I have been really sore lately since I started to lift harder..... I am only lifting each part 1 time per week... which may be my problem????

I lift 3 days a week and then go in and mess around 1 more day.... basically stomach, calves, ride bike, look at piggies, etc....

Anyone else lift fairly hard and stay sore for days? What someday will be my chest is still sore from Sunday morning.

I have been lifting since late december so it is not from just joining.

 

my wife was canada's 3 time national champ in powerlifting,
thats pretty hard!! she deadlifted 330lbs!! i think she still holds the record!!

 

I was (technically still am) a trainer, so allow me to throw in my two cents. There are a number of reasons you could be sore. If it last more than a couple days after the workout, you may be lifting too much weight. Good soreness usually comes on a day after working out (DOMS-Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), and that is good. However, if the soreness continues for days, like 3-4, you may have done some damage. Although, without knowing what weight/sets/reps/etc. you are doing, its tough to say.

You may...nay...you want to stretch after each workout as well. Start off each workout with 5-10 minutes of cardio warmup, then onto resistance training. After resistance, do a 5-10 minute cardio cooldown (low intensity). Follow that up with another 5-10 minutes of stretching. When you stretch, do it slowly without bouncing and hold for 30 seconds or so just below the pain threshold. If you have any more Q's regarding this, feel free to PM me. Hope this helps.

 

I lift pretty ahrd. 1.5-2 hrs a day at the gym for 5-6 days a week. (usually 6). I do one muscle group a day, and it is sore like crazy for the next day. Then again i only do wieght lifting, no running / cardio, ONLY weights.

 

You might be working out too often. If you do not let your glycogen levels replenish, you are just tearing your muscles and actually shrinking them. Be careful.

 

3fiddyZ - thanks....... I don't think I pulled anything (well... we all pull that...)..... anyway..... I guess I need to do some stretching..... I do about 12-14 reps of whatever it is that I am working and i do probably too many sets.... for upper chest I do a few sets of incline bench, incline flys, incline dumbell press, pec deck thingy..... I am probably just a pussy for whining about being sore.

Project X - Like to watch her kick your ass.

NFRs2000NYC - I only lift those 3-4 days per week.... i always take 2-3 days off in a row at the end of the cycle...... so each sunday I would do my chest & Back, monday - legs and little bit of stomach, tuesday - shoulders and arms, wed- goofy stuff... nothing for thur- friday for sure..... maybe goof around a little... then back on Sunday to chest...

 

I know, i read up on this extensively and have follwed basically the same routine for 2 yrs now. I make sure to only work one muscle group per day, and have a can of tuna after every work out (very important). I never feel tired or depleted from working out, only sore.

 

Russian.......

Tuna isnt what you need post workout. You need simple carbs. Tuna has proteins that (if you have a fast metabolism) takes a little over 40 minutes to process. So, if you want to eat tuna, eat it BEFORE your workout. But that is still not the right way. Post workout (10minutes or less) you need a good simple sugar to "fuel" your body. The best way to do that is white grapejuice. It has the highest concentration on dextrose, which is EXACTLY what your body wants and needs. As far as protein goes, you need it BEFORE workout, and something fast....like whey. Post workout, if you want to double dose your protein, get something slow like casein protein (dairy products). Be careful with overdoing protein though. The human body loves to turn everything to glucose, so the extra protein can turn to fat if excess glucose isnt burned.

 

Stretch before and after working out, and I have found, if you are sore the day after (the "good" sore), the best cure is to work that muscle a little, i.e. work out some every day. I usually work a muscle group every other day, with weekends off. I do my stomach every day - it seems to have a noticable effect if I take a day off

Are you trying to increase your basic fitness level - get stronger, or make huge muscles? Or are you trying to increase your body's efficiency - increase your stamina, define your muscles without making them grow much, prevent injury while participating in sports? In my experience, you will experience more soreness and feel like crap at times, while you try to keep increasing your strength and muscle mass. Once you are happy with the amount of strength/muscle mass you have, if you cut back on weight and concentrate on increasing reps, you will feel better, and stop being sore all the time. At some point, you might just want to stop increasing weight and reps, and just do he same weight and reps each time, simply for maintainence. When you tear up your muscles, they will be sore. When you exercise your muscles for endurance, they stop being sore, because they work more efficiently, and generate less waste, which you notice as soreness sometimes.

I am no expert, just have trained for competitive swimming and worked out on and off the last fifteen years, and have worked many hard labor jobs, where if you told your boss you are taking it easy on the upper body workout, he would take it easy on your paycheck Usually, after a week or two on the job, I would stop being sore, and actually feel energized after cleaning up and eating after work.

Oh, yeah - seriously, bananas.

 

Scot, another thing that you may want to take a look at is when you work out, how much do you do "after the burn"

As you know, when you work out, your muscles begin to burn, and as you keep going, the pain is getting worse. This is caused by the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles. The more lactic acid that builds up, the more it "burns" If you keep working out past that point (often you will hear the expression "to failure") You are now damaging your muscles and cause them to regrow stronger and bigger (what you want). This happens (continued soreness) when your muscles arent used to a particular excersize, or weight. If the problem continues, try to take a serving of glutamine before your workout, it will help repair the muscles quicker.