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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
For the last few months I have been working pretty hard on trying to get fit again after years of neglecting my body. It's been going surprisingly well so far, and I have gone from only being able to walk/jog 3k (with a super long, steep incline at the end), and ride 10km on my stationary bike (with no resistance), to now doing 6km walk/jogs (on the same route x2), and 20+km rides (with moderate resistance).
So a few days ago, since I am finally feeling a bit more confident in my cardio again, I decided to finally give a full-body, HIT, strength training routine a try. And even though I had to take twice the rest time between exercises as the instructors did, despite only using the lightest resistance band to start, it went surprisingly well too. I'm pretty proud of myself for managing to get all the way through it... but, fuck me, I am still sore 3 days later!
I am turning 40 soon so I know my body's natural recovery rate is slowing down, and I am still not in the greatest shape yet either, but I didn't expect it to be this bad... especially since I honestly didn't feel like I pushed myself that hard. So I feel compelled to ask, does anyone have any tips for improving recovery and reducing soreness?
I have been considering ordering some protein powder and Creatine (both of which I used to drink post-workout in the past), but I honestly have no idea if either of those will actually help with recovery or if they're just good for helping build muscle faster. And I also already tried having a sauna session, and a hot bath, and while they did help temporarily, the soreness unfortunately just came back a short while afterwards.
Hey there, I think it's awesome that you are working out and improving your health. Creatine is usually associated with increased performance with high intensity, short duration training like lifting weights. When it comes to muscle recovery, I don't think that it will help that much. Protein supplements is a good idea if your regular diet lacks it, or you find yourself in a situation where you need to skip meals. Usually if you try to have at least a source of protein in your meals like meat fish, eggs, etc, you should be fine without supplementing.
To help you recover better you can try stuff that increases blood flow to the affected areas. Using a foam roller you can target soreness in a specific muscle. If the soreness is more systemic you can try taking a bath starting with hot and then switch to cold. I can say that to me both things help me a lot when I'm sore :) But in the end the best way not to be super sore after working out is consistency. Keep grinding and eventually you will be less and less sore after each workout.
Hope this helps you.
Thanks for all the info, and tips about the foam roller and hot-to-cold baths (both of which I am definitely going to try). As for protein, I have actually been making a concerted effort to eat far less meat over the last year+ (and rarely eat eggs), so I probably don't get enough protein from my diet alone and will look into getting a protein supplement.
As I said to @krg, that's honestly a massive relief to hear. I was genuinely worried this was just how it was going to be after every workout now that I am older. :P
I am going to expand on my previous comment since I'm a bit of a nerd in this topic :) I hope that you don't find it to be too much information.
Regarding the soreness, it is quite normal after a long period without exercise. Plus if you apply the phylosophy of progressive overload that @krg suggested, you will quite likelly fell it again (although not as bad as long as you keep working regularly).
To add to the list of techniques to reduce doms, the ones I mentioned are just addons for when it gets bad. The main things you can do everyday are getting enough rest (it is recomended about 8 hours of sleep every night), proper nutrition and try to add some light activity during the day (keeps the blood flowing especially if you have a desk job). I would recomend at least a 10 minute walk after meals, because it will also improve digestion.
Now, when it comes to nutrition there is no reason you must be protein deficient even if you dont eat meat or eggs. Lots of people are vegans/vegetarians and can keep the gains coming either way. Protein supplementation can be effective but is usually better if it comes mostly from foods. Eating is not just about geting the macronutrients (carbs, fats and protein) but also the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Based on that I would recomend looking in to other protein sources, and with the guide that @krg gave you, decide if you still need to supplement.
You can get decent protein intake from fish (salmon, tuna, etc), dairy (cheese, yogurts or milk) or from vegetables (beans, tofu, lentils, etc).
To end this wall of text, I would also recommend to look in to adding a multivitamin to your routine. With age, the training and the food restrictions, you may be lacking some essential vitamins or minerals. As an example it can be quite common for people that dont eat meat to be deficient in iron, b12, iodine, zinc, etc. But all of this information comes from a random guy on the internet who is no expert. This advice may serve you as a starting point, but always consult with someone that knows what he is doing, preferably a doctor.
