Running on Sore Legs: Overtraining?

[Ceolin]

Hi there first time poster here.

I work my lower body out really hard once or twice a week and the legs stay pretty sore for a few days. I'd like to start running for 30 minutes a day four times a week, but I'm worried I'll overtrain the legs. Please advise.

[MikeWRX]

i want to know too

[MikeWRX]

i want to know too

[GetImpact]

You should be fine unless it really bothers you to do the run.

In fact, it may help aleviate the soreness quicker because of the bump to your metabolism, which often promotes faster healing/recovery (within limits).

However, if after the first few minutes of running your legs still feel quite sore, you could probably use more rest... so I'd stop there. Running on leg day or the day after is pushing it, IMO, unless your leg workouts are not very intensive.

We were not designed to stay off our feet for long periods, so they tend to benefit from lots of activity... just not lots of extremely weight intensive activity (i.e., daily squatting). Running daily is a lifestyle for some folks, however, so that alone should do you no harm unless you are doing something terribly wrong.

[fizzbob7]

you shouldn't be sore every time after you get on a very precise and regular workout schedule.....i don't get sore anymore because i do my best to go 10/10 each time i work out......i quit getting sore a few weeks after i got going good again......when i had to do all the running for basketball my body got use to it and they would be tired for a little while and ready to go again the next day.......if i had to lift with them, they'd still be ok......

[Ceolin]

Honestly I'm not really worried about soreness. My concern lies with overtraining. Will I tear down muscle if I run on sore legs?

[GetImpact]

Will I tear down muscle if I run on sore legs?

Sure you will. A little. The less you move, the less additional work you put on your legs so they can heal more completely. All exercise depletes muscle fuel at the very least, and if your legs are very sore, they still have a lot of recovering to do. Running is an intensive form of aerobics, but not particularly hard on your leg muscles if you run at a slow to moderate rate. However, very sore legs indicate they need more complete rest. Slightly sore legs are generally ok to run on, but you may or may not benefit from running.

The thing is, the less you move, the more you allow the rate to drop back on your metabolism, so the body takes longer to recover between workouts. Sort of a catch 22 here.

That said, it is easy to overgeneralize on something like this, because there are factors which determine how much you will benefit from aerobic exercise (if any) as a body builder. Mainly:

If you are an ectomorph (normally high metabolism) generally NO aerobic exercise should be undertaken while bodybuilding. If no gains are being made in body weight when he desires to gain, the ectomorph should even AVOID aerobic activity like the plague... especially running, since it is a fairly intensive form of aerobic exercise. Will it harm the ectomorphic bodybuilder? Probably not, but running is usually counterproductive to his muscle gains.

A mesomorph (normally medium rate metabolism) who carries little fat should need NO aerobic exercise either. But if the mesomorph carries medium to high fat, aerobic exercise can be beneficial, lest the fat stay or possibly even increase. Either way, without aerobic activity the metabolism slows a bit slowing down recovery slightly with it.

An endomorph (normally sluggish metabolism) can almost always benefit greatly from aerobic activity. It helps reduce fat and crank up the naturally slower metabolism. But if the endomorph is very heavy, running could cause too much stress on joints and ligaments, and so extended walking is advocated instead.

So you can see that there are many variables (even a few I have not covered here), but in general, aerobics NOT OVERDONE can be beneficial especially if there is fat to lose or avoid and you can (in some cases) promote faster recovery. Light running is generally ok, since it usually will not harm you and may even help you.

Should you run on very sore legs?... Hell no! Let them recover more. And marathons are out for body builders in general. Marathon running tends to make people skinny.

And finally, if you are already showing signs of overtraining, no exercise is advocated at all. Instead, go for complete rest to recover.