Hi Elsie!
Great question!
If a muscle group is particularly sore on a given day, then give that particular muscle group a rest day (ie: if biceps are sore, rest your biceps) But that doesn't have to stop you from doing, say, chest and tri's or even legs that day .....or you could do a cardio activity too.
If your entire body is so sore that you can barely touch any of your muscles, make it a rest day for your entire body. Meaning no weight training that day. If you wanted to still do something that day, you could do light cardio followed by a massage or by 20 minutes of overall stretching. This is acceptable and even recommended to keep the body from becoming extremely stiff.
Once your body starts to get used to the newer LIS programs, this DOMS soreness will be much less intense and sometimes you don't get as sore as you once did (unless a considerable amount of time elapses between the workouts).
Once you become more acclimated to LIS, you will have much less severe DOMS and sometimes you won't have any (which btw, doesn't mean your workout wasn't effective). DOMS is due to micro tears which occur in the muscle as a result of lifting heavy or using them in way's they haven't been used before (or in a long time). These tears produce inflammation, water retention and muscle soreness. It sounds awful but it is actually a very normal process in the cycle of becoming stronger and leaner.
As I mentioned above, you may not have any DOMS, most especially after you have gone through all of the workouts a few times.
When no DOMS is present it is fine to do light weight workouts back to back BUT ONLY WHEN the main purposes of the workouts are to assist in pushing the heart rate into its cardio zone verses doing a solid muscle building or muscular endurance workout (ie: my Power Hour or Muscle Endurance workout).
The only two workouts I probably wouldn't put back to back are Afterburn and Cardio Supersets, not because of their weights component but instead because of their similar format. Go for a greater shock value by spacing these two workouts apart and giving your muscles something they didn't just have so similarly the day before.
Good Luck!
Cathe,
I love the new workouts and how they are "shocking my body" with something new--yet again. Mr. DOMS is really busy visiting us Cathletes. One question which I and others have wondered is how to rotate the Metabolic Resistance workouts in with other weight workouts. Since weights are used mainly for heartrate, is it appropriate to do a weight workout the day after?
Thanks for everything--you are amazing!
