It is often said that you should take a day of rest after a serious workout. But is that good advice, or not? Is it best to take a day off after exercise or is it fine to jump right back on the horse? Well, there are some things to think about, a little bit of information to be aware of, but ultimately it is up to the individual whether it is better to wait or not.
Muscle soreness after a workout is typical. In fact, it is typical for muscle soreness to set in anywhere from twelve hours to two days after a workout. This is especially true in situations where the workout involved extending flexed muscles, such as lowering weights or in the downward motion of a squat.
This delayed muscle soreness takes the form of stiffness and can make it uncomfortable to work out. This is thought to be caused by torn muscle fibers repairing themselves. However, if you choose to work through the pain, it will have no negative repercussions. The only problem is that you may not be able to lift as much weight as you would if you had no stiffness.
The good news, and the more important thing to keep in mind, is that you can take some steps to avoid muscle soreness, or at least to minimize it. For one thing, you should not exert yourself more than you are used to; you should take baby steps. If you have not exercised recently, start slowly. Work up to your goals, increasing your activity daily. If you are stiff when you wake up a day after working out, stretch a little bit.
Also, to help avoid soreness, engage in a good warm up before working out, and be sure to cool down afterwards. For the warm up, include stretching and some low impact aerobics and, for the cool down, include some stretching and some mild cardiovascular activity.
It is important, when you are sore, to avoid any exercises that increase the pain you are feeling in the most effected muscle groups, however you can work out other muscle groups or engage in light cardiovascular activity to keep active. In fact, a mild workout will increase blood flow to the aching areas and will help them to heal faster.
If the pain is too much to continue working out, but it is muscle pain that affects only the area you worked out, the pain will go away on its own in three to seven days. If the pain does not go away in a week, be sure to contact your doctor to make sure it is not something more serious.
Basically, whether or not you work out the day after exercising is up to you. You can exercise through the soreness if you desire, but you should not over exert the sore muscle group. Also, through proper stretching, warming up and cooling down, you can decrease the risk of being affected by soreness at all.