I am really never gonna get into shape :(

[scared and alone]

Every time I exercise, I am in SUCH PAIN for the next few days, even if i didnt do anything TOO strenuous, just get my muscles working a little. Well, the next few days I can barely even walk. HOW do people do it!? I know that people obviously CAN do it, but, how long does it take before a body gets used to these exercises? Right now it hurts too much to even leave my house because I have stairs I have to go up and down and I couldnt even get down one stair. Are you just in pain for a long time before you can really exercise a lot ?Gah Im getting discouraged.

[Blue92]

Everyone has pain after psuhing their normal limits; even if it's not that strenuous. Wait until the pain subsides and then continue with your workouts. The pain is normal, but do not workout again until your body fully heals.

[Firiel]

A lot of times, yes. Athletic people are in pain a lot from sore muscles. I remember plenty of days when I was a competitive athlete where I could barely make it up stairs. And I would go to practice, warm up, and do another equally difficult workout. Getting started on a new routine often causes muscle soreness, especially if exercise is new to you or if you are doing something vastly different from what you have been doing. Athletes learn to listen to their body and determine what is "good" pain (general soreness where more exercise won't be harmful) and "bad" pain where you could potentially injure yourself by not sitting out. I think for someone new to exercise, it can be hard to tell which is which, so here are guidelines that work for me, though everyone is different.

 

Normal pain:

Happens the next day as opposed to at a specific moment during workout

Muscular pain (as opposed to bone or joint pain)

Generalized area (can't pinpoint where exactly it hurts)

Gets better with exercise (as in, once you start warming up your muscles, the pain in your legs/butt/shoulders lessens)

 

Bad pain:

Joint or bone pain (maybe a low-impact exercise could help with this)

Start of pain pinpointed to a specific moment

Gets worse with exercise

Very specific area hurts

One half of body hurts significantly worse than the other (for instance, if one leg is sore, but the other one can barely move, you may have pulled a muscle or something)

 

One thing to note is that, even if you are just sore, you should tailor your workout a little bit, even if that just means adding a longer, more gradual warm-up to your routine. You need to make sure sore muscles are stretched and warm before working out or else you WILL injure them. Also be careful how much "explosive" exercise you do on sore muscles, as the sudden movement can hurt them if it's too much.

 

And ALWAYS warm up. If your exercise is walking, do some dynamic stretches before you head out the door. If you do an exercise video, go for a five minute walk before you start. Warming up properly will minimize soreness and the chance of real injury.

[Angel Irulan]

Every time I exercise, I am in SUCH PAIN for the next few days, even if i didnt do anything TOO strenuous, just get my muscles working a little. Well, the next few days I can barely even walk. HOW do people do it!? I know that people obviously CAN do it, but, how long does it take before a body gets used to these exercises? Right now it hurts too much to even leave my house because I have stairs I have to go up and down and I couldnt even get down one stair. Are you just in pain for a long time before you can really exercise a lot ?Gah Im getting discouraged.

 

Apologies, but I don't know your story. Do you have fibromyalga? Or perhaps arthritis? And how old are you? What are you doing to exercise? If you wind sprint all at once, as I did one time in high school, you might have a lot of muscle pain, but in the case where you are doing normal exercise, you shouldn't hurt so bad you can't go downstairs. More information please.

Angel

[Mercurial Girl]

If it's just muscle soreness...you just get over it.

 

Don't sit around in pain. The less I move the more sore and tight my muscles feel so my best antidote is more exercise haha. Some yoga at least!

 

If you stop getting sore muscles, you need to add more resistance next time.

 

It DOES get better, as in, less soreness, but when I don't feel sore the next day I don't feel like I've worked out hard enough! I'm addicted to DOMS though! lol

 

Sorry, you just cannot build strength without experiencing some soreness.

 

Now, if you want to just do cardio (I do not recommend) then it will quickly go away, never to return.