Check out Vega protein bars and powders if you want animal-free protein! I'm vegetarian, but I try not to eat animal products when convenient. Think! bars are also pretty good, but they contain animal products. I do think they have a line of plant-based stuff, but I haven't tried it!
Firstly,
good job in getting back at it! Just starting is often the hardest part of any fitness routine.
Secondly,
DOMS is just an unfortunate consequence of putting your muscles through the paces after a long (or sometimes even short) lay-off 0. The good news here is that the soreness you're currently feeling is about as bad as it will ever be IF you maintain your workout routine. Consistency is key, here. If you consistently exercise those muscle groups, the soreness will eventually diminish (I'd say in about a week, or so) and you should start to get more comfortable with the movements. You'll also want to eventually progressively overload by either increasing your reps/sets, increasing the resistance, doing a harder variation of the exercise, or some combination of those concepts.
Thirdly,
as far as supplementation, creatine is pretty solid when it comes to strength training as it increases water retention in muscle which allows one to lift a bit heavier which allows muscle to adapt to increased resistance which leads to strength and hypertrophy gains a bit more-so than without it. However, I don't believe it has any effects with regards to soreness and probably not necessary with the current amount of resistance you're applying. Supplementing with protein is a good idea, though! If you're trying to build some muscle, I'd take a look at this guide for an idea of how much protein you might want in your diet.
In conclusion,
uh... I hope that wasn't too much to take in. TL;DR - don't stop and soreness will go bye-bye.
0: After taking over year off of doing pull-ups and letting myself go a little bit, I decided to get back at it. My first go around, I could barely eke out a single pull-up and finished the "workout" by doing a few negatives... and holy shit was I sore for the next few days! My lats were on fire and I felt like I could barely twist my torso. Mind you, before the lay-off I had been able to do sets of ~8 pull-ups.
Thanks! I had no idea about DOMS. Probably since back when I did workout regularly, I occasionally experienced some mild soreness/stiffness, but never to this extent and for this long afterwards... so I was genuinely worried it was simply due to me being older now, and that I might just need to just get used to feeling like this every time I did some strength training. :P It's a massive relief to hear that it's normal to experience after a period of not having worked out, and that it will gradually get better if I keep at this.
And thanks also for the info on creatine and protein too. All of that was not too much to take in and was really appreciated.
Without sounding like to much of a shill... if you're looking for protein supplementation, I recommend MyProtein as it's the probably the cheapest and most high-quality source that exists. The catch being that their stock is perpetually on "sale", so you sometimes have to remember to input a coupon code to get the best price. I usually get a 11lb bag of whey protein from them for about $60 USD. Flavor-wise, I can vouch for salted caramel being pretty good and their chocolate smooth fairly inoffensive, if a bit too strong on the artificial sweetener flavor. Of course, protein isn't all they stock and the other supplements they have also appear to be of good quality (I'll get their omega 3 supplements on occasion).
I don't think there's much you can do.You're pushing yourself too hard. You shouldn't feel too sore afterwards. If the body tells you to rest, you rest. Eventually you'll become more resilient but that takes time. Drink a lot of water, but you know that already.Yeah, I already drink a ton of water, so that's not an issue. And yeah, there being no real solution to this issue (other than just taking things even slower) is honestly what I suspected would be the case. But that doesn't stop me from hoping someone might have a protip or miracle cure that can help me speed things up though. ;)
Nice work! The hardest part of any workout routine is getting started!
I drink 8 ounces of tart cherry juice in the evening after workouts and I find it does indeed help. It also helps boost natural melatonin production so it should help you sleep better.
I also use Optimum Nutrition Hold Standard Whey as a supplement either post-workout or a snack (unless you are a pro athlete, timing doesn't make too much of a difference). You could also look into taking a glucosamine supplement if you feel your joints aren't up to par, but research is iffy on the effectiveness of this.
