Exercising when sore

Some exercise is often times the best thing for soreness. I think you will find after some light warmups that your sore/stiffness will be greatly reduced. Instead of doing nothing try to get a good warmup in and then some light excersice. Alternate this with a heavier workout for a couple of weeks and the soreness will go away.

Hi there...as an on-again and off-again excerciser, experience has shown me that you need to go right back to it, even when you are sore. I'm not saying to overdo it...just do some light cardio. It will help loosen up the muscles and ease the aches. I had the same issue this week. I have been walking for months, but was at a hotel and decided to use the ellipitcal machine. This used to be my favorite cardio machine. I excercised for 45 minutes, and the day after, I could barely walk after sitting for an hour at a time (I'm in a sedentary job). That night, I did 35 minutes on the treadmill, then 10 more on the elliptical, and I'm feeling so much better! Like I said...pace yourself...do a long warm up to loosen up your muscles (and a long cool down). You will ultimately feel better! Remember, don't overdo it. Keep up the good work!!!

I'm afraid of injuries when I workout when I'm sore. Also I'm lifting weights, so rest is an important factor in that. You have to rest to become stronger. So I'm training my arms on one day, the next day I'm training my legs and the third day I take 'rest'. And then everything from the beginning again. In this way, each muscle gets two full resting days and I can workout hard 2 in 3 days. Works great for me

This thread was so useful as I'm feeling really sore from a class on Wednesday!
I had yesterday as my rest day and I'm looking forward to a class tonight but I am soooo sore,
Think I'm going to battle through and go tonight!!!

"sore" is just a general state that I've become accustomed to. So long as it's not pain suggesting an injury I usually take it as a signal that I have not been doing enough of the exercise because my body is protesting the different use. My best example is when I started a boot camp a couple years ago. The first day we worked hard and the next morning I wasn't sure that I would be able to move, but bootcamp was 5 days a week so I made myself go. Working the muscles again that day made me feel a lot less stiff (until I stopped moving and had been sitting at my desk for a couple hours) but despite the fact that my muscles screamed every time I changed position I went the next three days as well. By the second week I was able to do all the exercises with only mild muscle protest after the fact. By the end of the 4 months that I did I was in MUCH better shape and well able to handle all the exercises and ramp it up. But at no point did I have a point where I didn't feel any muscle soreness; if you can walk away from a hard workout without lactic acid build up then you weren't working hard enough.

for me, unless I'm so sore I literally cannot move then I work through it. Stretch, stretch, stretch and don't stop pushing yourself during your workouts. It's okay to take it easy but don't sit at home because you're sore. SORE = YOU'RE DOING IT RIGHT

When I'm super sore (say after a long run or a crazy HIIT workout) I feel so much better after going for a walk, using the eliptical, or doing yoga. Your muscles will thank you for getting them warm and stretched out... plus you'll burn some cals Great day yesterday!!

Rest days are really important - definitely don't be afraid to take 1-2 days off after an intense workout. But after that, if you're just sore and not injured, you should get back to it. Sometimes easy exercise is the best way to relax the tensed up muscles and things (and you might find that once you're warm, you're not that sore and you can work out harder than you thought you'd be able to). Even just walking is way better when you're sore than just sitting around.