[scared and alone]

The pathetic part is all i did was jog for a little bit, do a few squats and a few sit ups and a few resistance band stretches. Nothing horrible. I am just such an out of shape person, that my body doesnt know what to do with being used like this. And, stupid me, forgot to stretch as well BUT I will say, even when I do stretch before and after, I am still in pain. I doubt its fibromyalga, its just a couch potato doing exercises when not used to it. lol And I am 27.

[charity]

when you get this pain (doms- delayed onset muscle soreness) then you should not exercise those muscles until it eases. then resume exercising.

the first time it may take 3 days to ease up, the second time maybe it will take 1 day or 2. after 2 weeks your muscles will be used to the workouts and you won't be in much pain anymore until you step up your training to the next level, then you may have 1 day of pain again.

 

ONE TIME i completely overdid it my first time in the gym. i literally couldn't move the next day. i had shooting pain down my neck and back which i though WAS NOT NORMAL- i never felt anything like it. i had to get the doc who prescribed anti inflammatorys and the pain eased off in 2 days.

 

so challange yourself but have the common sense to know that your body is new to this and can only do so much at first.

 

and don't get disheartned and give up. in a few weekes you will be doing all these exercises and you will have no pain which you will be so proud about!!

[Mercurial Girl]

Keep at it. Do NOT let muscle soreness get in your way.

 

We ALL start somewhere.

 

And stop all the negative self-talk will ya? You should be proud of yourself for doing this!

[scared and alone]

lol im not trying to be negative, im just being honest. But I AM proud of myself though, dont get me wrong! Being sore actually makes me kind of happy lol because I KNOW that I worked out and didn't just half ass it. Because, when I do just like a 5 minute work out or don't do much, I am just fine the next day.

[metrogirl]

I think the only time I have ever felt intense pain was after trying the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred dvd. I tried it for one day, couldn't move the next few days and vowed to never look at her dvd's again. It was so bad, I had to hold onto the wall to sit on the toilet. NEVER AGAIN.

[scared and alone]

I think the only time I have ever felt intense pain was after trying the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred dvd. I tried it for one day, couldn't move the next few days and vowed to never look at her dvd's again. It was so bad, I had to hold onto the wall to sit on the toilet. NEVER AGAIN.

 

seriously that was my first workout. Omg, I couldn't even sleep i was in so much pain. And I did the LIGHT version! I kept waking up because my whole body felt like it was beaten up. And going to the bathroom was SO PAINFUL. I dont know how people survive that dvd. I wanted to die. lol my husband kept calling me an old lady because I jsut couldnt walk or get up without screaming and holding onto stuff.

[Mercurial Girl]

I think the only time I have ever felt intense pain was after trying the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred dvd. I tried it for one day, couldn't move the next few days and vowed to never look at her dvd's again. It was so bad, I had to hold onto the wall to sit on the toilet. NEVER AGAIN.

 

This is soooo funny! 30DS was my getting in shape springboard years ago and because I had a less than productive spring I decided that I would start her new one, Ripped In 30 TODAY, and not only today, but like...RIGHT after checking ENA this ONE last time! And then I read your post haha

 

Here I go!

[scared and alone]

GOOD LUCK Mercurial Girl. Lol I so could'nt do it.

[Mercurial Girl]

You SO could, with time and hard work!

 

Level 1 was not bad. I used 5lb weights but could have used 10lb for some of the moves. Still a good work out. Too bad I had some minor heartburn due to the raspberries and protein shake I munched on right before working out! I recommend waiting until AFTER your work out to eat, btw I was just way too hungry!

[BrianH46]

When starting an exercise regiment you need to know the limits of your body, then shoot very very low under it (unless you have a trainer. Why? Because most often a workout plan doesn't work out because people give up on them. Start with something ridiculously easy and work your way up, baby steps that will yield instant encouragement. Example: start by power walking 30-1hr a day. Do this for a month then transition to half walking half running so on and so forth.

