How sore muscles should be after a workout?

[wetnwildnik]

Hi Guys,

 

I am back on this forum after a long time. I am still in the loop where I am trying to build muscles but have not been much successful in last one year.

 

Trying to figure out where I am wrong, and first thing came to my mind is that am I overdoing the whole stuff. It starts from soreness in my muscles after each workout, I am not sore,until 24 hours have past, in the muscles I did my workout for. After that they remain sore like hell for next 24-48 hours, I feel pain if I press those muscles.. is it normal or do I hurt myself?

 

Since I remain sore for 2-3 days after a workout, I workout 3 times a week (arms + chest, legs, back + shoulders) so that I do not workout on the sore muscles. Any comments on this?

[Barb123]

I think it's probably DOMS a.k.a. delayed onset muscle soreness. Welcome to the wonder of it all! When you lift you are actually causing microscopic tears in the muscles that are being worked. This is a necessary step if you want to build and reshape them. Unless what you're feeling is excruciating and unbearable, it sounds pretty par for the course. Hopefully you are not feeling any pain during the workout session....just after.

I add l-glutamine to my protein shake. It seems to help with the recovery. Also, a nice warm soak in some bathsalts does wonders in my opinion. I try to not work the same muscles 2 consecutive days, that way it gives the tissues time to recover before you train them again.

[VeganEssentials]

Barb hit it right when she said it appears to be DOMS, which is normal for many people after the train. It's not ALWAYS going to happen to the same degree (sometimes, you may feel little soreness after training), and soreness is not an indicator of progress, but it sounds like you're doing things right. If a muscle group is still sore, it's best to let it recover a bit more before training it again, and your workout plan for what muscles you train on which days sounds decent enough to allow for adequate recovery. Just listen to your body - if a muscle group is still sore and fatigued, give it more rest, and that's about it!

[Adena]

One thing that helps me a lot is "contrast showers." When you take a shower after your workout, run the water as hot as you can stand it for about 30 seconds, then as cold as you can stand it for about 30 seconds. Repeat a couple of times.

[coroho]

Barb hit it right when she said it appears to be DOMS, which is normal for many people after the train. It's not ALWAYS going to happen to the same degree (sometimes, you may feel little soreness after training), and soreness is not an indicator of progress, but it sounds like you're doing things right. If a muscle group is still sore, it's best to let it recover a bit more before training it again, and your workout plan for what muscles you train on which days sounds decent enough to allow for adequate recovery. Just listen to your body - if a muscle group is still sore and fatigued, give it more rest, and that's about it!

Mmn I squat 3 times a week so inevitably I end up working through some soreness. It can seem brutal when I first start, but honestly it usually goes away by the time I'm done warming up. If it's just your average DOMS, which it sounds like, I would consider working through it. If I waited to be completely recovered every time I'd be a lot less consistent. That said, you'll get a lot more soreness when you start working out than after you've been at it for a while. I'd take it easy at first but don't necessarily rearrange your routine because of soreness.

[wetnwildnik]

Yes, I think you are right somewhere, I have read that more we use the muscles less sore they get with time. I think that is the reason it is hard to get soreness in arms. What you do with squats I want to do to my chest and upper back as these are the muscles I do not use in my somewhat laid back life style. So, they are sore like hell after every workout which last for 4 days. I will try adding some push ups sometime in my workout to take care of this.

 

Barb hit it right when she said it appears to be DOMS, which is normal for many people after the train. It's not ALWAYS going to happen to the same degree (sometimes, you may feel little soreness after training), and soreness is not an indicator of progress, but it sounds like you're doing things right. If a muscle group is still sore, it's best to let it recover a bit more before training it again, and your workout plan for what muscles you train on which days sounds decent enough to allow for adequate recovery. Just listen to your body - if a muscle group is still sore and fatigued, give it more rest, and that's about it!

Mmn I squat 3 times a week so inevitably I end up working through some soreness. It can seem brutal when I first start, but honestly it usually goes away by the time I'm done warming up. If it's just your average DOMS, which it sounds like, I would consider working through it. If I waited to be completely recovered every time I'd be a lot less consistent. That said, you'll get a lot more soreness when you start working out than after you've been at it for a while. I'd take it easy at first but don't necessarily rearrange your routine because of soreness.

[VeganEssentials]

It depends a lot as well as to the training protocol, experience level, etc. as well. Beginners or those coming back after a longer layoff do not need to train as often as someone who has been training consistently for some time with a regular routine. As Coroho noted, you don't always need to be 100% recovered, but if you're still fairly sore to the touch for a muscle group or feel more than just slightly fatigued, then it's probably best to give a bit more time before hitting that group again.

 

As you train a muscle group more frequently, recovery time seems to speed up for more people. I used to train upper back only once every 6-8 days, now that I've implemented training it every 4-5 days I find that I'm rarely every sore past day 2. As consistency in training goes up and you put in more time, you'll likely find that you'll be able to train more often if desired.

[djshrew]

for me drinking LOTS and LOTS of water and taking a 30 min soak in some epsom salts helps

[ambetious]

It seems that your recovery process is a little slow based on what you wrote in the post. There can be many reasons for that but try increasing your diet intake a bit and see if that makes some difference and also it depends on the intensity of your workouts as well.

[RobertK]

I notice for me its DOMS is the worst if I'm coming back to the gym after a week vacation or in the past where I hadn't been in weeks. I would get so sore it was hard to get out of bed in the morning.

 

Now that I work out frequently its no where near as bad. I've also found Green Tea and lots of water make recovery much faster. Yogi even makes a Muscle Recovery Green Tea that's not half bad either.