Post gym sorness
Discussion
This is getting me at the moment. Actually making me want to stop going to the gym!
I do lifts mostly; bench, row, dead, squat, shoulder press, power cleans, dips, pull ups, core work etc usually follow 5x5 or similar.
But jesus it seems to be taking me 3-4 days to stop being sore. Stretching and foam rolling after doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference. And trying to do swim training in-between days is becoming a right pain. Very hard to complete a full set when your arms feel like hot-lead. The other day my arms felt so shot I couldn't actually keep hold of the water any more. Just felt like the mother load lactic acid you get at the end of a 200 m freestyle.
This seems to have gotten worse over the past year or so. What gives? What do I need to do to recover better from the gym? Should I actually not be doing heavy and few reps and doing more, lighter reps?
I do lifts mostly; bench, row, dead, squat, shoulder press, power cleans, dips, pull ups, core work etc usually follow 5x5 or similar.
But jesus it seems to be taking me 3-4 days to stop being sore. Stretching and foam rolling after doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference. And trying to do swim training in-between days is becoming a right pain. Very hard to complete a full set when your arms feel like hot-lead. The other day my arms felt so shot I couldn't actually keep hold of the water any more. Just felt like the mother load lactic acid you get at the end of a 200 m freestyle.
This seems to have gotten worse over the past year or so. What gives? What do I need to do to recover better from the gym? Should I actually not be doing heavy and few reps and doing more, lighter reps?
Are you getting enough sleep and enough protein? I have found these are key for recovery. Also how regularly do you train and how long have you been doing it? When I first started I got stiff as a board (could barely put a shirt on) but now I rarely get sore at all, only my legs and very occasionally my triceps get sore. I can only assume that the body adapts to cope with your training regime over time.
Swim training normally takes priority; Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday. Gym fits around that. Try for 2 sessions a week (otherwise life just becomes work and exercise).
I think I get plenty of sleep. I do go to bed late-ish, like mid-night as I am a bit of a night person, but always sleep right up to the alarm clock so always netting 7 hours or so.
Normally quite a meaty-diet, though perhaps not eating immediately after gym. Normally get through plenty of chicken in a weeks worth of dinners, mince, steak, pork, salmon make up the rest usually...very few dishes without some form of meat.
Perhaps sitting stationary at work a lot doesn't help? Was in the gym last night and like normal I wake up with a bit of stiffness, but already I can feel things getting more tender. By 5 pm I am going to feel like I need a severe massage!
I think I get plenty of sleep. I do go to bed late-ish, like mid-night as I am a bit of a night person, but always sleep right up to the alarm clock so always netting 7 hours or so.
Normally quite a meaty-diet, though perhaps not eating immediately after gym. Normally get through plenty of chicken in a weeks worth of dinners, mince, steak, pork, salmon make up the rest usually...very few dishes without some form of meat.
Perhaps sitting stationary at work a lot doesn't help? Was in the gym last night and like normal I wake up with a bit of stiffness, but already I can feel things getting more tender. By 5 pm I am going to feel like I need a severe massage!
Otispunkmeyer said:
But jesus it seems to be taking me 3-4 days to stop being sore.
This is quite normal.Otispunkmeyer said:
Should I actually not be doing heavy and few reps and doing more, lighter reps?
Only if you want to work more on your lactate threshold 
You're not getting the rest you need, and using muscles that require rest for your sport the next day. Perhaps you could restructure your training so you do weights after swimming then have a days rest before you're in the pool again? Maybe take the weekend off?
popeyewhite said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
But jesus it seems to be taking me 3-4 days to stop being sore.
This is quite normal.Otispunkmeyer said:
Should I actually not be doing heavy and few reps and doing more, lighter reps?
Only if you want to work more on your lactate threshold You're not getting the rest you need, and using muscles that require rest for your sport the next day. Perhaps you could restructure your training so you do weights after swimming then have a days rest before you're in the pool again? Maybe take the weekend off?
Never, had a break from swimming really. Only train 3-4 times a week now. I used to do 10 sessions in the pool a week in my teens. In my 30's now.
I don't like resting, it doesn't feel normal. I shall try it though and take a week off from the gym. I am going on Holiday to HK next week so got 10 days off right there. Will look at scheduling too, its a bit difficult because swimming is every other day nearly, but will have to see what my options are.
I was wondering the reverse, am I training hard enough as not getting the soreness afterwards, got it the first few times I started training specific body parts but not since, am doing a day on, day off kind of thing and having a decent amount of Protein afterwards. that said, not after being massive anyway.
I've said it in many threads regarding soreness after a session. I find a hot sauna helps AN AWFUL LOT 2 or 3 times a week if your gym has one. 15 minutes could make a difference. I say could because it doesn't work for everyone.
