Should you workout when sore?

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It’s Thursday, you’ve hit 3 days in a row at the gym and you’re sore…

You look at the workout and you can already feel the pain as if you’re 3 mins into the AMRAP.

Should you workout when sore? Should you have a rest day today?

First, let’s look at why we get sore…

When we weight train or do a typical CrossFit workout, we can create microscopic tears in the muscle. This isn’t a bad thing. We want the muscle to repair itself, creating a bigger, thicker and stronger muscle. These tears will create some discomfort or soreness.

If you haven’t worked out for a while, the soreness can be worse due to the lack of use the muscle is used to. Without even creating tears in the muscle, it will be sore just from the extra strain placed on it from the workout.

As you’re training age increases, you will find you don’t get as sore as often. As the muscle becomes thicker and stronger, it will take a lot more volume (reps) or weight to break down the muscle. For instance, a simple 3km run could leave a newbie with sore calves, hamstrings, and quads. But a seasoned runner may need 20km for the same effect. A workout that leaves me sore ALWAYS:

5×20 Walking Lunges

Rest 1 min between sets

If I did the lunges with no weight, I would be fine. However, I want to get stronger at them so I will increase the weight used.

This is pretty standard muscle soreness, which personally I’m OK with in most circumstances. Having a good dose of quad soreness is the reward for doing all those lunges…

Joint soreness, however, is a little different. When your elbows, knees or hips are painful then we need to have a look at what’s going on and look at some recovery protocols. Tendons and ligaments take longer to adapt and repair compared to muscles.

Continually trying to get stronger in one exercise like squats, for example, could lead to the leg muscles developing quicker than the tendons and ligaments around the joints. Tendonitis is often the result. This is why it’s good to shift focus every 4-8 weeks.

Doing too many reps of a movement your body isn’t conditioned to will also leave you sore. Kipping pull-ups aren’t a bad movement but if you haven’t developed the prerequisite strength needed, and you do lots of them in a workout, you will be very sore from them.

I don’t do lots of sit-ups regularly (they aren’t great) but I do lots of other core exercises. If I was to do the workout Annie today which has 150 sit-ups in it, you bet I’d be sore as hell tomorrow in my abdominals.

Without going into specific injuries, soreness from training can come from lots of different forms. As you become more experienced you will understand what is a ‘good’ soreness and a ‘bad’ soreness.

Should you workout when sore?

There really isn’t a simple yes or no answer. I believe there is always something you can do in the gym. A simple steady bike for 20 mins will help blood flow to the muscle which will aid in recovery. Be honest with your coach if you’re going to a class, modify the movements, adjust the weights and go through the workout at a manageable pace.

Sleep and nutrition have been written about in our blog before but these will aid in you’re recovery between workouts. I’ve recently introduced Blonyx HMB back into my supplement protocol and I’ve found that to help a tonne with muscle soreness. Have a read of this before you look for a supplement to fix anything though.

Listen to your body, learn about it, document how it feels and understand when you need to back off for a day and when you can plow on through. I have come to learn my body well and even though some days it can feel worse than others, I know what I can and cannot ask it to do.

Thanks for reading

Darren

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