Should I work sore muscles?

[JuliaBelle]

Cathe - I've seen differing opinions on this. I read in a book about weight lifting (Joyce Vedral) that working sore muscles is o.k. because it actually stimulates blood flow to the area and helps the muscles to rebuild. From another source (a women's bodybuilding website) I read that you should never work sore muscles.

I'm currently nursing DOMS from Maximum Intensity Strength on Saturday I did cardio yesterday and wonder if it would be o.k. to lift again today or should I just do cardio again?

Thanks,
Julia

 

[aseay]

i would,for sure, do cardio every other day and weights every other day-maybe longer depending on how u feel. to me, if u workout with sore arms u will not be able to lift as much weight as the day before and it is probably safer. dont want any injuries.

laura

 

[catwoman]

I'm not Cathe, but I would never work sore muscles. I'd love to hear Cathe's insight on this, but it's my understanding that sore muscles are sore because you've just torn them apart, releasing lactic acid into the tissue.

When you lift weights, you create tiny tears in the muscle fibers. This releases the lactic acid, which causes the soreness. Then, the muscles start rebuilding themselves and will rebuild to become stronger (hence, the reason why muscles get bigger and more defined over time). I think that if your muscles are still sore, they are still in their rebuilding phase and thus in a weakened state that could open you up to injury if you try to lift.

It is my understanding that stretching helps release some of that lactic acid from the muscle, which alleviates some soreness, though.

Just a note about my own personal experience: I will sometimes take an entire week off from strength training on a particular body part. I'm always amazed at how much stronger that body part is and how much more I can lift when I resume my strength workouts a week later. For example, I just took a week off from legs/lower body. I did PLB for the first time in a week on Sunday, and for the first time EVER, I was able to do every single rep on every single exercise!!! I didn't have to take one break! I usually do PLB twice a week, and find that I have to take about 2-3 breaks throughout the workout (and sometimes can't even get all the way through), but not so this past weekend! I attribute the fact that I made it all the way through because I had let my leg muscles rest and rebuild over the past week. I think that's a testament that our muscles are weaker if we don't give them enough time to rest and rebuild...and weaker muscles means higher chances for injury.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Julia! If you are so sore that your muscles are in that "TOTAL OUCH" stage, then definitely keep resting and only do light cardio the next day if it doesn't interfere with your very sore muscles. If you have rested a couple of days but feel slight residual stiffness, then a light workout does help loosen up that area without interferring with your gains. Depending on how new this workout is, you will have longer soreness in the beginning (sometimes even up to 4 or 5 days if you really pushed yourself). Eventually you will recover much faster as your body gets acclimated to the workout.