If I choose option 1, doing squat on Monday, being sore as hell on Tuesday and do squats again (light version) that day; should i still do squats on Wednesday and the following Friday, if I do 3 times squats per week? (Making that 4 times squat). Or should I wait after ‘light tuesday’ and skip Wednesday for example?
Last week I told you how my buddy John Romaniello royally kicked my butt with an insane full body workout last weekend.
I woke up the next day sore as @#$%^&*.
Translation: quite sore. Thanks, John.
So naturally, I did as a good boy should and worked out the very next day.
Huh?
Now, I’m sure you’ve been told that you should wait until all that soreness subsides before stepping in the gym again.
How can I be sure? Easy, I’ve been told that same crap more times than I can count.
Fortunately, I don’t adhere to that silliness anymore, and as a result, I’ve got more muscle and less body fat to thank for it.
You see, it’s not uncommon for delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) to last four or even five days after the completion of an intense weight training session; however, many studies have concluded that complete metabolic recovery (what you care about) occurs within 48 hours of exercise.
In other words, you ARE recovered, yet there is still some residual soreness.
Plain and simple, if metabolic recovery has taken place, a muscle can be worked again via the same training method, even if the muscle is still sore from a previous session.
Having said that, the point is altogether moot anyway as plenty of studies have shown that training a muscle while it is still recovering does NOT adversely affect recovery.
Here are just a few:
Nosaka K, Clarkson P.M. Muscle damage following repeated bouts of high force eccentric exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc., 27(9):1263-1269,1995.
Smith LL., Fuylmer MG., Holbert D., McCammon MR., Houmard JA., Frazer DD., Nsien E., Isreal RG. The impact of repeated bout of eccentric exercise on muscular strength, muscle soreness and creatine kinase. Br J Sp Med 28(4):267-271, 1994.
Chen, TC and S.S. Hsieh. The effects of a seven-day repeated eccentric training on recovery from muscle damage. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp. S71, 1999.
Nosaka K and M Newton. Repeated eccentric exercise bouts do not exacerbate muscle damage and repair. J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Feb;16(1):117-22.
Conclusion: even if complete metabolic recovery has not yet occurred, the muscle can be trained again.
Now, you technically could do the same exact workout again, but frankly, there are better ways to approach working a muscle for a second time within 48 hours of a previous session:
Option #1 – Conduct an “active recovery” session. With this approach you’d conduct a light, less taxing training session after a heavy, demanding session in order to facilitate recovery, decrease DOMS, and actually maximize strength gains.
Simply put, as long as you continue to stimulate the nervous system, even if your body is not totally recovered (metabolically speaking), you’re going to see much better overall results.
An example of this “continued stimulation” would be to do half the number of reps that you normally could do with a given weight, for say, 3 sets.
To illustrate, let’s say you did a killer squat workout on Monday. And let’s say you used a weight of 185 lbs for 12 grueling reps. With the active recovery method, on Tuesday, you’d only do 6 repetitions per set with the same 185 lb load.
This type of workout both stimulates the nervous system and increases the flow of nutrient rich blood to the recoverying muscles, leading to increased strength and recovery.
Option #2 – Change the stimulus and go all out again. If a muscle is still recovering, it wouldn’t be profitable to train it again via the same training method prior to recovery taking place.
Yes, the above studies do show that doing so will not substantially, adversely affect metabolic recovery, but at the same time, it ain’t gonna be of benefit either.
So what to do?
Answer: use a different rep range.
By utilizing a different repetition range, you’ll stimulate different muscle fibers and in turn yield a different overall physiological response.
For example, if you conducted 5 sets of 10 in the bench press on Monday, you may want to shoot for 10 sets of 5, or 4 sets of 15 come Wednesday.
Obviously, you cannot use the above approach for every muscle group, but rather it should be utilized to bring up a lagging body part or to accelerate growth in an area you are highly motivated to train.
Lastly, I’ll quote my good friend and uber strength coach Chad Waterbury on the subject:
“Your body will only increase recovery if you force it to work more frequently. Initially, you may still have residual soreness from the previous workout, but don’t worry. Instead, work through it and the body will improve its recovery rate to the point where soreness will subside.”
Want to increase your recovery capacity, gain more muscle, increase strength, and lose more fat? Then forget about “sitting the bench” because of a little soreness.
Instead, get yourself back in the game quickly with one of the above two methods. In return, you can expect a heck of a lot more progress with a heck of a lot less soreness.
So what about you? Do you ever train a sore muscle? Do you guage the effectiveness of your workouts by how sore you feel the next day?
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
Joel
P.S. Check out the below video from my buddy Kyle explaining one of the NEWEST methods we’re using to lose fat and gain muscle at the SAME time:
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69 comments - add yours
As a powerlifter , I lose strength if I train heavy too often . That may be a connective tissue factor , not muscle soreness . what do you think .
