Soreness solutions, questions about strength training

yesterdayusaid2morrow · July 2014

My primary forms of exercise over the last year have been jogging, brisk walking, and biking...motivated by mfpeeps I have the desire to include strength routines. I wanted to start simply with bodyweight and dumbbells, so I made the commitment to doing the beginner bodyweight circuit on nerdfitness 3x a week in addition to biking, walking, or jogging on off days. I have been extremely sore from the bodyweight routine, not whining at all, I expected it, but I'm sore for two days after, particularly in my upper legs. I basically fall into chairs when trying to sit the next day, lol! Note that I've only done it twice so far and I fully intend to stick with it.

My questions are, what do you do to help relieve/prevent soreness? I get that it's normal and even desirable but if there are any tricks to reducing it, that would be helpful. Next question, does it get less intense with consistency or should I always be working toward this feeling? And lastly, I plan to do the same routine each strength day to track my progress, progressively adding more reps, or a new exercise to the circuit as things feel easier...is it better to switch things up (upper body then lower body the next strength day)? I really appreciate any input or resources you can offer. Thank you kindly!

Edit to add link to the routine I'm using. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

nlcs_nickyv32 · July 2014

Soreness is natural when starting strength training. DOMS is something that comes with the territory. If you stick with the program it won't be sore or as sore afterwards. To ease soreness I would invest in a foam roller if you don't have one. I find that they help out a lot with sore muscles and I use it for warm-up and cool down.

I would say increasing reps is the best way to start with body weight. Eventually you can move to weighted bodyweight exercises like putting on a weighted vest and do push ups or pull ups like that. Or if you start to feel comfortable enough you can use free weights and do bigger lifts like bench press, squats, or deadlifts using barbells.

As for workouts, I would say keep it whole body each time. Full body workouts are better for you than splitting in upper/lower body days.

micheleb15 · July 2014

Soreness is natural when starting strength training. DOMS is something that comes with the territory. If you stick with the program it won't be sore or as sore afterwards. To ease soreness I would invest in a foam roller if you don't have one.

This. The soreness is from using muscles that haven't been worked in a while - it will go away and then come back. Muscle soreness doesn't mean that you worked harder; there will be days that you won't feel sore and that's fine. Stick with it. When I first started doing pull-ups I couldn't straighten my arms for three days.

Just stick with it and you will be great!

3laine75 · July 2014

Just keep at it. In a couple of weeks it won't happen.

My mum was gunning for me a couple of weeks ago as she'd been sore after I dragged her to the weights. She fell over in a shop it was so bad =D. It's gone now, pretty sure it only affected her for the first 3 or 4 workouts - if memory serves me, I think I was about the same.

wordyroo · July 2014

It gets better. I've been doing that workout along with some others and throwing in new moves for about 5-6 weeks. The soreness has definitely abated, even adding weight to the squats and lunges. There is an advanced body weight routine on Nerd Fitness once you get to a point where you don't feel challenged. Or you could increase the intensity by adding some weight or reps.

yesterdayusaid2morrow · July 2014

Thanks all. I googled foam rollers, sounds like it's worth a try. It's good to know it will improve some, at least periodically. Did the routine again today and just didn't take the squats and lunges quite as low, hopefully they are still pretty effective. I'll definitely check out the advanced routine when this one feels manageable. Thanks again.

levitateme · July 2014

Thanks all. I googled foam rollers, sounds like it's worth a try. It's good to know it will improve some, at least periodically. Did the routine again today and just didn't take the squats and lunges quite as low, hopefully they are still pretty effective. I'll definitely check out the advanced routine when this one feels manageable. Thanks again.

If you keep up with the routine the soreness will be less and less until it's barely an issue. Try foam rolling and doing dynamic stretching before you work out next time, too.

Booda101 · July 2014

I find that just doing some walking temporarily helps with the soreness in my legs, especially after some brutal calf raises.

twopeas2 · July 2014

It'll definitely get easier

yesterdayusaid2morrow · July 2014

Thanks everyone.

Feeling better already. Going to up the intensity next strength day!

rick_po · July 2014

Thanks all. I googled foam rollers, sounds like it's worth a try. It's good to know it will improve some, at least periodically. Did the routine again today and just didn't take the squats and lunges quite as low, hopefully they are still pretty effective. I'll definitely check out the advanced routine when this one feels manageable. Thanks again.

I would not suggest cutting your squats off above parallel. You put a lot less pressure on your knees going deep, because your big, strong hamstrings and glutes do the work at the bottom of the squat. In a partial squat your hamstrings and glutes can't help, so your knees take a lot of unnecessary pressure.

For a bodyweight squat, it probably doesn't matter that much, so there's no reason to panic. But it's a bad habit to get into. Beginners need to practice good form every chance they get. It's more important than progress.

Soreness solutions, questions about strength training

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