Should you train while sore?

[FascistLibertarian]

I did a search and couldnt find anything, sorry if this ? is answered.
Im pretty out of shape, just started doing strength training (30 mins ish doing Ax3 then Bx3 then Cx3 with 1 min breaks in between everything) everyother day with cardio either a little after or during my off days.
Anyways, worked out yesterday was a bit sore, just woke up and am pretty sore today. If I am sore tommorow should I put off training again till friday or should I just stop being a wuss and suck it up. Im not worried about feeling bad so much as hurting my body.
Thanks.

 

[2 Cdo]

I did a search and couldnt find anything, sorry if this ? is answered.
Im pretty out of shape, just started doing strength training (30 mins ish doing Ax3 then Bx3 then Cx3 with 1 min breaks in between everything) everyother day with cardio either a little after or during my off days.
Anyways, worked out yesterday was a bit sore, just woke up and am pretty sore today. If I am sore tommorow should I put off training again till friday or should I just stop being a wuss and suck it up. Im not worried about feeling bad so much as hurting my body.
Thanks.

There's a difference between sore and injured. You can work through being sore but not being injured. You soreness is directly related to yoursecond sentence. ;D

 

[Strike]

Your soreness is likely because of a lactic acid build-up, which is quite common on exercises that work muscles that aren't used to what you are doing.  Best way to get rid of it, or reduce the soreness is to lightly work that same area the next day.  If you don't work out at all, the second day with likely feel worse.  Other methods of dealing with it are massage and/or a cold soak.  A hot shower may feel good, but it slows down the circulation and the lactic acid simply pools.  A cold shower/soak will increase your circulation and help flush the system a little quicker.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Strike, don't you have that backward with the hot/cold?

A couple of other small points.  Diet is very important to recovery.  Instead of trying to gobble up pills and supplements, try something simple like following Canada's Food Guide.  Ensure you drink plenty of water, and rest appropriately where possible (ie sleep at night).  You break your muscles down during exercise.  They actually rebuild and strengthen when your body is resting/sleeping.

To take the edge off and get over that initial "ouch" state, you can try Ibuprofen as a NSAID.  I have both 200mg and 400mg ones from my CDU, and I take them only when I really feel I need them.  This is not a pill you want to get into the habit of taking, as with any other pill, if not needed. 

Listen to your body, overall.  If it is telling you that you are HURT...then stop.  One concern of 'too much at first' is not of damaging a muscle, which will heal quickly, but of damaging a ligament or tendon.  Easy into the program.  Once you start to get with it, you will go from that 'bad' soreness to the 'good' soreness during/after a workout.  You'll learn to recoognize the two quickly if you continue to train.

Keep it up, eat well, hydrate, sleep/rest lots and use common sense and good judgement. If you feel too sore to run, do an alternative exercise.  Mix it up!  I worked out pretty hard all last week, including Saturday.  Sunday I didn't go near the gym, but I did hike Cape Split here in Nova Scotia, the Inland Trail to the Cape and the Coastal Trail back.  I felt great at the end, and was back in the gym for cardio Monday morning.  The 'cross-train' concept can help alot with 'repetitive' injury avoidance and fighting off the boredom of the same ol, same ol. 

Good luck and keep at it!

 

[Strike]

WRT hot/cold, not at all.  I had issues with overtraining - felt it in the calves.  Both the doc and physio told me to take an ice bath to flush the lactic acid.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

WRT hot/cold, not at all.  I had issues with overtraining - felt it in the calves.  Both the doc and physio told me to take an ice bath to flush the lactic acid.

I've never heard of that one.  ;D  You learn something new every day!

 

[FascistLibertarian]

Thanks to everyone for the all the advice, I have read it all and will follow it and work out again tommorow.
Off for a run now before work!
Cheers

 

[yak]

You're getting some good advice here, but I'm pretty sure that the soreness you're referring to is not due to lactic acid buildup.  Lactic acid gives you the burn while you're doing intense anerobic exercise where the muscle isn't getting the oxygen it needs.  Because the muscle has insufficient oxygen, it burns sugar instead of fat (which is mostly what's going on in an aerobic exercise), and you get the burn, which subsides fairly shortly afterward.

I'm thinking that you're talking about delayed onset muscle soreness (google DOMS).  DOMS is actually a result of microtearing of the muscle fibres from the exerice, which is the way the body adapts to the increased activity.  My way of dealing with DOMS has always been:

-  avoid any exercise which causes and increase in pain levels (which should subside after the second day, for me anyway)
-  use low impact aerobic exercise to increase blood flow (often this alleviates the pain completely, although it returns when the muscle cools off)
-  a shot of tylenol works great, or ibuprofen, as mentioned above.  It doesn't really mean you should go right back at it though, as the muscle is healing.  Just because you've medicated the pain away isn't a reason to go slap on another plate and hit it again.

You say you're not in the best of shape.  When you reach a certain level you will be able divide your workout into muscle groups so you can hit each one on sucessive days while giving others groups a break.  I used a five day routine with two off, a couple of the days were more cardio though.  Whatever works for you. 

Good advice above regarding nutrition and the idea of getting enough sleep.  A trainer once told me:  "you don't build muscle in the gym, you build it while you sleep."  Good advice, that. 

 

[firm_believer]

Best to listen to your body...I personally wouldn't train purposely through soreness, since that's the muscle saying "I'm torn, and need to re-build stronger", so why the heck would you overload it? That just increases the odds for injury. That said, at the start of any new training (like BMQ), you're gonna be sore, since you'll be doing new movements at new times, for new durations, quite possibly.

Again, the "mind-muscle connection" is key to adapt. It takes time to acquire, I've found.

 

[VIChris]

If indeed it is DOMS (which is common when people are getting (back) into training, potassium rich foods can help too. Bananas are my favourite. Good sugars for before your workout, and they are quite rich in potassium which can help reduce the severeness of your DOMS symptoms. Keeping your muscles moving will help. Reducing the weight you're pushing during your workouts can help too. Nothing wrong with dialing back your starting point. Some people try too much too soon, get hurt, and become discouraged.

 

[Takeniteasy]

R.I.C.E
Rest/Ice/Compression and Elevation.
Hot compress/water promotes blood flow to areas which although feels great for the immediate is not good for recovery. Blood flow increases pressure on the nerves and can be sore/painfull depending on the level of injury. Every time you work out you are actually causing injury to your muscles and it requires time to heal.

Cold compress/water promotes constriction and less blood flow to areas hence not as much pressure in the affected areas. Compression (tensor bandage) helps even more with the cold compresses. And the elevation reduces blood flow as well but it is not always easy depending on the area you are trying to treat.
Cold is always the best thing, very few times where heat is needed when dealing with soreness, check out the cold tubes at most pro sports teams locker rooms.

To reduce lactic acid build up doing a multi joint warm up before hand ( slow jog, fast walk, easy rowing) and a light to moderate aerobic cool down to flush any build up can help with the day after pumped feeling.

You can also add R to the end of RICE which stands for Relative Rest meaning having low to moderate aerobic exercises between your anaerobic ( weight training sessions).

Fitness is personal and everyone is different in how they approach their workouts, best to take it easy at first and build your tolerance and conditioning.