Personally, I find that working a higher rep-range usually gives me more soreness the day after, for instance I feel a lot more sore in my thighs after running/jogging 3-4km compared to doing my heavy leg routine with squats, burpees, barbell stepups and deadlifts. And since I think the latter has more benefits for me, I can’t say that I measure progress by soreness but rather the weight progress in my workout log.
From what I’ve read/heard from other sources it supports the idea of working the muscle again the day after although it was recommended bodyweight exercises just as to get a higher blood flow into the muscle, supplying it with nutrients for a quicker recovery.
Since I normally use a full body cardio-routine on my “off days”, it becomes kind of automatic that I work the same muscles again the next day but with higher reps and less load.
I guess it’s mainly indoctrination and a mental issue, but I probably would not feel ok going in doing the exakt same weight training routine as the previous day but with just less weight.
Thanks Joel for that info, most days when i work out and push myself to the next level i have sorness but never really new if if i should train the next day, that didn’t stop me though as it gives me a buz to work those sore muscles. Sometimes feel that if i’m not getting some soreness i’m not pushing hard enough therefore not getting a result for my effort. I shall continue to do so in the future.
If I have done a big workout and am sore the next morning, I find the times I recover “quickest’ is if I go and do some form of exercise that day. Especially stretching.
Funnily enough in the last 3 weeks I have started doing a weights + step class (combined for 1hr) on a Wednesday night and repeating it again on Thursday morning. (The only two times the class in on during the week). I drop my weights slightly on the Thursday morning, and I feel pretty exhausted after, but I don’t think it has any negative affect on muscle soreness. I wasn’t sure if the reason I wasn’t that sore is because I am dropping my weights the next day, or because I am warming up those muscles again.
That said – I am not trying to body build (massive muscle gain). My weights are fairly low and the reps in the class are high.
totally agree. Would go spare if had to wait till all DOMS disappeared between sessions. Whilst it hurts, its good to know am working new bits. Like the idea of mixing the repititions up though as a way to alternate the exercises to.
When I ran x-country, if we didnt’ run again until soreness went away, we would never get into shape. The act of exercising is the best way I know of to get over soreness. Nothing like getting the blood flowing to get over soreness.
Hi,
Have you noticed the increase in your load lifting capacity after working out when the muscles are sore and why does this happen?
Great post Joel. I agree totally with you. I am normally most sore after changing up the workout, but I go by the old adage of ‘no pain, no gain’. As a MSc Sport and Health Sciences student it is fantastic to see that you back up all of what you say with research. Keep up the good work buddy.
Hey Joel,
A simple trick I use, do not remember where I heard it is the timed rest pause workout.
Handy when it comes to pressups, wanted to know what u thought?
Set the timer on for 10 minutes, get in the presup position (feet elavated), and do 3-5 reps, rest for 5 seconds, then another 3-5 reps, 5 seconds rest, (while resting stick in the pressup position to build endurance and stomach strength).
I do the same when doing anything else, I’m 18 and have 1 dumbell, Im not into weight lifting or anything, just maintaining strength so I love my bodyweight exercises and handstand pressups etc!..w
what do u recommend?
Interesting. I would definitely have thought in the old way but will challenge myself more from now on with a workout the following day.
I am trying to sculpt and lose a bit of weight. I have been using very heavy weight – struggling to get 12 reps in 3 sets…. but do not have much muscle soreness the next day. Does this mean I should try to go for even heavier weights and less reps? Does the muscle soreness reflect a ‘good’ workout? I am new to this!
I have done both, but at an older age now, I have to watch for potential injury, so I wait a few days before my next workout and walk/stretch inbetween. The light duty strategy does work, but I workout very heavy and to total muscle failure…I am a bodybuilder…so I am VERY sore for 3 whole days, but if I workout sore, it is mostly on different body parts.
In my younger days, I had a hard labor job and I worked out 3-4 times a week, so you can do it, but I always lifted heavy…I suggest you use Joel’s suggestion instead. Constant heavy lifting to failure will get you hurt if you do not give yourself time to recover.
