Muscle Recovery... how do you know??? Help Please!!!!

[LuvCardio]

HI there. I need help! I have had a couple spats of overtraining and am now trying to make sure it doesn't happen again as I surely don't want to end up injured!

How do you know when muscles are recovered? Even after a day off my legs still seem a bit sore, doesn't usually hurt a couple days after... but still a bit sore. My upper body seems to recover better??? Does anyone else experience this?

I know they usually say 48 - 72 hrs for recovery. Just wondering how many hrs most of you allow for recovery? I am particularly interested in lower body. Does it seem to take your lower body longer than your upper body to recover?

Are your legs still a bit sore even after recovery time???

My legs have always been my problem areas (most fat) so maybe my muscles are just now getting use to the intense training the Intensity series provides????

Please help!!!! Maybe I am just suppose to always be a bit sore?

 

[nancy324]

I can't help at all because I have the same questions you do. I did S&H legs on Wednesday and today is Sunday and I got muscle failure walking up the subway stairs! True, there were an awful lot of flights I had to climb, but I was very surprised when my husband, who hasn't been doing any exercise, was waiting for me at the top.

This never seems to happen to my upper body, but maybe I don't really use my upper body muscles as strenuously in every day life? Here in New York city, my legs are always being tested!

Hope you get some educated responses!

 

[Connie1]

You two sound normal to me. Challenging lower body days always leave me sore for a whole week. It's worth it though. Eating protein seems to help, for me. Shrimp and other seafood, and eggs. Lower body does seem to feel it more than upper (except for back when trying to do pull-ups!) - at least I have read many others say the same.

Always being sore is not normal-- just while we are strength training legs! Now and then I give mine a rest and do not do a heavy challenging leg workout but instead do something like Power Circuit.

I need my legs, not for the subway but for climbing up ladders and working on the roof and things like that. Remember these are the things we are training for. It's OK to skip a workout especially if you're helping someone move, digging trenches, chopping a cord of wood, running up subway steps several times in one day! etc.
JMHO
-Connie
Edited to add- once a week workout for legs I feel is sufficient for improvement (for *me*)

 

[cmoroney]

Connie,

Are you a roofer? Just asking since I saw you said you climb ladders to get on the roof. My husband is a roofer - he has been roofing for 25 years. He started his own business in 1985.

It would be interesting to meet a woman roofer. That is suchhard work!

Cheryl

 

[Connie1]

RE: Muscle Recovery... how do you know??? Help Please!!...

No! I have been climbing up on my own roof to do chores like cleaning gutters, helping my DH install gutter screens, sweeping and mending skylights so they don't leak! I'm a dental hygienist! Hygienists' work is more physical than it looks!

My DH and I are fixing things up around our house. We had lots (hundreds) of Pink Lady lilies that had taken over, so last year I dug them out. Since then, every 2 weeks or so I'll do a strenuous chore outside. Had to dig some trenches during heavy rain and that was fun. ;-)

I don't know how good a roofer I would be. I met a woman house painter once and she was in terrific shape! :7

 

[cmoroney]

RE: Muscle Recovery... how do you know??? Help Please!!...

I should have known by your smile that you were a dental hygienist! My sister is a dental hygienist, to. She has been for over 30 years - she is also an aerobics instructor.

I just thought it would be interesting for a woman to be a roofer> Oh well, by the looks of all the outside work you have been doing, it seems like you could do roofing!

I looked at your success story on the new forum. Those pictures are absolutely amazing - you have a great success story and greater success pictures - the pictures tell it all!

Thanks for answering my question.

Cheryl