Is bad to lift with sore muscles?

[carey67]

I workout 1:30 minutes every other day I was gone for a week, so I missed 4 days of my typically workout. Anyway I did my normal routine day before yesterday and I am extremly sore compared to normal, is it bad if I still workout today?

[BuildKing]

You workout for 1.30 minutes?

Anyway , take your time till the muscles heal , its better

[thenewchamp]

I workout 1:30 minutes every other day I was gone for a week, so I missed 4 days of my typically workout. Anyway I did my normal routine day before yesterday and I am extremly sore compared to normal, is it bad if I still workout today?

Be careful not to overtrain. Like BuildKing said 'take your time'. However, I've trained when my muscles were sore but after a prolongs warm up and some stretching. When I'm sore i like to work through the pain so that I don't get stiff but not to the point of injury or anything.

[carey67]

Yeah I do 30 minutes of floor exersing, crunches ect to get muscles ready.
30 minutes of wieghts
and 30 minutes of cardio.
Thanks for the tips guys, I guess I will just be careful, I tend take things to the extreme.

[BicepGurl]

I would never, ever directly "work" a muscle via weight training when it is sore.... that is a no-no-no.

I may occasionally work a muscle when it is sore through cardio. If I teach a group-exercise class this sometimes happens.

[Reality_Check]

The experts (as in scientific experts with experimental studies to back them up) can't even agree on exactly what causes delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) at the cellular level though there are a number of theories floating about (lactic acid build up, microscopic muscle tears, inflammation similar to an immune response etc). Nor can they agree on whether DOMS is good or bad for you.

My own take (which is just that) is that DOMS is good and something to be aimed for in every workout as it is a sign that sufficient damage was done to elicit growth, on the other hand once the stimulus for muscle growth is there, there is no more need to re-damage the muscle to elicit more growth till it has fully recovered i.e. wait till DOMS is over before retraining. I say training with DOMS is not a good idea but many people would disagree with that.

The thing to appreciate is that your muscles grow out of the gym not in it. The gym work provides the stimulus for the muscle to grow but in the process actually breaks the muscle down and makes it weaker.

It is outside the gym when you are eating and sleeping that the muscle is actually growing bigger. Hence more time in the gym does not necessarily mean faster muscle growth but rather more time spent in a state of (what's the word) rest but with the biochemical signals (gene expressions) signaling the need to grow going on is what maximizes muscle growth.

If you are already sore then you are already in the growth zone so to speak and so no need to restimulate the muscle.

Your muscles response to being torn down at the microscopic level (microtears in the muscle at the internal cellular level not to be confused with macroscopic muscle tears which are bad) is to over repair itself so it is stronger than it was before it was attacked, it overcompensates for the damage so to speak.

This recovery takes time to happen (scientists say up to 3 to 4 days, personally I think from my own experience it can even be a week). You don't want to hit the muscle again before it has rebuilt to previous strength levels and then rebuilt to even higher overcompensation levels. Ideally you want to hit it at its overcompensation peak. Hitting it to soon before it has overcompensated means your strength levels will be going backwards or staying the same week to week.

Some people would disagree with me but I think that soreness is your bodies way of saying don't exercises me I am still in the recovery zone (which is exactly where you want to be).

If you are sore be happy (if you are not sore go and exercise).

[Blasphemare]

I agree with everyone else here. If you are extremely sore, take a rest day (or train another area). Your muscles need time to repair, and you will be stronger for it if you take a break!

[BuffedWildCat]

A common mistake people make when they take a break, especially an extended break, from training, is going back to it with exactly the same number of sets and at the same intensity level as before. I'm guilty of that myself. But what one needs to do, is to GRADUALLY work back up to that level. Your body becomes deconditioned and has to be given time to work back up to the same training level.

[Stb1990]

The experts (as in scientific experts with experimental studies to back them up) can't even agree on exactly what causes delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) at the cellular level though there are a number of theories floating about (lactic acid build up, microscopic muscle tears, inflammation similar to an immune response etc). Nor can they agree on whether DOMS is good or bad for you.

My own take (which is just that) is that DOMS is good and something to be aimed for in every workout as it is a sign that sufficient damage was done to elicit growth, on the other hand once the stimulus for muscle growth is there, there is no more need to re-damage the muscle to elicit more growth till it has fully recovered i.e. wait till DOMS is over before retraining. I say training with DOMS is not a good idea but many people would disagree with that.

The thing to appreciate is that your muscles grow out of the gym not in it. The gym work provides the stimulus for the muscle to grow but in the process actually breaks the muscle down and makes it weaker.

It is outside the gym when you are eating and sleeping that the muscle is actually growing bigger. Hence more time in the gym does not necessarily mean faster muscle growth but rather more time spent in a state of (what's the word) rest but with the biochemical signals (gene expressions) signaling the need to grow going on is what maximizes muscle growth.

If you are already sore then you are already in the growth zone so to speak and so no need to restimulate the muscle.

Your muscles response to being torn down at the microscopic level (microtears in the muscle at the internal cellular level not to be confused with macroscopic muscle tears which are bad) is to over repair itself so it is stronger than it was before it was attacked, it overcompensates for the damage so to speak.

This recovery takes time to happen (scientists say up to 3 to 4 days, personally I think from my own experience it can even be a week). You don't want to hit the muscle again before it has rebuilt to previous strength levels and then rebuilt to even higher overcompensation levels. Ideally you want to hit it at its overcompensation peak. Hitting it to soon before it has overcompensated means your strength levels will be going backwards or staying the same week to week.

Some people would disagree with me but I think that soreness is your bodies way of saying don't exercises me I am still in the recovery zone (which is exactly where you want to be).

If you are sore be happy (if you are not sore go and exercise).

Thanks bro; great response.

[dalex025]

Do lighter weight, stretch before and after(if you cannot even syretch dont even train alot. Say you were doing 12-10-8-6 reps, do 8-6-4-2, this will minimize damage but give your muscles a rehab without loosing progress. Working out sore arms or abs or chest os the same as calves and thighs except your legs stay active more than upper body. So stay active, stretch and maybe do sone pushups or pullups or dips throughout the day.