Should You Workout When You’re Sore?

Hey y’all!! It’s Friday, Friday, Friday. Okay … I may have jammed out to that song, on repeat, all the way to work. What? You didn’t?

So today’s post was inspired by real life experience. Remember when I said I was going to my first boxing class last night? That didn’t happen.

When I got home, I realized I’m STILL struggling standing and sitting. My legs are SUPER sore from Hour Blast this past Wednesday. No complaints at all! It just hurt bad yesterday morning and all day, and was still bothering me yesterday evening. So I did some research.

What I’m experiencing is apparently referred to as DOMS

“Exercise physiologists refer to the gradually increasing discomfort that occurs between 24 and 48 hours after activity as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

The mild muscle strain injury creates microscopic damage to the muscle fibers. Scientists believe this damage, coupled with the inflammation that accompanies these tears, causes the pain.

According to WebMD, you are supposed to take it easy for a few days while your body adapts. Or try some light exercise such as walking or swimming. Keeping the muscle in motion can also provide some relief. WebMD.com”

So that’s what WebMD says. Surely they are only talking about people who don’t workout too hard, right? Wrong. According to Jillian Michaels:

“You should NOT train a muscle that’s sore. The reason for this is that your body interprets exercise as stress; it’s during the recovery time when the real work is being done. Think of exercise as the architect and recovery as the builder. If you work a muscle too soon after a training session, therefore, you will just break it down.

Also, you shouldn’t be sore for more than two days after a workout; if you are, you may have a slight injury or muscle strain. If this is the case, take it easy and give that muscle time to heal before training it again.”

So instead of going to boxing, I was going to take Sydney for a long walk to the park, since walking is suggested as a light exercise. That didn’t happen either. Instead, this did:

A baked potato with about a cup of arugula and 2oz crumbled goat cheese. Yums!

And this happened:

… apparently someone besides me loves watermelon blow pops ;)

AND THEN, this happened:

It’s a single serving cupcake. The base recipe is from Chocolate Covered Katie’s “Original Single Lady Cupcakes“. Then I added sprinkles. Think it looks amazing? Man oh man, it tasted PHENOMINAL! So perfect. You may want to make this … like now!

So while I didn’t box and/or walk last night … it was still one amazing evening. Can’t you tell from my pictures? Plus, I made up this morning with Hour Blast. It was one KILLER workout. Want proof?

BAM!! As I said … killer workout. Numbers don’t lie.

Pre-workout snack was half of this Larabar:

And post-workout was one yummy omelet:

4 egg whites, 1/3c mushrooms, 2oz turkey, 1oz goat cheese and a few splashes of hot sauce. Love. While it looks not so pleasing, I promise that it tastes amazing! I mean, just look at the ingredient list! It was super fresh and just what I needed.

Did I mention I also took Sydney on that walk I owed her this morning? It wasn’t as long, but I think she liked it ;)

See! Everything worked out for the best. Had I made it to boxing last night, I literally would have died this am. Okay, now let’s get this Friday-thing done with.

What do you usually do when you are too sore from working out? Take a day off? Walk? Have a special food concoction? Please share!

Tags: Single Cupcake, Soreness, Working Out