What To Do When Working Out After a Long Break
After taking a long break from working out, or sometimes after only a short break, you will notice that you are what we call “out of shape.” Here are some tips to help you get back on track. The big pain in the butt when starting to work out again is that initial muscle soreness after the first work out. If you haven’t ever worked out with weights before, expect to be sore the day after. Also expect this soreness to worsen the second day after your workout. This is due to something referred to as EPOC. It stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption and it the reason we get the 2 day after soreness effect. You should not be worried by this soreness. It will get much better as you continue to work out. Things that will help:
- Stretching before, after, and the day after your workout.
- Keep moving. If you sit around and don’t move your body, the soreness will be worse.
- If you have access to a hot tub, it is a great idea.
- If you have to, use something called Mayoflex. It is a muscle soreness cream that helps a lot.
- Lastly, about 12 hours after a workout you know will make you sore, do 1-2 sets of a simple movement for the same muscles you worked. This gets blood flowing to the muscles that will soon be sore and helps alleviate some of the pain.
Hang in there! It isn’t always this tough and it will get easier every day. I explain it like this:
- Week 1 - Shock (Your body is shocked by new things.)
- Week 2 - Adjustment (It then adjusts to the new resistance.)
- Week 3 - Progression (Now it becomes more efficient at what it is doing.)
- Week 4 - Adaptation (Finally, the body adapts and the new resistance becomes easier.)
May 25th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
This is a wonderful for those “out of shape” people out there. Thank you for sharing!
June 6th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Outstanding information I went to the gym after 8 years of no excercise I am sore in my shoulders, arms and chest from bench pressing and curls. I was a little afraid this morning when my arm could not bend straight almost half way bent from the curls and my shoulders are screaming with pain. But after stretching a little every 20 minutes it is getting better from the shock as you put it. I just needed a little assurance that this is normal and will reread your page when I need reminding
June 18th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Now I understand. Staying idle makes it worse. I have a high tolerance for pain and I know it’s a good indicator that what I did worked.