I have also heard in the past that heat shouldn't be applied to muscle pain/soreness until at least two days after the onset. Instead, cold should be applied.
I will give tart cherry juice a try. My sleep schedule has always been kinda funky, so even if it doesn't help with my workout recovery, if it provides a melatonin boost that will still be worth it. Plus, tart cherries are delicious, so drinking that sounds appealing even without any added benefits. :P
I will also check out glucosamine, since my joints (esp my knees which I have had reconstructive surgery on) aren't in the greatest condition. And I will definitely be finding myself a good protein supplement too, since I very likely don't get enough from my diet. Thanks for all the tips!
Just finished a century ride. I was suffering from toe pain, can’t tel if it’s gout or over use, but for better or worse this ride was an event and I really wanted to go, and finish.
I haven’t been training as hard this year, so the back 50 was way harder. I couldn’t seem to eat enough to keep my energy up. Also man was it hot.
My situation and my fingers are still a little numb, and my toe is super sore. But it’s good to know i still have it in me.
Congrats! I’ve done a couple of century rides (never supported), and I’m doing a 50-miler next weekend. There’s something nice about being in the saddle most of the day. :)
I moved accounts to a new username so this is just a continuation from that account.
I've been maintaining my weight pretty well these past couple of weeks. I'm probably still losing weight at a very slow pace because it can be difficult to reach my caloric intake needs without eating junk food. I've been under my weekly calorie budget by ~1,500-2,000 calories each week despite my diet sometimes including jelly donuts, ice cream, and/or lemon bars. But the main priority this whole time has been protein, protein, protein. I've gone from ~22% body fat to ~11% body fat since April. I also ran my fastest mile yet (on a 4 mile run to boot), clocking in at 7:05 during my 3rd mile. I'm hoping to get a sub 7:00 minute mile in September if I can keep up the pace. I think at some point I want to start training for a half-marathon. It will be difficult because I have been "hitting the wall" between the 7-8 mile mark on my long runs. I need to read more about carb loading and practicing it days before I go for the longer runs. Cardiovascular fitness seems to be on track.
Weight lifting has been going relatively well too. I'm starting to bench press more weight on my reps and my dumbbell workouts have also seen increases in my ability. Small gains here and there, but I'm not looking to get "swole", just continue working on my skeletal muscle fitness.
And I have been keeping up with my yoga, twice a week, to keep improving on my flexibility. I did graduate to the longer 1-hour yoga sessions. My goal here is to go from crow pose to handstand one day.
Another week without eating sugar. Found some sugar free candy. It's not great but it gives me some joy. I'm not eating healthy at all, just removed the sugar. I should change that, but being sugar free is hard enough for now. I really am addicted to it.
Have you tried using stevia (sugar without calories) to replace some stuff where you usually might add sugar? The taste is not exactly the same but you might eventually get used to it. You can even try to cook some stuff yourself and add stevia instead of regular sugar, like some cakes or brownies.
Also sugar is not bad in itself. The stuff you need to avoid is processed sugars, usually combined with high fat content like the in candies and chocolates. If you try to eat more fruits maybe it can help you with the cravings and it's super healty :) I've also struggled a bit with excessive sugar consumption and these tips helped me. I still eat chocolates and stuff every now and then but I do it much less regularly.
I believe I tried Stevia years ago, found it bitter. I ate a few things without added sugar, with had only the natural sugar from the ingredients, yeah. But not a lot. One of the reasons for me to avoid sugar is my tinnitus. I don't think my inner ear knows the difference.
My battles with sugar are old and entrenched. If I felt I could get away with it I’d eat a box of nutty buddies every day.
The struggle with abstinence is sugar’s ubiquity. They put it where it doesn’t belong, I assume primarily for its addictive qualities. Plus all the naturally occurring instances…
Also coke had a flavor winner with coke zero, and then they added the caffeine back and then changed the flavor in the wrong direction :(