Recovery for newbies page

[ShannonCC]

I found a new workout Sunday and LOVED it. The next workout (it's a group thing) is tomorrow night. However, since Sunday was my first day and because I had so much fun , I might have overdone it a bit. I have never in my life been this sore from exercise.

So . . . . tomorrow night do I go ahead and go back? Or wait til I'm not sore at all? I've never really thought about recovery before. I do enjoy weights so I've been sore before, but I've never done this intense of a workout (this was primarily body weight) so usually I'm sore the next day but that's about it. Today is day two and I still have to stand up reaaaaaaaaaaaaaallly slow and have trouble with stairs

Any tips, or good article links, for someone who is new to all this would be appreciated

[primalrob]

take it easy today, drink a good amount of water, and try to get some magnesium down if you can. your body just needs some time to heal. you'll probably be hungry; obey that hunger. tomorrow, see how you're feeling. if you're still too sore to do much (still tender to the touch), you should probably sit the next one out. but, if you're feeling a little more mobile, plan a long, slow warm up then have at it.
you're really got to just gauge your pain. pain is the body's way of saying, "you're don't something you shouldn't. stop it." so, don't battle through intense soreness, but don't let mild soreness keep you from having fun either

[Scott F]

I gauge soreness as an indication that I'm not recovered from the workout. I think once per week (and sometimes longer) per body part is enough for that muscle group. If you're doing a intensive full body workout in a single workout go for walks the rest of the week, esp. if you are still sore.

[ShannonCC]

Thanks!

I don't know how intense this workout would be considered, just that it's intense for someone who doesn't work out much and is not in good shape, lol! My gut says that once I get past the beginning I'll be ok with twice a week but we'll see.

I'll see how I wake up tomorrow and whether it's moved from intense, to mild soreness. It really didn't feel that hard at the time (because it was so much fun!) so I was surprised at how much I've ached since then. But it's not a sharp "broke something" pain, but just a really intense "man, you used those muscles a lot!" pain.

[Nigel]

Any tips, or good article links, for someone who is new to all this would be appreciated

According to my Body by Science book, the body takes five to fifteen days to fully recover from a high intensity session. So it's obviously a personal thing. When starting out, if one does not improve at the next session, the likelihood is that the muscles may not have recovered.

At present I've been OK with 7 or 8 days. When I get back from vacation in two weeks time, I'll try decreasing recovery time to five days and see how I get on. I have also been HIT rowing after three days rest so at an eight day interval I do the strength training and two rowing sessions as I do the second rowing one after two days, leaving me two days before the next strength training bout. This is working for me, but may not for others.