (too much lactid acid in your muscles); you need to move...the more you sit still the more stiff and sore you become. Do some stretching and something light; walking is good. Just do some movement...not moving makes the soreness and stiffness worse.
  • jesspi68
    jesspi68 Posts: 292
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    I have found that making sure I stretch thoroughly when I am done working out, and also making sure I get much closer to my protein goals (generally I follow a tough workout with a protein shake or protein rich meal) has helped me tremendously with the dreaded DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness!). Also, as others have stated there is a very fine line between SORE and PAIN. Recognizing the difference will allow you to continue your workout with muscle soreness and not damaging yourself working through pain. I am usually fairly sore 24 hours after my workout but by 48 hours when it's time for the next workout I am not doing too bad!
  • kdt000
    kdt000 Posts: 27 Member
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    There is a difference between being sore and being in pain and its a fine line figuring it out. It will take time but you'll figure out after working out more over time when it's ok to go forward. Are my legs sore after leg day? Yes. Do I do nothing for days until they feel better? No. In fact I recover better and faster when I run or do something active the next day to help loosen them up. Stretching, a walk etc will help relieve the soreness. No matter what I give myself 1 day a week of complete rest to help avoid soreness or fatigue.

    Agreed!! The trainers in my group training tell us to make sure we know the difference between being sore (which is good) to being in pain (not so good). Once you get that figured out - I think if you're sore - additional exercise is a fantastic way to get past it. I always feel much better/looser/less sore after.
  • Quietprofessional83
    Quietprofessional83 Posts: 53
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    As long as you don't injure yourself you're fine. Soreness is not going to kill you, it means that your muscles are not conditioned yet, once they become conditioned it will go away. You're also building up the lactic acid threshold, and the harder you push yourself, the better it gets. You should only need 1 day of rest per week. good luck
  • ShaniWulffe
    ShaniWulffe Posts: 458 Member
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    I get sore a lot through my ballet, and I've found that stretching before bed, Icy Hot when I wake up, and taking extra time to warm up before my next class help tremendously. Usually I am barely even sore at all by the end of the last class.

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