Avoiding Soreness when Starting Weight Training for Women

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness after starting any type of new exercise program is very real.

When new exercisers complain about muscle soreness the day after they initiate their new exercise program (whether it is swimming, weight training, biking, etc) they are not kidding. They are sore!  The muscles that have worked the hardest in that first workout hurt. In weight training these muscle groups are usually the quadriceps, biceps, triceps, pectorals (chest) and maybe the hamstrings.  And, if they do nothing but sit around the day after they have gotten sore they may not be able to get out of bed on the following day as the soreness is likely to have gotten worse rather than better.

Unfortunately, this muscle soreness right after entering a new exercise program many times (because of the pain and soreness) scares many women (and guys, too) into thinking that if “this is what i feel like after exercising, this is not fun”.  Since the pain will gradually go away when the person does not exercise for a few days it is easy to understand why they may not go back to their exercise program.

Many new trainees do not have full knowledge of what is happening in their bodies, how to handle it and maybe even more importantly, how to avoid it (at least to atleast minimize it).  All they know is that they have finally made a commitment to start exercising, jumped right in on day number one and then got sore on day number two and likely even more sore on day number three.  They certainly know that “sore” is not fun!  This is especially for the person who has not gone through this procedure previously.

This phenomenon is especially true in weight training.  I would bet that there are millions of people who ventured into weight training programs at some time in their lives, got sore and retired certainly before anything positive could come of their weight training program.

Physiologically, I used to believe that this muscle soreness due to the buildup of lactic acid (muscle waste product-like exhaust in your car) in a muscle, but I have since learned that this muscle soreness is actually caused by the micro tearing of small muscle fibers in the muscle.  This is an interesting topic and there is much more you can read on this subject, but learning how to cope with this muscle soreness is what is important for this discussion.

The first important aspect of learning to deal with this issue is that it CAN happen to you if you have either never worked out before or if you have not worked out in a long time.

If you have been sedentary for a fairly long period of time you need to temper your initial enthusiasm for your new workout out program and start off very slowly.  Possibly even so slowly that you sort of doubt you even had a workout.  Your first workout should be EASY!  Realize that being able to stay with an exercise program is what is going to do you the most good, and it will take some time to achieve whatever are your fitness goals.

So, instead of jumping into some celebrity’s or some trainer’s program by trying to do lots of sets of lots of exercises and all with heavy weights you should probably do only a few exercises and only a few sets with a very light weight for each body part on your first day.  You will find that, in time, you will work your way up to those three sets of ten with a heavier weight.  Remember, that your muscles did not get soft and flabby in a day or even a week so they will not get strong and shapely in a week either.

Another thing to do is to be very active the day following your first weight training day.  I used to think this helped move the lactic acid out.  And while I now know that that the pain isn’t caused by lactic acid buildup at all, this has still always been a tried and true method of getting over bouts of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness faster.  I don’t know the specific reason it works, but it does so get out and get those muscles moving!  Bicycle, jog, swim, etc to get a decent workout the day after your weight training day.  I have even done the same light weight training routing on day number two that I did on day number one, and have found that it helps me to alleviate the soreness “that sends many people back to the couch”.  Stretching after your weight workouts, applying ice packs, and self-massage may also help assist you in eliminating delayed onset muscle soreness.

If you are like me, you will come to enjoy a little bit of soreness after a training session.  Those microtears mean that once you have recovered, your body will be stronger.  So I love that feeling.  But that is very different from feeling like you can’t get out of bed 2 days after an overenthusiastic beginning to weight training.  So take it easy on day 1 so that you can have day 2, 3,4 and so on!

Be Strong!