Do you exercise when you are sore?

[evelinadatta]

Just curious... I've heard different responses from different people. Just to clarify I am not talking about an injury, just muscle soreness. So what do you do - do you take a day or two off, or do you still work out same as before (e.g. you are sore from running but you still run), or do you change the type of exercise you do?

[Vegreenmom]

I always work even when I'm sore. The only time I don't work out is if I feel completely exhausted or if it's my off day (Sundays). I'm not sure if it's vegetarian or vegan (I'd have to look into it) but taking some Glutamine supps after your workout helps to get rid of soreness. Not sure of the science behind it, but it works.

But to me, soreness shows that I had a really rough workout and my muscles are rebuilding themselves which I actually enjoy the feeling of - let's me know I did something really productive.

Edit: But I do change up exercises, but it has nothing to do with the soreness. If I worked out legs and they were sore, I would work out arms next - not because they're sore but because I don't work out the same muscle group twice a week much less twice in a row.

[Aphid]

I do!
But only because if I broke routine for a recovery period I may never start it again!:rolleyes:

[paisleyjane]

I had a personal trainer tell me once that drinking LOTS AND LOTS of water can help with muscle soreness. When the muscles tear, they release a type of acidity, which is what we consider the "burn" of working out. Drinking plenty of throughout the day can help reduce the soreness from muscles. Also, be sure to strech!!

My answer to this question is YES. I always find that if I am sore, it is in the morning and once I get working out, it usually loosens things up and feels better.

:)

[veg_runner]

I just make sure I stretch extra good before and after running.

[Vegreenmom]

I had a personal trainer tell me once that drinking LOTS AND LOTS of water can help with muscle soreness.
:)

This is very VERY true!

[Graykisses]

It really just depends on how sore my body is. Only you know what the limits are for your body. I would probably still run as long as it isn't killing me, though i may not push myself as hard. Or, worse case walk instead of run so you are still getting some form of exercise while your body regroups.

[Graykisses]

I always work even when I'm sore. The only time I don't work out is if I feel completely exhausted or if it's my off day (Sundays). I'm not sure if it's vegetarian or vegan (I'd have to look into it) but taking some Glutamine supps after your workout helps to get rid of soreness. Not sure of the science behind it, but it works.

But to me, soreness shows that I had a really rough workout and my muscles are rebuilding themselves which I actually enjoy the feeling of - let's me know I did something really productive.

Edit: But I do change up exercises, but it has nothing to do with the soreness. If I worked out legs and they were sore, I would work out arms next - not because they're sore but because I don't work out the same muscle group twice a week much less twice in a row.

You workout 6 days a week? You are my shero!! I am up to 4 days a week and will eventually go to 5, but I think my body would revolt if i ever tried to to 6 days a week. If you don't mind, how long do you exercise on average each day and what forms of exercise do you do (pilates, jogging, spinning, tae-bo, etc)?

[Vegreenmom]

You workout 6 days a week? You are my shero!! I am up to 4 days a week and will eventually go to 5, but I think my body would revolt if i ever tried to to 6 days a week. If you don't mind, how long do you exercise on average each day and what forms of exercise do you do (pilates, jogging, spinning, tae-bo, etc)?
No problem!

I typically do a different muscle group everyday, varying my exercises week to week so that my muscles don't get into a routine (that's when you plateu with your muscle building/weight loss). I put in parenthesis a few of the exercises I do:

Monday: Abdominals (crunches, v-twist, the hundred, lying leg raises, reverse crunches). Then 30-45m of cardio.
Tuesday: Legs, Glutes (stiff-leg deadflifts, squats, lunges, one-legged deadlifts, running)
Wednesday: Biceps/Triceps (pullups, bicep curls, hammer curls, tricep dumbbell extensions, pushdowns, kickbacks, bench dips). Then 30-45m of cardio.
Thursday: Delts/Chest (chest press, seated press, upright row, bent over row). Then 30-45m of cardio.
Friday: I either do a full body workout or I focus on doing cardio. Usually I'll do 45 minutes of full body (focusing on my core a lot) and then 30m of cardio.
Saturday - OFF DAY :)
Sunday: I either do a fat-burning run or take a class


As for how long I spend. Usually not including cardio I'm there about an hour. I do a lot of supersets (not resting in between exercises) which make things go faster, plus they've worked really well for me :)

HTH!

[eggplant]

Yes. I find it helps to make me un-sore.

[sfcx]

I race cyclocross. It's the middle of my race season and I couldn't be more overtrained if I tried. So, I guess the short answer is yes.

BTW... my first post!

[Ajna Chakra]

oh man, when I was on the swim team in highschool, I was working out for one hour at seven am, then for two and a half hours from 2 to 430pm. It was serious extreme olympic style training, and it left me so beat that I would be going to sleep at about 830pm, and waking up sore as hell. But the Morning workouts really helped me wake up and loosen my muscles for the day to come, until my 2 oclock work out... when the cycle repeated. and yeah, drinking about a gallon of water a day, getting enough protein and carbs, and stretching should help. A little workout in the morning-even when youre sore is good to get you loose and feeling good for the day to come.

[drjoe]

I don't know if I ever have a day when I'm not sore...LOL. The key is to rotate your workouts so that you rest certain areas while you work others. For example, my legs might be killing me today from yesterday's workout however I'll work shoulders this morning.

[bigdufstuff]

I race cyclocross. It's the middle of my race season and I couldn't be more overtrained if I tried. So, I guess the short answer is yes.

BTW... my first post!

Damn, cyclocross is so cool. Mind if I ask how you got into it? It is something I would like to try at some point, but I've never been a great performing athlete, but I think it would be fun as hell. Do they have entry level non-competetive races?

[Spirittap]

Listen to your body. If a muscle is already sore then there is no point in working it out again.

[Starblossom]

Yes, I do. I just do a different type of workout so I am not overstressing the same muscles. For example this week my thighs were really sore from kickboxing, so I went running, which didn't aggravate those particular muscles. Sometimes if I feel sore all over, I wll just do yoga which really helps stretch out all the muscles and alleviates some of the discomfort.