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Using active recovery to handle muscle soreness
if the body part that you want to train is still sore from a previous training session then just exercise those muscles using lower intensity. say you benched on Sunday and Wednesday but your muscles are still sore on Wednesday. then just just use 50% of the loads used during the previous training session, it's called active-recovery. using loads that light will not induce microtrauma to those muscles and will actually speed recovery by increasing blood flow and nutrients to that area. basically you just want to go for a pump using low weights and high reps. you can do this for any body part
- I train and consult NPC & IFBB bodybuilders
Source(s): - BS Exercise Science
- IFPA Master Personal Trainer
- 25+ years of resistance training experience
- 17 years of martial arts training
Facts about overtraining and exercising too much
- http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/toomuchexercise.htm
Cure for overtraining - REST
Rest is the best way to cure overtraining. Your body needs rest after lifting weights to allow your muscles to recover and grow. When strength training, don't work the same muscle group two days in a row. Allow at least one day of rest before working the same muscle group again. For cardio, you may be wondering if it's okay to do it every day. That will depend on your intensity and the activity you're doing. It's not a great idea to do the same workout everyday as that can lead to both overtraining and repetitive stress injuries. You also shouldn't do intense and difficult workouts every day of the week, since that will also eventually cause problems. If you want to exercise every day, go for it. Just make sure you schedule low-intensity workouts as well. For example, if you usually run and bike every day, try to take a couple of days to go for a walk or do a light swim. These 'recovery' workouts will help you stay fresh and the cross-training will help you avoid injuries.
- some trainers recommend taking one week off every eight weeks.
The payoff of 10 minute workouts
Even 10 minutes of dancing, marching in place or other moderate exercise two or three times a day can add up to a big payoff for your heart and mind, according to Dr. Toni Yancey of UCLA. A former college basketball player and fashion model, Yancey has spent much of her medical career helping people who hate exercise get more.
Sore muscles? Don't stop exercising
| Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Exercise physiologists refer to the gradually increasing discomfort that occurs between 24 and 48 hours after activity as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it is perfectly normal. "Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a common result of physical activity that stresses the muscle tissue beyond what it is accustomed to," says David O. Draper, professor and director of the graduate program in sports medicine/athletic training at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. To be more specific, says Draper, who's also a member of the heat-responsive pain council, delayed onset muscle soreness occurs when the muscle is performing an eccentric or a lengthening contraction. Examples of this would be running downhill or the lengthening portion of a bicep curl. "Small microscopic tears occur in the muscle," he says. The mild muscle strain injury creates microscopic damage to the muscle fibers. Scientists believe this damage, coupled with the inflammation that accompanies these tears, causes the pain. "The aches and pains should be minor," says Carol Torgan, an exercise physiologist and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, "and are simply indications that muscles are adapting to your fitness regimen." |
Workout with sore muscles?
I finally starting strength training and my muscles are really sore. Which I'm taking as a good thing because hopefully they will heal stronger. My question is: should I rest my muscles until they feel better or can I keep working out? I'm not so worried about my upper body, because to start I am only going to work each muscle group one day per week so hopefullly they will feel better by next week. But I want to keep doing cardio and my leg muscles are sore. Is it okay to keep running and biking while my legs are sore or will that slow the healing process?
Tue. Dec 19, 2:45pm
to avoid lactic acid build up, take a glutamine supplement after a workout. Or, in the event of lactic acid, take bromelain to help ease the pain.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 4:43 PM
I'd just try icing the sore muscles before I went so far as to take anything for them.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 5:23 PM
icing doesn't rid ones body of lactic acid. Bromelain is a pineapple enzyme. Infinitely better for ones body than something like tylenol. Glutamine is an amino acid the body needs to build muscle mass. Lactic acid is often made when the body doesn't have enough glutamine- hence glutamine helps prevent a lactic acid dump.