[scared and alone]

So you think i did too much at once?

 

And thanks, Mercurial Girl for being so encouraging! I appreciate it!

[BrianH46]

So you think i did too much at once?

 

And thanks, Mercurial Girl for being so encouraging! I appreciate it!

 

Definitely, we see the before and after pictures and in our mind we know we can achieve that (which we can) and we impose this thought process that we must do it and get certain results by a certain time. When it doesn't got the way we expected we get discouraged and give up. Start small and work on your cardio which will give you the endurance and confidence you need for those work out DVDs. Little things will add up quickly monitor your choices and cut out soda from your diet.

[Generation]

The first time I ever did any sort of leg training exercise, I was sore for 4 days and couldn't walk much. Worst part was climbing into bed, I have to climb a ladder.

[scared and alone]

I have errands I have to get tomorrow. Man, I do NOT know how im gonna do it Walking is hard enough, but carrying groceries up stairs??

[charity]

hee hee my friend had to come down her stairs on her bum because she couldn't bend her legs. i couldn't stop laughing when she told me that.

[browneyedgirl36]

I work out at least 5X a week -- two times a week with a trainer who puts me through HELL -- really pushes me. I also run and go to the gym on the other days. I am sore nearly every day, at least to some extent -- something pretty much always hurts. I have gotten so used to it that I barely notice; it's just a part of my life, and it's just muscle soreness -- it's clearly NOT an injury, and I'm not harming myself in any way. The only thing it tends to get in the way of is running; when I've worked out my glutes and quads and try to run the next day, it isn't pretty. I can do it, but it's not fun.

 

I'm no stranger to the hold-onto-the-wall-to-sit-on-the-toilet thing. It doesn't hurt that badly all the time, but it does happen, and I'm used to it.

 

I would suggest only working one set of muscles, plus abs, every workout. So -- one day do arms/shoulders and abs. The next workout, do legs and abs and give your arms a rest (unless, of course, your abs are so sore you can barely move).

 

No matter how much you work out, you're probably going to experience some muscle soreness, but right now, you're working a lot of muscles that you aren't used to working hard, so it's going to hurt a lot more in the beginning, I think.

 

Keep up the good work!

[scared and alone]

hee hee my friend had to come down her stairs on her bum because she couldn't bend her legs. i couldn't stop laughing when she told me that.

 

ha ive had to do that before. Scoot! I know I cant give up though. I think of all the obese people who lose all that weight, that inspires me. I just need to figure out how to pull through and not give up. And figure out how to pace myself.

[whes]

Myofascial release (using a ball or roller on muscles) plus stretching can really help ease muscle soreness and stiffness. But, like someone else said, the best cure is to keep those muscles moving and working. If you stay still for too long, you'll get stiff. So stretch, bend, etc. to work out the kinks and get back into it! You learn to enjoy the feeling of used muscles. It means they're getting stronger!

[scared and alone]

I do keep moving. And it is PAINFUL. lol hopefully tomorrow i can do stairs. I really want to go to the store before my hubby gets home. I at least need to clean, cuz it needs it. Vacuuming is going to suck though, heavy bulky stuff to move.

[itsallgrand]

That's one of the reasons I love going to the pool. I don't feel like myself if I can't go at least a few times a week.

 

Once in the water, it's like this ahhh release, and once I get out after a nice swim it's even better. Whether my muscles were sore from working out to start with, or sore from working. lol.

 

Some great responses here but I'll just add that what you eat and how you rest can also help with the soreness. Even though the soreness is part of the deal, like Firiel said there is "good pain" and then there is "bad pain".

 

One very easy thing to do is eat a banana right after your work out with a bunch of water. The potassium, I guess, helps. And a bit of good protein too.

 

You know what they say...it's at least half nutrition. And it's true. Plus, make sure you are getting lots of sleep. Your muscles will do their real work while you sleep.