Ouch!

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kelleywolfe81
kelleywolfe81 Posts: 4
in Fitness and Exercise
I recently started working out again. It's only been a couple of days of body weight exercises and some light cardio. I woke up this morning extremely sore. Like It's hard to lift a glass a water to take a drink. I end up getting the glass about half way up and have to bring my head down the rest of the way. I don't want to lose the momentum of going to the gym. Don't get me wrong, I know I have to have a rest day sometime, but today isn't my scheduled rest day. Should I continue with my regular workout of light cardio and body weight exercises and just deal with the soreness, or make it a more active recovery day? Something like a bike ride or incline walk on the treadmill...oh, and some serious stretching as well?

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  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    edited December 2014
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    go workout- you'll feel better.

    edit- drink the water- do the stretches- invest in a foam roller- and keep on it. Consistency is what keeps DOMS away.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    That soreness will become your friend.

    Your close, and constant friend. Watson to your Holmes.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    go workout- you'll feel better.

    edit- drink the water- do the stretches- invest in a foam roller- and keep on it. Consistency is what keeps DOMS away.

    Agreed.

    Moving more is the best thing I've found for being sore/stiff/tight.

    Also, your body doesn't care about your schedule. Do what you need to do, even if that isn't what you planned to do at the start of the week. But be careful... don't use it as an excuse, either.

    If it's a workout day for me, I workout. But I may tweak the workout based on what I need. If I'm really tight/sore, I may swim rather than lift. Or I'll spend some extra time on the arc trainer to get things loosened up before my workout.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    Light cardio will help as it promotes blood flow to the muscles and taking an anti inflammatory (like Ibuprofen).

    I would take the intensity of your body weight exercises down a notch if you are extremely sore and work it back up again over the course of a week or two to allow your body to be accustomed to the new stress it is expected to deal with.
  • LessofBrian
    LessofBrian Posts: 43 Member
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    14 months ago I began working out 5 days a week. Those first few weeks I could barely get up out of bed, I was so sore! But gradually the soreness gave way to a general stiffness, which ultimately gave way to a feeling of having worked out but without any pain. As someone posted above, that feeling will become your friend.
  • EZDUZIT68
    EZDUZIT68 Posts: 1,168 Member
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    Any time you get back to an activity you haven't been doing for a while, your muscles need time to adjust. Don't stop - push through it and in a few days it'll all go away.
  • pineapple_jojo
    pineapple_jojo Posts: 440 Member
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    I know that pain! Some gentle cardio like swimming will help clear the lactic acid out of your muscles. Keep at it, it gets better!!
  • RicaFit
    RicaFit Posts: 38 Member
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    kelleywolfe81 - do you have a free personal trainer available? Some gyms offer a trainer 3 times free. Other gyms have them at a low fee. The pain is gain theory was debunked a long time ago, but you can expect some soreness. You may need to be doing specific flexibility exercises to help with underact or overact muscles. You can do damage by inappropriately working an out-of-shape muscle or muscle group. Check into self-myofascial release before each workout. It adds little time, but decreases the pain and improves the workout tremendously. ENJOY!! http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10751&pagename=91
  • kelleywolfe81
    kelleywolfe81 Posts: 4
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    Thank you everyone for the advice and motivation!
  • shmulyeng
    shmulyeng Posts: 472 Member
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    I sometimes go out on a run still sore from the previous day's run. As soon as you start the workout you'll forget about the soreness. Just keep at it!
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    It really depends. Everything is relative. Your light cardio to my light cardio is probably completely different. You have to know your body and know how much you want to push it. There is a difference between sore and needing a rest day. DOMS are meant to be pushed through, but there have been plenty of times when I had to take an unplanned rest day. Without knowing more specifics about your schedule it's hard to determine which one it might be.

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