Always sore! page

[ayi1979]

I was wondering if anyone had tricks that worked for them in regards to being sore. I normally lift heavy three times a week, mainly performing compound lifts, such as deadlifts, cleans, and squats. Other days I normally do a quick run, or a quick HIIT workout. I normally workout for about 30-45mins at the most, and I try to make it as quality as possible. Lately I've been really sore and achey. Especially in the morning. I feel like it's starting to affect my mood and energy throughout the day. Considering I'm in grad school, I can't afford to lose mental power due to working out, but I also don't want to give up exercise as I'm sure we can all agree is a necessary component of everyday life. Any suggestions? By the way, I do catch 8 hours of sleep majority of time and my diet is pretty clean (gotta have some pizza, every once in awhile), and I have one cup of coffee in the morning.

[healthpellets]

the most important thing i took away from the 4 hour body was that doing five minutes of work on the bike after doing heavy compound lifts will greatly reduce soreness the following day.

for me, it's worked like a charm. as soon as i get done lifting, i go ride a bike for a little while, unwind, and feel pretty good the next day.

best of luck.

[Petra]

I do feel sore one hour after my workout, but never the day after or (even worse) the second day after a workout.
After a workout I take a cold shower and during that day I do not eat dairy products. It works for me.

The hours directly I think my muscles are refueling them selves. Not sure about that. It is indeed an annoyance so if somebody knows a hack to that...feel free to share,

Go save,
Petra

[tfarny]

You're probably not eating enough or, less likely, are overtrained. I'd take two workouts off and replace them with a brisk walk, and try to eat a bit more than usual during the 24 hours or so after you train.

The guys who really, really lift heavy all say that soreness is comes from too little food for proper recovery, and in my experience that's true - if you eat like a pro wrestler you won't be sore no matter what.

[Dirlot]

Sounds like over-training...cut out a lifting session and follow the move slowly.

[Legbiter]

Do a MWF lifting routine and move slowly inbetween. Eat like it's going out of style like tfarny suggested. Get adequate sleep. Play.

[Forever Young]

You are overtraining straight up! 3 days of compound lifting for up to 45 minutes is too much in spite of what some will say. Ask yourself honestly, will you be able to keep this pace up doing the workouts justice from now on consistently? Is this plan sustainable? Where is the recovery time? Then the time needed to adapt and grow? More is NOT better when it comes to strength building. The exact right amount is best and any more is a BIG negative. My workout takes all of 15 or so minutes and it takes most of a week to recover and adapt. I walk out of the gym gassed after this workout and wouldn't want to do anymore!! As a result I improve in reps and or weight every workout. Proof that I'm getting the proper recovery and growth time between workouts.

If you are sore all the time, you are clearly over doing it.

[Danielle5690]

Sounds like you aren't giving enough recovery time between hard workouts. Also, experiment with your routine. I discovered by accident (because I just happen to like smoothies) that I'm considerably less sore the next day if I have a banana and a couple servings of berries after a workout. That may not work for you, but by changing things up and seeing how you feel, you might find something that does.

[rockstareddy]

I have done only one heavy lifting session a week before, and had terrible soreness (DOMS) especially in the legs, it might last for 4 days.

there are a few tips out there to reduce DOMS none of which work for me. But this one was the biggest helper:

Vitamin C tablets. I take 1250mg effervescent tablet in the hours after a workout. And DOMS is notably reduced the next days.

The theorey is the massive overload of antioxidant (of which vit c is) helps reduce the inflamation. Cheap and impossible to overdose on too.

[Leida]

Try replacing running and all but 1 HIIT with walking and see if it helps. If you have access to steam room/hot tub, that's great too. Creatine helps some people as well to recover quicker.