Moreoever, my muscle building buddy used to tell me to soak in a hot tub to reduce lactic acid pains, not ice anything down. You ice things down when you pull or strain them, not when they're simply sore from a workout.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 6:47 PM
Your muscle building buddy is wrong. Try a comparison on two different weeks (soak one week and ice another) and then come back and tell us the results. Warmth will make sore muscles more sore for longer. Icing right after exercise is the best way to go.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 7:08 PM
neither I, nor I think the OP were talking about "after exercising" - we were talking about the next day when you realise your worked yourself pretty hard.
The odd time I get that pain of I-worked-myself-too-hard-yesterday, I take a hot bath and feel better. I don't get more sore.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 8:49 PM
cause of soreness
Well, it's fine to do cardio w/ sore muscles, though you may be sore longer as a result. You won't kill yourself or anything, but you won't see performance gains from it either.
The lactic acid thing is a complete red herring. Lactic acid is out of the muscle an hour after exercising. No need to break it down days later (see link – one of many easy to find, this is probably the easiest to read). The muscle soreness is a consequence of microscopic damage to the muscle fiber, and there's no reason why ice wouldn't help it.
Link
Thursday, December 21, 2006, 12:41 AM
I say work out with sore muscles AS LONG AS you can still function normally (reach for a can from the cupboard, walk down the stairs) without feeling like you're going to snap in twain, lol. If you do feel THAT sore, rest, you've overtrained. Otherwise, go for it, but make sure you do some low weight sets to start after a good warm up (wether it be dynamic stretching or some short cardio).
Good luck!
Thursday, December 21, 2006, 9:19 AM
Yes you can...
I might be alittle late w/ this answer but as an overweight woman who started working out w/ a personal trainer a few months ago I too was in pain alot the day after a workout.. But I have realized that you can actually work out w/ sore muscles... some days I could barely walk into the gym and I made every excuse in the book not to go back the following day but I paid alot of money for this and it was money that we really didn't have so even though I drove there making excuses in my head I still went.. I limped my way into the gym and got on the eliptical and I might start off slow but as I continue to do my cardio my muscles feel better. And after I do my 30 mins of cardio I spend an hour w/ the personal trainer working one muscle group. We do a different muscle group each time so the days that I know we're going to work on legs I am less active on my cardio... I still do it but I'll do it at a lower level and I won't push myself... But I was surprised at how I could work through the pain and be fine afterwards! And like another posted said on the days when you know you worked out alittle too hard take that Glutamine. I would get one scoop of it in my protien shake after my workout and it did seem to help. Also drink alot of water the day you workout, I do actually notice a difference in the amount of water I drink and how sore I am. The days I work out I try to drink nothing but water for the rest of the day to make sure my muscles are getting enough.
Monday, June 04, 2007, 10:38 AM
horrible advice
Ran into this in a search for something else. Realize this reply is several years later than this post but just in case someone is trying to learn something and finds this like I did, its important to note how incorrect this individual is in his theory for why lactic acid occurs. I will give a hint, it is not because of Glutamine. For those who haven't learned about fermentation, I think you would find it to be enlightening.
Saturday, November 14, 2009, 2:43 PM
also:
Although Glutamie is important, ITS NOT why lactic acid occurs. (I thought I'd just come out and say it). Lactic acid occurs due to the body using up oxygen, not glutamine.
Saturday, November 14, 2009, 2:45 PM
I'm glad this thread has been resurrected, as I sit here with sore muscles after yesterday's work out and prepare to head out to the Y in an hour. However, I'm no better informed than before I read the thread. Just more confused!
PP, can you give us more than a "hint"? It's still unclear to me whether I should work sore muscles or rest them. Am I doing more harm than good to work a sore muscle?
