Exercising sore muscles

[fitnessfanaticfromMN]

1st of all I want to say I LOVE YOU Cathe!! You have done better things for my rear view than even a good pair of Calvin Kliens can do!!!
Is it "bad" do exercise sore muscles?? After doing dead lifts my hamstrings are SO sore. I realize I could do like gym style chest and back or something, but I chose today to do IMAX 3 (with sore hamstrings). Is there a such thing as "over working" a muscle group - to the point of more harm than good anyway?? I am a stay at home mom so I like to exercise...A LOT. AT THE LEAST 1 hour/day 5 days/week, but sometimes I do a gym style work out then later in the day pop in Lo Max or a different 30 minute cardio....how much is too much, or is there no such thing???
Thanks for keeping me in shape!!!!!!!

 

[clareMc]

What constitutes "too much" depends upon the individual and your personal energy levels due to other commitments in your life.

If you find yourself getting overtired, hurting muscles all the time, energy drained and feeling like you don't want to work out but forcing yourself to keep going, then you are doing too much and need to take a few days rest and then cut back.

When I work a muscle group intently on the upper body, I will not work that muscle group the next day, and maybe not the following day either, that depends. If I work lower body muscles and have incredible DOMS the next day, I will have to see how bad it is to determine whether I should:

1. rest from cardio that day and maybe do some upper body weight training instead to shift the focus to different muscle groups

2. do a not-so-intense cardio session because the warmth in the muscles and the activity will help work the soreness out. Thus I would consider Rhythmic Step, Step Blast, Power Max, treadmill power walking, but not an Imax which demands an awful lot from lower body muscles.

If you had overtrained the muscles the day before and then did Imax 3 on top of that you could injure yourself because if your legs are not firing on all cylinders and you tire more quickly than usual, you can get clumsy, trip over the step, use bad foot placement and alignment, maybe torque a knee. That's the worst case scenario. Or you just might make yor muscles so sore than you then need to take 3 days off torecover, in which case, you really have not done your body any favours.

So, there are no hard rules really, beyond the "rest each worked muscle group 48 hours before retraining it" dictum. You have to evaluate your own degree of soreness, energy levels and capabilities to determine whether to work it again or refocus the exercise session or just head for a walk in the park with the kids.

But remember: muscles grow and strengthen by repairing themselves and they can only do this when they are at rest. Rest is good.

Clare

 

[fitnessfanaticfromMN]

Thank you very much for your response...that helps me out a lot!!! I just get so nervous that if I take a day off from working out I'll be back into my size 12 jeans...and that scares me.