A lot of gym goers would give anything to feel sore after a session (immediately or a day or 2) so maybe you train much harder than most. But I know you want to be somewhere in the middle where it doesn't affect your next session.
I assume you break up your body parts so that each muscle gets a rest?
A lot of gym goers would give anything to feel sore after a session (immediately or a day or 2) so maybe you train much harder than most. But I know you want to be somewhere in the middle where it doesn't affect your next session.
I assume you break up your body parts so that each muscle gets a rest?
J4CKO said:
I was wondering the reverse, am I training hard enough as not getting the soreness afterwards, got it the first few times I started training specific body parts but not since, am doing a day on, day off kind of thing and having a decent amount of Protein afterwards. that said, not after being massive anyway.
DOMS is a condition generally related to exercise intensity. If you don't want to grow or increase endurance, but are quite happy to tick over then I'm sure what you're doing is fine. BTW Protein won't make much difference to pain after a workout (DOMS). popeyewhite said:
J4CKO said:
I was wondering the reverse, am I training hard enough as not getting the soreness afterwards, got it the first few times I started training specific body parts but not since, am doing a day on, day off kind of thing and having a decent amount of Protein afterwards. that said, not after being massive anyway.
DOMS is a condition generally related to exercise intensity. If you don't want to grow or increase endurance, but are quite happy to tick over then I'm sure what you're doing is fine. BTW Protein won't make much difference to pain after a workout (DOMS). Definitely working, my missus was asking how many press ups I could do as someone at work was doing the 22 press up challenge dn she bet that I couldn't do 22, to be honest I wasnt sure as not done one in ages, so I had a go, she told me to stop at 30 odd
coudltn do that before, couldnt do a chin up but can do 4 now, pathetic I know but it is progress.Guess I need to go a bit harder with the weights, a lot of the machines in the gym kind of run out of weight pretty soon, the pec dec I have to stick the whole lot on so I suppose I need to grab a bench and free weights.
J4CKO said:
I can feel I have done something but like I said, not after being massive, definitely seeing improvements and not expecting miracles at 45.
Definitely working, my missus was asking how many press ups I could do as someone at work was doing the 22 press up challenge dn she bet that I couldn't do 22, to be honest I wasnt sure as not done one in ages, so I had a go, she told me to stop at 30 odd coudltn do that before, couldnt do a chin up but can do 4 now, pathetic I know but it is progress.
Guess I need to go a bit harder with the weights, a lot of the machines in the gym kind of run out of weight pretty soon, the pec dec I have to stick the whole lot on so I suppose I need to grab a bench and free weights.
The switch to free weights will make you sore. Definitely working, my missus was asking how many press ups I could do as someone at work was doing the 22 press up challenge dn she bet that I couldn't do 22, to be honest I wasnt sure as not done one in ages, so I had a go, she told me to stop at 30 odd
coudltn do that before, couldnt do a chin up but can do 4 now, pathetic I know but it is progress.Guess I need to go a bit harder with the weights, a lot of the machines in the gym kind of run out of weight pretty soon, the pec dec I have to stick the whole lot on so I suppose I need to grab a bench and free weights.
Good going on the chins - really hard exercise.
As your body get's used to it.. it will adapt and your muscles will repair stronger each time. I remember being in agony for the first few months when i got into going to the gym 4-5 times per week. Now i barely ever get that same soreness... which makes it much more difficult to make progress and gainzzzz! lol
I did get it, first few goes after returning, doing 10 sit up and then not being able to bend over for the best part of a week, do three sets of twenty on the highest incline and fine now ?
Did some in my man shed last night, as opposed to going to the gym, as a test did some bicep curls to failure with the heaviest weight I could manage, four sets or ten at about 15 kilos and nothing the following day.
Did some in my man shed last night, as opposed to going to the gym, as a test did some bicep curls to failure with the heaviest weight I could manage, four sets or ten at about 15 kilos and nothing the following day.
Can't be normal if you're still getting sore after a week or 2 let alone a year!. perhaps you're overtraining or not resting enough?Take a break or reduce your intensity and see how it goes?
One thing that helps me is having a cold bath. But the general consensus is just keep moving around, doing things to get the blood flowing (including hot or cold baths/showers).
If I don't lift for a while (over a week), I might get sore for 3-4 days. but as I go often that time does down to 1-2days and eventually goes away completely.
One thing that helps me is having a cold bath. But the general consensus is just keep moving around, doing things to get the blood flowing (including hot or cold baths/showers).
If I don't lift for a while (over a week), I might get sore for 3-4 days. but as I go often that time does down to 1-2days and eventually goes away completely.
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