Sunday, November 15, 2009, 9:05 AM
your muscles require time to heal what ever time that takes but a slight soreness wont kill you its strains in your tendons you should pay attention to and side note cold reduces swelling which creates mass through stretched muscle fibers warmth relaxes muscle fibers allowing better mobility for your tendons you ice injuries not sore spot sorry man im gonna have to agree but ice during a work out can be used to release strain on tendons reducing chance of injury while allowing your work out to continue either way the point is if youve just worked your legs then its all what your comfortable doing you may consider a row machine for cardio hope this helps
Saturday, March 13, 2010, 4:36 PM
How to recover sore muscles
Instructions.Things You'll Need:
•Water
•Potassium or foods containing it
•B vitamins, specifically vitamin B1
1.Step 1
Stretch before exercising. And don't limit it to the muscles you think you're exercising. For example, just because you go for a run doesn't mean you don't have to stretch your upper body as well. Most exercise routines, no matter how muscle-specific they may seem, tend to impact the whole body, even if in small doses.
2.Step 2
Regulate your breathing during exercise. Uneven breathing can prevent oxygen flow to the muscles, cause you to tire quickly and ultimately require the muscles to work overtime.
3.Step 3
Stretch after exercising. Where the pre-exercise stretch should serve as a warm-up, this stretch should be much longer while the body cools down. The stretching actually gradually cools down the body, keeping the muscles active. If the body cools too quickly, the muscles tighten up that much faster. This keeps them loose.
4.Step 4
Drink water. Dehydration can exacerbate soreness.
5.Step 5
Eat potassium. Most people don't have potassium lying around. But they do have bananas. Eat one or two an hour or so after exercising.
6.Step 6
Eat B vitamins. A vitamin B complex (supplements containing the range of all eight B vitamins) is great, but not necessary--and expensive. Vitamin B1 is the most important. This is thiamine, deficiencies of which can cause muscle soreness. Post-exercise soreness isn't necessarily a lack of thiamine, but bolstering your thiamine levels can help.
7.Step 7
Stay active. Many allow sore muscles to be an excuse to move less. In fact, inactivity can perpetuate soreness. It's best to operate business-as-usual. You everyday movement actually serves as ongoing stretching for the muscles. It can help restore your range of motion and ability much quicker.
Exercise and increased sex drive in women
SEX AND SORE MUSCLES
Ever notice that when your muscles are tender after a great workout, that your sex drive is higher?
For me it is true every time. I have heard that re-building muscle tissue continues to keep your metabolism high. Maybe it is a seratonin high or something.
Maybe I am just getting older and the hormone swings are just wierd.
In conversation at the gym, very few woman will talk about or admit to this. Am I the only one?
Sat. Mar 8, 7:44pm
libido and stuff...
here too. absolutely emphatically positively......i also have noticed a significant increase in my sexual interest. i'm not sure about the hormonal or metabolic changes in women...but i have read several articles....that confirm when obese men lose weight, especially in men with metabolic syndrome, there is a significant increase in free and total testosterone levels; its testosterone that augments our drives.
Saturday, March 08, 2008, 10:01 PM
So maybe it is the weight loss that triggers higher sex drives, and not sore muscles?
Fat cells in women (I have been told) produce estrogen. So it would make sense that a change in that hormone could infuence desire.
I din't realize that testosterone levels could change with weight loss in men.
ANY BODY ELSE HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THIS?
Sunday, March 09, 2008, 10:56 AM
Well, exercise increases blood flow to your pelvic region do increase sexual desire, so that could be it. Sore muscles might just be a by-product of the fact that the harder and longer you've worked out, the longer blood has been flowing into your pelvic area!
This is a great reason to get moving, huh? 
I would also note that when I work out, especially cardio, I feel sexier as I'm working out. I start feeling almost unstoppably sexually attractive and powerful, lol. Another good reason to do it!
Sunday, March 09, 2008, 7:46 PM
Feeling sexy and attractive while you sweat has got to be because of a release of endorphins with yur adrenaline.
I always go to the gym and work hard. The sweatier the better. I try to take my muscles to the very edge to break them down. I am counting on the building back process to make me look better and keep my metabolism high.
Thanks for your input. Sometimes I feel like there is something a bit off with me, because the exercise obviously raises my sex drive, and no one wants to admit it happens to them!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 9:25 AM
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