Mike Mentzer suggests the opposite and Dorian Yates followed his principles and made gains every year over his competition. This is just a small quote from Understanding Recovery: A Wound Healing Model, by Dave Staplin Reposted 6/26/06:
“It must be remembered that the severity of response and so the time necessary to complete it vary according to the degree of trauma or in this case, the intensity of the work, the muscle has been subjected to (2,4,5,10). Numerous studies have examined this response process, especially with eccentric contractions (1-10). The time course for completion of the above 6 steps ranges from 5 days to over 6 weeks (1-10)! This has profound implications regarding FREQUENCY of training! The more intense your training, the longer you must allow for recovery. If you add 50% to the weight you normally use for high intensity repetitions and then proceed to perform NEGATIVE repetitions, you have just dramatically increased the stress and therefore the TIME necessary for the muscle to recover. ”
1) Clarkson, PM, Nosaka, K. Muscle function after exercise-induced muscle damage and rapid adaptation. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Vol.24, No.5, 512-20, 1992
2) Clarkson, PM, Tremblay, I. Exercise-induced muscle damage, repair and adaptation in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology. Vol.65, No.1, 1-6, 1988
3) Friden, J.,et al Myofibrillar damage following intense eccentric exercise in man. International Journal of Sports Medicine. Vol.24, No.3, 170-176,1983
4) Golden, CL, Dudley, GA., Strength after bouts of eccentric or concentric actions. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Vol.24, No.8, 926-33, 1992
5) Howell, JN, Chleboun,G., Muscle stiffness, strength loss, swelling and soreness following exercise-induced injury to humans. Journal of Physiology 464, 183-96, 1993
6) Jones, DA, Newham, JM., et al, Experimental human muscle damage: morphological changes in relation to other indices of damage. Journal of Physiology 375, 435-48, 1986
7) Mishra, DK, Friden, J., et al Anti-inflammatory medication after muscle injury. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol. 77-A, No.10, 1510-19, 1995 8) Newman, DJ, Jones, DA., Repeated high-force eccentric exercise: effects on muscle pain and damage. Journal of Applied Physiology Vol.4, No.63, 1381-86, 1987
9) Smith, LL. Acute inflammation: the underlying mechanism in delayed onset muscle soreness? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Vol. 23, No.5, 542-51, 1991
10) Tiidus, PM, Ianuzzo, DC., Effects of intensity and duration of muscular exercise on delayed soreness and serum enzyme activities. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Vol. 15, No.6, 461-5, 1983
I workout like this all the time so I have to wait a bit longer than most to recover, so it works for me, but I understand what Joel is saying as well, I just wanted to share the flip side of this strategy.
Good advice Joel! One tends to avoid adding pain on pain!! So here goes
It’s good to hear that people still get sore – like Joel – even when they’re in top physical shape! I have been weight training for some time now and was beginning to wonder if I would ever see the day when I wouldn’t be sore afterwards!
With that said, I find doing another workout with DOMS actually helps…it’s not easy as my full range of motion is somewhat hampered, and let’s face it, it just hurts! But, it only seems to be at the beginning…as I move through the workout, the DOMS seems to dissipate and bother me less and less, and it seems to disappear much faster than if I didn’t do a workout at all. While these workouts are typically less intense than the original that caused the DOMS, I don’t specifically reduce weight or reps – if in some exercises, the DOMS limits me and I push through to failure, so be it – I drop the weight amount and finish with what I can, but only as needed.
Great post Joel!
yeah, its good to do light days and heavy days, but whenever I feel really sore and exausthed i skip training and just go for a walk. or some light jumping rope stuff and some extra strectth. Nice article , although recovery times will depend of each individual, diet, volume and intensity, the objectives of the training, etc..
good stuff.
Love your posts Joel! Keep ’em coming, please.
I never train the same muslce two days in a row but i do however train a different muscle the day after a taxing workout while my other muscle is still sore. I find it makes the sore muscle feel so much better. Great ideas though Joel, thanks!
Would the effects be to bad if I do the same routine the next day if so i’m in trouble becuase I never limit my workouts due to soreness i alwas do the same reps and so forth but I dont do many to begin with
Thanks for the info. Some people seem to be a sore the next day type. I am a sore the second day type after training. Does that mean it is taking longer for my body to recover? I still train regardless of the soreness, although I don’t go as heavy or as hard.
I think you also have to keep in mind that if you don’t get proper rest you risk the chance of developing overuse syndrome! Remember if your hurt you can’t workout !
Whoops! I’ve been doing it wrong all along and waiting until I wasn’t sore to work out again. Thanks for the info, and now I can start doing it right. I look forward to better results!
I agree that if you want to make progress, you will be working out when you are sore. The key is distinguishing between ‘sore’ and ‘pain’, and using common sense. If you try to work through pain, you are much more likely to get a real injury.
I’ve heard that one of the ways steroids work is that they increase the rate of recovery so that you can work the same muscles more intensely more frequently.
Joel, can you recommend any natural foods and/or supplements that can aid in the recovery process? Perhaps something with the post-workout shake/meal?
I’ve read that creatine and glutamine can help?
Thx
Thx.
@Marcus – After higher repetition training, like running, I usually feel more sore, for instance in the calves, the second day. Same goes for me and some of my buddies after “squat walking” during a 40-minute Lasergame session, so I guess it’s not uncommon to feel extra sore the second day.
I agree with this…the body has only a limited recovery ability, and muscle growth only occurs when you first restore your recovery ability, then you also have to allow for growth to occur. This does NOT happen within 48 hours. Sorry, don’t care how much research articles you toss our way.
-Tom
@Sean –
Awesome info! I’ve wondered this for so long now. Now I feel confident working out even if I’m still sore. Thanks!!
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...